How I Doubled My Portfolio with a 1031 Exchange & You Can Too (Rebalancing Case Study)

If you own investment properties that have enjoyed significant price appreciation, my experience in the last few years may be insightful.

I sold two properties that had gone up in value and used a 1031 exchange to acquire five properties, more than doubling my portfolio, and I am now on the verge of doing it again. 

I also made a big mistake, one I hope to help you avoid.

Leveraging my experience, you can apply this investing model to your real estate portfolio too, doubling it roughly every four to six years.

In 2018, I decided to sell two single-family homes I owned in the Phoenix, AZ area.  I had to wait for the tenants to leave as their leases expired and, after some renovations, executed two 1031 exchanges a few months apart with the help of a qualified intermediary. Each property had appreciated approximately $100,000, and I decided it was time to redeploy that capital into other properties with higher cash flow and appreciation potential.

I 1031’d the first house into three renovated houses in Huntsville, AL, a rapidly growing area that primarily offered good cash flow but also some potential for equity growth due to the jobs moving into the area.  A few months later, I 1031’d the second house into two renovated homes in Port Richey, FL, a rapidly appreciating area about an hour north of Tampa.

In so doing, I more than doubled my portfolio from two houses into five houses.

Now, six years later, those two Port Richey, FL homes have appreciated by over $100,000 each, so I’m now considering 1031ing those into either four properties in another up-and-coming market or into two duplexes.  Either way, those two doors will turn into four doors early next year.

This is a strategy you can use to build your portfolio:

• Buy in a market where home values are appreciating
• Wait four to six years, letting the property’s cash flow pay for itself while it’s appreciating
• Use a 1031 exchange to double your portfolio, then repeat

Before we dive into this strategy, there is one cautionary tale: In the six years since I sold those two properties in Phoenix, they have appreciated another $150,000 each, so I left about $300,000 on the table.  

How was I supposed to know the Fed was going to lower interest rates to near zero??

What I’ve learned from this experience: Learning when to sell.

To understand reasons and timing for selling, we should first review the difference between Return on Investment (ROI) and Return on Equity (ROE).  Consider the simplified example below for a $250,000 Arizona property with 20% down:

In year one, the down payment and the equity are the same, as the property hasn’t had a chance to appreciate yet, just after purchase. Return on Investment and Return on Equity are the same at 5.0%.

By year five, however, the property has appreciated by $100,000, and net cash flow after expenses has increased to $3,000. The Return on Investment (on the original down payment) has increased from 5.0% to 6.0% ($3K/$50K), but the Return on Equity (ROE) has decreased from 5.0% to 2.0% ($3K/$150K) because property values have increased faster than rents.

The investor in this example has a lot of equity tied up in this property; equity that could be redeployed into other higher-returning properties. The property in question would be a good candidate for sale.

As I found out the hard way, the flip side is that you might sell too soon!

At the time, the idea that a 1,423-square-foot home in Gilbert, AZ, selling for over $400K was inconceivable. What I learned was that in an appreciating market with lots of high incomes and money moving into the area to bid up prices, what homeowners (not investors) will pay for a property can surprise you.

If I had to do it again, I would look for signs that home prices are plateauing:

• Days on market are increasing
• The number of listings on MLS is increasing
• The number of multiple offers is decreasing
• Listed home prices are being marked down
• Interest rates are starting to inch up
  

If you see some of these signs, you can decide that prices have gone up about as much as they ever will and it might be time to redeploy your capital.  On the other hand, if the local market is not showing these signs, there might still be upside potential and now might not be the time to sell, and you should explore other methods to leverage your equity.

Rather than selling the property, you can also consider refinancing it and taking some of your equity out (“cash-out refi”) so you can use it to buy more properties, or you can consider borrowing against the property (HELOC).

With a cash-out refi, you take out a new mortgage for more than your previous mortgage balance, pay off the old loan and pay yourself the remainder in cash. Using the previous example, a refi would look like this:

¹ There’d be some principal paydown, but it’d be negligible after five years

As you can see, by refinancing, you can take out $50K from your equity in the property and use it to buy another property.

The caveat here is that your original property – now with a larger $250K loan – has to cash flow even with the higher loan amount.  If rents have gone up sufficiently to cover the new mortgage, then this is a viable option.

A Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) is a cheaper option than a refi, as a HELOC does not require you to get a new loan and pay points and lending fees.  However, most lenders will offer a HELOC only on a primary residence, so you’d have to find a lender that’s willing to do HELOCs on investment properties to make this option work.

That said, you could borrow the $50K in this example using the equity in your investment property as collateral and use that $50K to buy another property.

The caveat here is that new property you buy will essentially be 100% financed, with the $50K down payment from the HELOC at some interest rate, and the remainder financed with a conventional loan.

With 100% financing, it’d be difficult to make the newly acquired property cash flow.

While cash-out refis and HELOCs have routinely been used by investors over the years, as of this writing (Fall 2024) interest rates are relatively high and it’d be difficult to make these options worthwhile.  Interest rates are expected to decline over the new few quarters, so these strategies may be viable in 2025 and beyond, but for now, the most likely way to “liberate” your equity and build your portfolio is to do a 1031 exchange.

If you are currently sitting on investment properties that have enjoyed significant price appreciation, you should consider using 1031 exchanges to build your real estate portfolio.

If market conditions allow, see if you can double your portfolio every four to six years so you can reach your financial goals sooner.

To do that, redeploy your equity/capital to markets poised for home price appreciation, i.e., where there’s job and population growth and where the demand for housing is greater than the supply. Many metros in Florida and Texas fall into this category, and RealWealth’s turnkey teams there are vetted through our 7-step process. Explore 1031 exchange properties in top markets →

Before selling, analyze local market conditions to make sure you’re not selling too soon and leaving money on the table.

If interest rates come down, consider other options such as cash-out refis or HELOCs.

Finally, real estate is a very forgiving asset class.  Even if you don’t time things perfectly, you can still double your portfolio!

Editor’s note: In July 2026, Joe built his own life of “real wealth” and retired from RealWealth. We’re so grateful for his dedication to our investors over the years and the wisdom he provided, which you’ll still find in his articles and webinars.