1031 Exchange DST Investment Case Study

By: Steve Haskell, Vice President, Kay Properties and Investments, LLC

A CPA in San Diego contacted Kay Properties & Investments on behalf of his client, Peggy. Peggy owned an apartment building in East San Diego that she and her husband purchased together 50 years ago. Unfortunately, Peggy’s husband passed away five years ago and the maintenance, tenants, and looming threat of rent control had become overwhelming. She had an agent list her building and was pleased to receive the full asking price of $1.4 million the very next day. However, her excitement quickly vanished after her CPA informed her the capital gains tax and depreciation recapture will result in over 35% of her property value and prevent her from maintaining her current lifestyle. They concluded that a 1031 exchange into a passive property was critical.

Peggy’s CPA told the Kay Properties team that his first thought was to introduce her to a commercial broker that could help her find a NNN leased property. However after he did more research, Peggy’s CPA decided that a NNN leased property was highly inappropriate for her for the following reasons:

1. Foreclosure Risk. A NNN leased property with a reputable tenant in a populated location would be four to five times the price Peggy could afford. Peggy would then have to take on debt, which the CPA wanted to avoid at her age. Lender foreclosure would be catastrophic for Peggy at her stage in life, and the CPA believed that she should stay as debt free as possible.

2. Lack of diversification*. Peggy relied almost exclusively on the income of her apartments. Exchanging into a single-tenant NNN property is risky. The CPA did not like the idea of Peggy putting all her eggs in one basket, leaving her entire livelihood vulnerable to a single tenant.

3. The due diligence required to responsibly make a decision was overwhelming. Peggy did not have the experience, time, or resources to conduct her own lease audits, environmental surveys, market analyses, insurance policies and building inspections. This was not the passive investment that the broker advertised.

After further research, the CPA determined that a 1031 exchange into a diversified portfolio of Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) investments was much more appropriate for Peggy. After seeking out what he thought was the best 1031 DST group in the market that could help Peggy complete her 1031 exchange into DST offerings, the CPA decided that Kay Properties and Investments was the only group with whom she should work. Kay Properties had already completed all the due diligence the CPA required, including property visits, lease reviews, market comparable sales analysis, DST offering structure, underwriting analysis, and etc.

This enabled Kay Properties Team to develop a tailored solution that spread her 1031 exchange equity among five DST investments, with Fortune 500 tenants and three multifamily DST investments. She stayed completely debt free by utilizing debt free DSTs, removing any risk of lender foreclosure. There are no guarantees in DSTs or any other real estate. However, the due diligence, diversification, and access to debt free, DST real estate provided by Kay Properties & Investments has allowed Peggy to enjoy the lifestyle she has looked forward to for the past 50 years, while allowing her CPA to feel comfortable in his recommendation to his client.

This is an example of the experience of one of our clients and may not be representative of the experience of other clients. Past performance does not guarantee or indicate the likelihood of future results.

Please visit www.kpi1031.com for more details as well as to register for a list of currently available 1031 DST investments, call us at 1-(855) 899-4597 or email info@kpi1031.com

*Diversification does not guarantee profits or protect against losses.