Herb Alston
With skills, credentials, experience and personality, Herb Alston, MBA been assisting and educating clients on long-term real estate strategies for over 15 years.
Through his association with Coldwell Banker® he has assisted clients in buying and selling residential and commercial investment property throughout the San Francisco Bay area and the state of California.
During this time, Herb discovered a unique & growing niche of clients with similar objectives. Clients who wanted to:
- Continue to invest in real estate
- Avoid the headaches and hassles of property management (“tenants, toilets, and trash”)
- Retain the tax advantages and avoid capital gains tax
However, many of those clients had been long-term investment property owners and although ready to hang up the property management hat and all that came with it; were not aware of any option that did not involve acquiring more real estate.
- Many would settle for that triple net Walgreens type tenant, for example but what would the owner do with the property when the lease expired or if the tenant decide to relocate at the end of the lease.
- Some clients were having trouble finding replacement property during the 1031 Exchange process
- Some clients were fed up with changing state and local regulations in multi-family property ownership that they would sell the property and just pay the capital gains tax out of shear frustration.
As a confidant to his clients many came to him with the question, “how do I sell my/our investment properties, minimize the capital gains tax hit while maintaining my financial well-being?” In pursuit of that solution Herb discovered something called the Delaware Statutory Trust (DST), which would serve as a Like-Kind replacement property in a 1031 Exchange. To provide the DST option to his suitable clients, Herb would have to obtain several additional licenses.
As a result, Herb is dually licensed as a Realtor and holds a Series licenses 7, 22, and 63 licenses* which allows him to provide 1031 solutions to this niche of clients. Herb maintains his Real Estate practice through COLDWELL BANKER and serves as Managing Director at HALSTON PACIFIC.
The IRS issued the Revenue Ruling 2004-86 that set forth parameters that a Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) must meet in order to be viewed as a grantor trust and qualify for a viable tax-deferring vehicle. In simpler terms, a like-kind replacement property. This allowed an investor to use a beneficial interest (percentage ownership) in a DST as replacement property in a 1031 tax deferred exchange.
This was truly a light-bulb moment. Utilizing the 1031 Exchange process, Herb has introduced many clients to the Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) as a like-kind replacement property option available to Accredited Investors** when selling investment property.
Herb has also become a well-known instructor to thousands of Real Estate agents across the country. Herb has taught classes in 19 states to agents on “How To Grow Your Real Estate Practice Through 1031 Exchange.” Herb realized that there were many other Realtors with clients who had the same problem. Realtors had clients who wanted out of active property management… but no Alternatives as replacement property. This has yielded a national referral base of Realtors who call upon Herb as a partner to assist them in securing the listing to sell and Herb provides the second leg of the 1031 Exchange transaction (the replacement property).
For nearly 10 years, Herb has been utilizing this strategy to assist clients by fashioning strategies that seek to help meet their investment objectives. Effectively allowing real estate investors to continue to own real estate and enjoy similar tax strategies of real estate ownership without the headaches of the “toilets, tenants and trash.”
Herb Alston holds a Bachelors degree Business Management & Human Resources from Golden Gate University in San Francisco and an MBA in Global Business from Saint Mary’s College of California of Moraga, CA completed 2018.
* – Series 7: General Securities Representative; Series 22: Direct Participation Programs Representative; Series 63: Uniform Securities Agent State Law
** – Accredited Investors typically have a $1 million net worth excluding primary residence or $200,000 income individually/$300,000 jointly of the last three years.