LAFAYETTE, CA-1031 Exchange Options this week is reporting exponential growth through the first half of 2003. The Lafayette, CA-based brokerage says it completed over 120 transactions representing in excess of $300 million in real estate — which equates to a 106% growth rate when compared to the last half of 2002 and a 483% growth rate when compared to the first half of 2002.

“We blew the doors off our expectations,” CEO Jim Noack tells GlobeSt.com “When we went from 100% growth to 200% growth, we thought it couldn't last, then it went to 300% and 400%.”1031 Exchange Options specializes in tenancy-in-common transactions, wherein smaller investors who not only want to complete a 1031 exchange but also want more of a hands-free investment can pool with other smaller investors and purchase a larger property, such as a regional mall or a class A office building. Since the IRS last year issued formal guidelines for such transactions and backed it up recently with its first private letter ruling, investors have been flooding into companies experienced in conducting tenant-in-common transactions.

In May of this year, 1031 Exchange Options President Cary Losson served as a primary consultant for one of the largest tenant-in-common transactions on record, working with PASSCO Real Estate Enterprises Inc. to bring together 32 investors — most of whom were completing 1031 exchanges — to acquire the 1.2-million-sf Puente Hills Mall in California for $146 million.