DSTs for Small Exchanges Under $250,000

Minimums are rarely the obstacle: most 2026 filings accept $100,000 or less

Form D, which every Regulation D issuer files with the SEC, reports the minimum investment accepted from any outside investor. We read the 85 DST Form Ds filed from April through September 2026 that EDGAR full-text search returns. Thirty reported $100,000, ten $50,000, eight $25,000, and fourteen $1,000 or $10,000. Fourteen required $250,000 or more, topped by a diversified offering of $537.9 million with a $500,000 minimum, while a $58.6 million multifamily trust reported $25,000.

A Form D number is the smallest ticket the issuer reports accepting, not a promise that an exchange investor can buy at that size, so confirm the minimum in the private placement memorandum before you identify the trust. How the minimums interact with larger splits is covered at DST minimums and sizing.

One trust or two: at this size every extra trust costs more than it diversifies

Under Reg. section 1.1031(k)-1(c)(4) you may identify any three properties regardless of value, so a small exchange never strains the identification rules. The question is how many trusts are worth owning. Each DST is a separate grantor trust that sends you its own annual statement, and each income-tax state where its property sits can mean another nonresident return; see DST multi-state tax issues.

Hypothetical: you net $180,000 from a condo sale. Option one is $180,000 in a single trust with a $100,000 minimum. Option two is $100,000 in an industrial trust and $80,000 in a $25,000-minimum apartment trust, so a problem with one tenant or sponsor does not hit everything. Option two doubles the statements and may add a state return. Either can be right; run your own numbers with your CPA, including what each extra return costs you to prepare.

Place every dollar. Any exchange money left with the qualified intermediary after the purchases is taxable boot, so pick amounts that use the full balance or a trust that accepts odd amounts. Ask the sponsor before day 45 whether it will accept your exact figure, so the last few thousand dollars do not end up taxed.

Fees scale with your check, but the paperwork does not

Selling commissions are a percentage. In the same filings, estimated sales commissions divided by the offering amount had a median near 6%; a $100,000-minimum net-lease trust filed in April 2026 estimated $2,378,500 on a $47,570,000 raise, about 5%. A $90,000 investment carries the same load rate as a $900,000 one, so small investors are not charged a higher percentage on the offering.

What does not scale is the fixed work around each trust: reading a memorandum, preparing your return with another grantor statement, and any state filing. The same preparation bill is ten times larger, as a share of the income, on a $60,000 slice than on a $600,000 slice. Inside each trust the manager's annual fee and reserves come out before distributions, and those are percentages too, so they do not penalize a small owner either.

Accreditation and debt replacement are the real gatekeepers for small exchanges

All 85 filings reported no non-accredited investors. Under Rule 501(a) you qualify with net worth above $1,000,000 excluding your primary residence, or income above $200,000, or $300,000 with a spouse or spousal equivalent, in each of the last two years. Many owners of a single small rental are close to the line, and in a Rule 506(c) offering the sponsor must verify it; see DST accredited investor rules.

Debt is the second gate. If the property you sold had a mortgage, the amount paid off is part of what you must replace with new debt or added cash, and a DST's share of its loan can count toward that; how the arithmetic works is at does a DST loan count as replacement debt.

Direct property, a direct title security or paying the tax can beat a DST at this size

A $200,000 exchange can buy a rental house or condo outright or with a loan, keeping control and avoiding offering loads; the comparison is at DST vs direct NNN property. A direct title security places you as sole owner, through a single-member LLC, of a single-family property sourced between $250,000 and $500,000, so it sits at the top of this page's range.

When the gain is small or your income is low this year, the exchange may not be worth its cost. The thresholds are worked through at minimum gain for a 1031 to be worth it and low bracket: pay the tax or exchange.