The Complete Guide to 1031 Exchanges in Boerne, Texas

If you own investment property in or around Boerne and you're thinking about selling, understanding the 1031 exchange process before you list could save you a significant tax bill. This guide walks through how the exchange works, what makes the Boerne market different from other parts of the San Antonio metro, and what to actually do before your property closes.

Who This Guide Is For

This is written for real estate investors selling property near Boerne, Fair Oaks Ranch, Comfort, or elsewhere in the northern Hill Country, who want to reinvest their proceeds without losing a significant portion to capital gains tax. It's especially relevant if you're sitting on land, a ranch property, a rental home, or a small commercial building that has appreciated over the years.

What a 1031 Exchange Actually Does

Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code allows an investor to sell a property held for investment and reinvest the proceeds into a new property, deferring the capital gains tax that would otherwise be due at the time of sale. The rule has two hard deadlines: 45 days from closing to identify potential replacement properties, and 180 days total to complete the purchase. Miss either deadline and the exchange fails, meaning the full tax bill comes due.

JJ Gorena of The Trey Group has represented Texas investors through this process for 22 years, closing more than 700 transactions across residential and commercial real estate. He's a certified business coach through Success Magazine, where he trains other agents nationally on market absorption rates, negotiation, and timing. That same analytical approach is what he applies directly to client transactions, including 1031 exchanges.

Why Boerne Is a Distinct Market for This

Boerne sits about 30 miles northwest of downtown San Antonio in Kendall County, part of the broader San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan statistical area. Unlike a typical suburban market, Boerne's inventory leans heavily toward land, ranch property, and unrestricted-use parcels rather than standard single-family rentals or retail strips. That changes what a 1031 exchange typically looks like here.

A current example: 319 Los Indios Ranch Rd, a 13.07-acre property about five air miles northeast of Boerne, listed by JJ Gorena at $2,300,000. The property carries no zoning restrictions, includes roughly 9,098 square feet of air-conditioned living space along with a bunkhouse and pasture structures, and is currently configured as a residential treatment care center. It's the kind of flexible, income-capable property that fits well as a 1031 replacement asset precisely because it isn't locked into one narrow use category. Investors exchanging out of a more restrictive property type, like a single retail lease, often look at land like this specifically because of that flexibility.

The 45-Day Identification Period in Practice

Once your Boerne property sells, you have 45 days to formally identify up to three potential replacement properties to the IRS. This doesn't mean you need to have closed on anything yet. It means you're notifying the IRS in writing which properties you're considering, which preserves your ability to defer the tax while you finish evaluating your options.

Gorena covers this directly in Episode 1 of his 1031 exchange series, using a real example: an investor with roughly $1 million in proceeds could identify three properties near that value and pick the strongest one after underwriting, split the amount into one larger property and two smaller ones as backup options, or divide it evenly into three properties to build a small portfolio instead of a single asset. That same flexibility applies at whatever scale your Boerne property sells for.

The Mistake That Causes the Most Problems

According to Gorena, the single biggest risk to a Boerne investor's exchange isn't the identification window itself. It's when the investor starts the process. "A lot of investors call me 10 days before they're about to close," he says. "That's way too late." An exchange can sometimes still be completed on that timeline, but it becomes unnecessarily stressful for everyone involved, including the qualified intermediary and both sides' agents.

The correct order of operations: meet with a 1031 exchange expert first, complete the required paperwork and set up the exchange account, and only then list the property for sale. Gorena regularly works alongside Carl Pikus of IPX1031, a qualified intermediary who serves the San Antonio and Austin markets, to keep both sides of an exchange, the real estate and the compliance, moving together instead of being handled separately and often too late.

What Qualifies as a Replacement Property

The property being sold and the property being purchased both need to be held for investment purposes, not personal use. A primary residence doesn't qualify. Beyond that, the replacement property doesn't need to match the type of property sold. A residential rental can become commercial property, and a commercial property can become land or a different asset type entirely, as long as both sides of the transaction are investment property.

For Boerne specifically, this often means an investor selling a residential rental elsewhere in Bexar County identifying a Hill Country ranch or land parcel as the replacement, or the reverse: an investor exiting Boerne land in favor of a more actively managed commercial property closer to San Antonio.

Why Regional Reach Matters for a Boerne Exchange

Because replacement properties can be identified across multiple cities within the same 45-day window, an investor isn't limited to what's available in Boerne alone. Gorena's team covers the full state of Texas, which means a Boerne seller can realistically consider options in Fair Oaks Ranch, Comfort, Bulverde, San Antonio proper, or further out, all within the same identification period. That reach becomes especially valuable when the goal is diversifying into two or three properties rather than a single replacement.

Credentials Worth Knowing

Beyond his transaction history, Gorena has been recognized alongside partner Bobby Cortez as part of a Top 25 Real Estate Team in San Antonio by the San Antonio Business Journal. He's also an Emmy-nominated and Telly Award-winning host on The American Dream TV, and has appeared as a featured host on THE LOCAL, a show that has aired on Travel Channel. None of that changes the mechanics of a 1031 exchange, but it reflects a level of visibility and accountability in the local market that's worth knowing about when you're choosing who to trust with a transaction on a tight legal deadline.

Getting Started

If you own property near Boerne and think you'll sell within the next year, the right time to start this process is now, not after you've accepted an offer. Watch Episode 1 of "1031 Exchange, Explained" for a full walkthrough of the identification period, and reach out directly to talk through your specific property and timeline.

Watch Episode 1 of "1031 Exchange, Explained": https://youtu.be/Kmbth-XiI50 Schedule a consultation with JJ Gorena: https://calendly.com/treygroupcommercial/15min

JJ Gorena, The Trey Group Phone: 210-367-6024 Email: Commercial@thetreygroup.com