I personally love 1031 exchanges. With the year about 2/3 thru, I have saved more than $50,000 in tax payments. But 1031 exchanges are only one of multiple tools that should be in your real estate toolbox. I wanted to share some other alternatives to doing a 1031 exchange.

The first way is doing a 721 exchange. You sell an asset at a discount to a charity and pick the tax deduction that saves you on taxes. This works well on a year where you are shifting a sizable amount of assets from a traditional IRA to a Roth.

The sister to a 721 is using a CRT which can provide you one of a couple options. A large write off, cash for life or cash for a set amount of time.

Next, you can do an installment sale. This allows you claim the sale amount over time. Providing you have a qualified buyer with a sizable downpayment; this can be a segway to the note business

Now no one says you HAVE to sell a place to get money. You can use the buy, hold and rei strategy to pull cash out if that is the reason you want to sell.

Investing in opportunity zones and opportunity funds can give you similar results as a 1031 exchange. there are specific time limits you must follow to use this technique.

Whatever tool you elect to use, you really need assistance of a CPA to help you with making sure you get maximum benefit of the strategy. Taking accelerated depreciation, cost segregation, or suspending losses may not make sense if you are deferring a significant amount of taxes that same year.

I have deferred over $800,000 in depreciation recapture in a single transaction. IMHO, where it is absolutely critical to know how to do most home repairs, if you are stuck only doing them - it will take a long time to complete $800,000 worth of work. Using ALL your real estate tools will save you lots of cash - but you must invest in yourself

Absolutely true about deferment

Absolutely false about saving on taxes - as long as you continue to defer. Then the properties just transfer at your death, with a stepped-up basis. You don't have to believe me though - I am here to help. I have only done four of them this year alone - did my first one almost 30 years ago.

Anything you don't pay today is saving. The money is worth less and hopefully you are making money with it on top of that.