Frequently asked
1031 exchanges, Dark Shell Scoring, and how Shop 1031 works.
By The Shop 1031 Research Desk · Updated
1031 basics
- What is a 1031 exchange?
- A like-kind exchange under IRC Section 1031. You sell investment real estate and reinvest the proceeds into replacement property to defer the capital-gains tax. There are strict deadlines and rules. Your qualified intermediary, CPA, and attorney own the tax and legal calls.
- What are the 1031 deadlines?
- Two clocks, both from the day your sale closes. 45 days to identify replacement property in writing. 180 days to close on it. They run concurrently. Confirm the specifics with your QI; the rules are unforgiving.
- What is a qualified intermediary?
- The QI holds your sale proceeds so you never take constructive receipt, which would blow the exchange. You engage one before you close the sale. Shop 1031 can point you to QIs; the engagement is yours.
- What is boot?
- Boot is value you receive in the exchange that is not like-kind, often cash or debt relief. It can trigger tax. The treatment is a question for your CPA and QI.
- What is a cap rate?
- In-place net operating income divided by price. A higher cap rate is a cheaper basis for the same income. Shop 1031 shows the going-in cap on every deal and marks where each one sits against the matched universe.
- What does cash-on-cash mean?
- Year-1 net cash flow divided by the equity you put in. It answers what the deal pays you in year one relative to what you invested. Shop 1031 computes it on your scenario for every listing.
What Shop 1031 is
- What is Shop 1031?
- A buyer-side analytics platform for 1031 exchanges. It normalizes every offering memorandum into one schema, underwrites each deal to your exchange, and lets you shop a pre-underwritten pool instead of searching blind. You spend time only on deals that already pencil.
- How is Shop 1031 different from a listing platform?
- Platforms map the market and professionals close the deal; Shop 1031 structures the middle. We normalize every offering memorandum to one comparable model and underwrite each deal to your exchange, so the inventory listing platforms carry and the advice professionals give both run off clean inputs. You see the same listings, scored and ranked to your scenario before you ever open one.
- Is Shop 1031 a brokerage or a listing site?
- No. Shop 1031 is an independent analytics platform. It is not a brokerage, a law firm, a tax advisor, a lender, or a Qualified Intermediary. Brokerage and advisory services, when used, are provided by independently licensed third parties under separate engagement.
Dark Shell Scoring
- What is the Dark Shell Score?
- Shop 1031's underwriting signal. DSS does not ask whether the tenant will renew. It asks what you own if the tenant goes dark at lease end: how much of your invested equity survives across base, bear, and stress vacancy. Higher is better. It runs on every listing, scored 0 to 100.
- What is a dark shell?
- The building after the tenant leaves and the rent stops. The question is what the real estate is worth empty, re-leased at market, minus the carry and the cost to backfill. That floor is what protects your equity. Shop 1031 scores it directly.
- How does Shop 1031 score listings?
- It takes the real OM inputs, normalizes them, and models the downside. Each deal gets base, bear, and stress survival figures, then a composite DSS from 0 to 100. The model starts where most underwriting stops: the day the tenant leaves.
- What is the decision matrix?
- The comparison layer on your matches. Every property, underwritten to your equity and threshold, in one grid. Sort any column. The deals that satisfy your exchange pin to the top. Move an assumption and the whole grid re-prices.
Limits
- Can Shop 1031 tell me which property to buy?
- No. It does not opine on specific deals. That is a brokerage and judgment call. It lines up the underwriting and the comparison; the buy decision goes to a licensed broker and your own advisors.
- Does Shop 1031 give tax advice?
- No. Tax treatment is owned by your CPA and qualified intermediary. Shop 1031 handles the find-the-replacement side around their guidance.
- Does Shop 1031 provide financing?
- Shop 1031 does not arrange, place, or broker debt. The capital-advisory view shows pro-forma lender scenarios so you can see the shape of a financing. When you want real quotes, your scenario routes to a capital-advisory partner.
For fiduciaries
- How do white-label 1031 platforms work?
- A fiduciary licenses the underwriting infrastructure and runs it under their own brand. Shop 1031 licenses its analytics, Dark Shell Scoring, the cash-flow model, the saved-search match pipeline, and the chatbot. The brokerage license is not part of the white label; brokerage of record stays with the licensee or routes to Arbor. See the partners page.
- What is an AaaS in real estate?
- Agent-as-a-Service: an operator runs AI agents plus a named licensed human for the work that needs a license, and offers that stack to others. Shop 1031's agent stack handles outreach, intake, coordination, and analytics, with clear escalation to the licensed broker for any valuation or transaction call.
- How do RIAs serve 1031 clients with Shop 1031?
- An RIA can give an exchange client real replacement analysis without standing up a CRE underwriting desk: the replacement pool is normalized and scored to the client's own basis and timeline, on the RIA's brand. Brokerage of record stays with the licensee or Arbor; the license transfers no individual real estate license.
- Can a CPA or attorney offer 1031 analytics?
- Yes, as a licensed deployment of the Shop 1031 platform. The analytics, scoring, and tools are white-labeled; brokerage stays with the licensee or Arbor. Engage via the partners page.
Still have a question? The methodology is public, in full, on our methodology page. Fiduciaries licensing the platform start at For partners.