The 45-Day Plan: What to Do Each Week After Your Sale Closes

Before and at closing: the clock starts on transfer, so the intermediary and the calendar must be set first

Reg. section 1.1031(k)-1(b)(2) starts both periods on the date you transfer the relinquished property and ends identification at midnight on the 45th day after. The exchange period ends at midnight on the 180th day or on the due date, with extensions, of your return for the year of the sale, whichever is earlier.

The proceeds must go to a qualified intermediary under an agreement that limits your rights to the money as paragraph (g)(6) requires. Your own attorney, accountant, real estate agent or broker who acted for you in the past two years is a disqualified person and cannot serve; what the QI needs to open an exchange lists the documents.

Hypothetical calendar: a sale that closes on Friday, October 9, 2026 has day 45 on Monday, November 23, 2026 and day 180 on Wednesday, April 7, 2027, which falls before the April 15 due date set by section 6072(a) for a calendar-year return. A sale on November 2, 2026 would reach day 180 on May 1, 2027, so it needs an extension; see filing an extension to keep the full 180 days.

Week 1, days 1 to 7: confirm the money, fix the targets, and decide what you are shopping for

Nothing in week 1 is about touring. It is about knowing exactly what a fully deferred exchange requires so every later decision is measured against it.

• Get the final settlement statement and the intermediary's written confirmation of funds received. The settlement statement for a 1031 exchange shows what to check.
• Write down two targets: replacement value at least equal to the sale price, and new debt or added cash at least equal to the mortgage paid off. The exchange equation gives the arithmetic.
• Put day 45 and day 180 in every calendar involved: yours, your agent's, your lender's and your CPA's.
• Decide the type of replacement: a property you will buy, DST interests, or both. That choice changes everything that follows.
• If you will borrow, send the lender your financials now, because the loan has to close inside the same 180 days as the purchase.

Weeks 2 to 4, days 8 to 28: tour, offer and test, while a DST backup is prepared in parallel

Use these three weeks to turn a long list into properties you have actually tested. Offers made now can include inspection and financing contingencies, but you need enough information by about day 35 to know which ones you would close on.

In parallel, prepare a DST backup. Request the offering documents for one or two trusts that fit your amount and debt need, complete the sponsor's investor and accreditation paperwork, and confirm the interest is still available. A backup that is identified but cannot be bought is no backup; naming DSTs on your 1031 list explains how owners set it up.

If a property can close quickly, consider closing it before day 45. Reg. section 1.1031(k)-1(c)(1) treats replacement property received before the end of the identification period as identified in all events.

Weeks 5 and 6, days 29 to 42: choose the identification rule and send a signed list early

Pick the rule that fits your list under paragraph (c)(4): up to three properties of any value, any number whose total value does not exceed 200% of what you sold, or more than that if you will actually acquire at least 95% of the value identified. The three-property rule is the simplest to satisfy; how many properties you can identify covers the other two.

Draft the letter to the standard in paragraph (c)(2) and (c)(3): a written document you sign, describing each property unambiguously by legal description, street address or distinguishable name, sent to the person obligated to transfer the property or to another person involved in the exchange who is not a disqualified person. In practice that is your intermediary; an email to your own agent does not count.

Name a DST by trust name and the dollar amount or percentage you intend to buy. Send the letter by about day 40 and ask the intermediary to confirm receipt in writing, so a technical problem still leaves time to resend.

• Hypothetical list for a $900,000 sale: a $700,000 building you are under contract on, a second building as an alternative, and a $900,000 DST interest as a full backup. Three properties, so the 200% test never applies.
• If the first building closes, the DST interest can absorb any remainder; if both buildings fail, the DST covers the whole exchange.

Days 43 to 45 and beyond: revisions only in writing, then the list is fixed

You can revoke and replace an identification before the deadline, but paragraph (c)(6) requires the revocation in a signed writing sent to the same person; an oral change is invalid. Keep the final days for that kind of correction rather than for first decisions.

The deadline does not move for weekends or holidays, which whether the 45-day deadline moves for weekends explains, and there is no general extension. After midnight on day 45 you can buy only what is on the list; changing your identification after day 45 covers why.

Record the date of the written identification: line 5 of Form 8824 asks for it, per the Form 8824 instructions. The next phase, closing within 180 days, is laid out in day 45 to day 180.