A Qualified Intermediary, or QI, is an independent third party to the transaction whose function is to prepare the documents necessary to create the exchange, as well as to act as the independent escrow agent for the exchange funds.
How to Do a 1031 Exchange Choose a qualified intermediary to coordinate the exchange. Sell your current real estate property. You have 45 days to identify potential replacement properties. You have 180 days to close on a replacement property. File IRS Form 8824.
Real property located in the United States and real property located outside the United States are not property of a like kind. This means that you cannot perform a 1031 exchange between a U.S. property and a non-U.S. property.
What are the time requirements in an exchange? From the time of closing on the relinquished property, the investor has 45 days to nominate potential replacement properties and a total of 180 days from closing to acquire the replacement property.
Unfortunately, this transition can't be made through a 1031 exchange. While a REIT may own real property, the entity itself is not considered real property under Section 1031, and is therefore not eligible to be used as replacement property in a 1031 exchange.