Not that Kaplan is complaining. Familiarity breeds acceptance ofthe 1031 exchange. "The more people who think this can be done inthe time frames, more people have a chance of doing business,"Kaplan says. "There is so much publicity about it now, and so manypeople doing it. It's not just some quirk in the IRS tomes."

Five years ago, Syndicated Equities did about $50 million in1031 exchange business, Kaplan says. Last year, the firm did arecord $150 million, a figure it should surpass this year.

Increased awareness of the vehicle designed to allow propertyowners to defer capital gains taxes by exchanging for "like-kind"property has helped his business, Kaplan admits. But recently, sohas a falling stock market. No longer are 20% annual returns, whichwere enough to wipe out a tax hit, a given. And an 8% return, evenif it is relatively safe considering the creditworthiness oftenants such as the Walgreen's drug store chain, was notexciting.