Knowledge Hub
Plain-English answers to landowner questions.
Strength built it. Knowledge preserves it.
DST Basics · 7 min read
What is a DST and How Can It Help Landowners?
A plain-English guide to Delaware Statutory Trusts for rural landowner families. How a DST defers capital gains, generates potential passive income, and simplifies estate planning.
1031 Exchange · 8 min read
What's a 1031 Exchange? How does a DST fit in the equation?
How 1031 exchanges defer capital gains, the IRS rules you must follow, and how DSTs simplify debt, diversify investments, and protect your legacy.
DST Basics · 7 min read
DSTs vs REITs: What Are the Differences for Landowners?
DSTs let landowners defer taxes, claim depreciation, and own real property, advantages REITs can't match for long-term wealth and legacy planning.
DST Basics · 7 min read
Inside a DST Portfolio:
DSTs hold institutional real estate including multifamily, industrial, self-storage, student housing, 55+ communities, and net-lease retail. Here's a plain-English tour of each property type and what makes it tick.
Tax Strategy · 6 min read
The True Cost of Selling Your Land: Federal, State, and Depreciation Taxes
Most landowners underestimate what they'll owe at sale. A breakdown of federal capital gains, state taxes, and depreciation recapture, and how a 1031 DST defers all three.
Tax Strategy · 5 min read
Why Wouldn't I Just Sell, Pay the Taxes, and Move On? The Rule of 72
Selling and paying taxes may cost 30 to 40% of your wealth. The Rule of 72 explains how compounding amplifies that loss into millions over 10 to 20 years.
Tax Strategy · 7 min read
The Tax Cliff:
When a landowner stops running the place, every annual deduction disappears. Input costs, equipment depreciation, operational write-offs, all gone. The IRS catches up fast. Here's what the tax cliff looks like and how to plan around it.
Tax Strategy · 7 min read
Before You Talk to a Buyer:
The decisions that move the most tax dollars get made in the year before a land sale, not at closing. Here's the checklist we walk every landowner family through 12 to 18 months out.
1031 Exchange · 6 min read
Why a Debt-Free Investor Might Embrace DST Leverage: The Case for 50% Non-Recourse Debt
Even debt-averse investors may benefit from 50% non-recourse DST leverage, more depreciation shelter, the potential of mailbox money, zero personal liability.
1031 Exchange · 6 min read
1031 Exchange Debt Replacement Explained:
How Delaware Statutory Trusts use built-in non-recourse debt to satisfy the IRS's 1031 debt-replacement rule and protect your legacy.
1031 Exchange · 5 min read
Recourse vs. Non-Recourse Debt: What Investors and Landowners Need to Know
The difference between recourse and non-recourse debt, how each impacts your liability, and why DSTs favor non-recourse financing for 1031 exchanges.
1031 Exchange · 6 min read
The Qualified Intermediary (QI):
A 1031 exchange has to flow through a Qualified Intermediary. Touch the proceeds yourself and the exchange fails. Here's what a QI does, what to look for, and why the choice matters more than most landowners realize.
1031 Exchange · 6 min read
Splitting a 1031:
You don't have to put 100% of a land sale into a DST. Split exchanges let you take some cash at closing, pay tax on that portion, and roll the rest into a DST tax-deferred. Here's when it makes sense for landowner families.
Tax Strategy · 6 min read
Section 1245 vs. 1250 Depreciation Recapture:
Real estate depreciation recapture (Section 1250) rolls into a 1031 cleanly. Equipment, livestock, and stored grain depreciation recapture (Section 1245) often does not, and gets taxed at ordinary income rates. Here's the difference, and why it matters at sale.
Risk · 7 min read
What Are the Risks of Delaware Statutory Trusts (DSTs) That Every Landowner Should Understand?
DSTs can be smart tools for tax deferral and legacy planning, but they carry risks. Illiquidity, sponsor risk, market risk, fees, and how Iron Ridge helps manage them.
Risk · 7 min read
How DSTs Are Regulated:
Delaware Statutory Trusts are securities. They sit inside the SEC, FINRA, and broker-dealer regulatory framework, with audited financials and independent third-party due diligence on every offering. Here's what protects investors.
Risk · 9 min read
How DST Investments Are Underwritten: A Comprehensive Q&A Guide
How Iron Ridge Advisors performs DST due diligence, sponsor track record, audited financials, property analysis, and independent third-party diligence reports.
DST Basics · 6 min read
What Happens at the End of a DST Hold Period?
When a DST sponsor sells the underlying property in years 5 to 10, you have three options: roll into another DST, take cash and pay the deferred tax, or convert to a public REIT through a 721 UPREIT exchange.
Estate Planning · 7 min read
DST Estate Planning:
When a landowner passes, DST interests transfer to heirs at a stepped-up cost basis. The deferred capital gains tax effectively disappears, and the inheritance divides cleanly across multiple heirs without forcing a sale of the family land.
Estate Planning · 6 min read
Multi-Generational Land:
Leaving the family land to multiple heirs sounds fair, until one wants to sell, one wants to hold, and one moved away decades ago. DSTs let each heir inherit a clean, separate share of the proceeds and decide for themselves.
Estate Planning · 7 min read
How Can You Keep the Farm or Ranch From Splitting the Family?
Why common entity structures (LLCs, corporations, partnerships) often backfire when land passes to heirs, and how DSTs give families breathing room.
Tax Strategy · 5 min read
Structured Sale vs. DST: Which Keeps More in Your Pocket?
Structured Sales delay taxes but don't erase them. DSTs defer taxes, and with a step-up in basis at death, your heirs may never owe Uncle Sam a dime.
Tax Strategy · 6 min read
How Can Farmers and Ranchers Turn Livestock and Equipment Sales Into Lifetime Income Instead of Tax Bills?
Sell livestock or equipment without losing half to taxes. Use a CRUT and Wealth Replacement Trust for income, family security, and legacy.
1031 Exchange · 6 min read
Fractional Mineral Royalties:
Most landowners don't know that deeded mineral rights qualify for 1031 exchange treatment. Fractional mineral royalty portfolios offer passive monthly income from oil and gas production without the operational risk of running a well. Here's how they work.