Greetings from the Grand Strand!

July is usually the busiest tourism month for our area and this year has been no exception. I've worked with quite a few buyer clients in recent weeks and it's been difficult to get in any of the oceanfront condos. Just about every available property has been rented every night so we've been scurrying from one to another in between check-outs and check-ins. The strong season is showing up in the rental incomes as well. I've checked quite a few of the incomes and most are showing healthy increases year-over-year.

It's been 20 years since the grand opening of Broadway at the Beach on July 4, 1995.  This massive complex reinvented the way Myrtle Beach locals and tourists shop, dine and play over the last two decades. Since then, it has added shops, eateries and other attractions every year and still has plenty of land to expand. The Sun News just published the following article which details the history and hints at future plans.  Broadway at the Beach Still Booming After 20 Years

Way back in October 2013, I reported in my newsletter that I was starting to see a trickle of 1031 Tax-Deferred Exchanges again after a long drought. These were very common during the boom years, probably representing 30% or so of my sales. They are now coming back strong. I just received 2 offers in 2 days involving 1031 Exchanges.  

A 1031 Exchange is a perfectly legal and relatively simple arrangement which allows a seller, under certain circumstances, to sell a property at a profit and roll the proceeds into another property without having to pay taxes on the gain at the time of the transaction. Here is a link to a brief overview on my website  1031 Tax Deferred Exchange.

Alert - I am not a financial or tax adviser. Please consult a qualified expert regarding any details and whether or not a 1031 Exchange is advisable for your particular situation.

If you currently own property or plan to buy property in the future, it is probably worth your time to learn about 1031 Exchanges. You might be surprised at the possibilities. Here are a few examples.

If you have equity in your beach property (or the possibility of a taxable gain because of claimed depreciation) - and many current owners do - this is a perfect way to trade up to a bigger, better beach property. Also, this could enable the seller of an investment property (anywhere) to use the profit from the sale of an apartment building, rental home, or even raw land to purchase a vacation property at the beach (way more fun being a landlord!). This could also facilitate the sale of beach property on the Grand Strand in order to roll the profit into another like kind property in another area.

I just saw a new twist on a 1031 Exchange this past week. I received an offer on one of my listings in which the buyer is using the sale of the mineral rights to property he owns in another state. That's right - he's keeping his property and deferring the capital gains tax on the mineral rights profit and getting an oceanfront condo! This sounded too good to be true so I checked into this and it is perfectly legit.

Check out the updated version of my 2013 article "Save on Taxes with a 1031 Exchange" for an overview of this great "legal loophole" and, more importantly, how one can benefit you!

That's it for this month. Read on for the latest monthly reports and my Best Buys.

See you at the beach!