Here are the names of the people we used to complete the sale & 1031 exchange of our store building. We felt they were extremely knowledgeable, trustworthy, and we enjoyed working with all of them very much. We all became family by the time we were done!
Realtors:
- Mike LePore (626) 355-1451 (office) and his daughter Kris Mathison
- Century21 Village Realty
- 38 W. Sierra Madre Bl., Sierra Madre, CA 91024
Kris & her husband own various rental properties and have a handyman & rental service business. Her referrals to paint & gutter people were excellent. She is a computer expert also. (The “industry standard” commission for commercial property sales is 5%, however, some realtors still quote 6%. We didn’t have to ask for the discount with Mike.)
Accommodators:
- Downstream Exchange Company (800)743-1031
- www.downstreamexchange.com
- 909 E. Green St., Pasadena, CA 91106-2930
- C. Anthony Phillips (Tony), President (also is a CPA)
- Derek Phillips (his son – I talked to him most of the time)
Their fees depend on the number of properties exchanged. In our case we sold one and bought one replacement property so we paid $750.00. I believe for each additional property involved in the exchange it is another $200.00. They also get to keep any interest earned on the money during the time they hold the funds. In this market, that’s not much ! We never went to their office, just mailed, faxed & phoned. We used our own CPA, so I never talked to Tony about our personal taxes; but I felt more comfortable knowing that he had the tax knowledge.
Note Facilitator:
- Note Queen Cash Flow Strategies
- Dawn Rickabaugh
- [email protected]
- (626)470-3477
Dawn found investors to buy the promissory note we obtained from the buyer of our property. The resulting cash went to Downstream and became part of our 1031 exchange so we could buy our new property with all cash. She is extremely knowledgeable about all types of non traditional financing. We had met Dawn and had read the financing columns she was writing for the Temple City newspaper and I had looked at her website. She had worked with Downstream before and also thought highly of their services, and they liked her also. We felt very comfortable taking all of our experts’ advise.
Escrow:
- Huntington Escrow, Inc. Maggie Cluck, Escrow Officer (626) 408-1670
- 246 W. Foothill Bl., Monrovia, CA 91016
- Mike recommended Maggie, but we had also used her before during another real estate transaction. She has been doing this for many years.
CPA:
- Our CPA is Miller Accountancy Corporation, Jim Miller, CPA
- 626)445-0590
- 444 E. Huntington Dr., #201, Arcadia, CA 91006
He is conservative where it is necessary and as liberal as he feels the tax law will allow. He also answers your questions and makes suggestions with regard to where you are in life and what you want to accomplish.
You can also go to www.1031exchangemadesimple.com (I printed out the Frequently Asked Questions on 1031 Exchanges section) or to the IRS website, I think it is irs.gov but I found it to be a bit ponderous.
Good luck with your endeavor! Don’t be afraid to ask questions, there are no dumb ones! And if you don’t understand, ask again! The important thing is you have to feel comfortable with the people and the process. Sometimes you just have to tell the expert what you want to accomplish and then listen to how they recommend you get there. Sometimes they see a way to get a better outcome than what you had envisioned. Please feel free to use our names if you want to contact any of these people, or if either of us can be any further help let us know. (This turned out to be longer than I had intended!)
~ Cheryl & Jim Robuck