I'm not a agent, just a seller looking for non-traditional ways to sell a house. I was looking at Permanent House Swap websites and was wondering how simultaneous the swap has to be? What I wanted to do was swap for a house around 1/2 the value of mine. I would want them to buy my house first, and then use the money left over after paying off my mortgage to purchase their house for cash. Is this possible to do? Thanks

You probably need to engage in what the IRS refers to as a 1031 Exchange. You can search on this forum for prior discussions talking about 1031s. Or read the IRS Publications on 1031 Exchanges which you'll find more than just helpful, as they include some specific examples.

Don't expect to find anyone who wants your specific property, and you their's (that would be close to impossible); but a Third Party or Qualified Intermediary who works to find someone who DOES want the "un-wanted" asset. And you cannot use a property on which you're experiencing a loss in a 1031 Exchange.

The Intermediary will also work to balance the equities for all of the Parties so that it will be as close to a Tax Free (or Tax Deferred) Exchange of Like-Kind for Like-Kind as possible, with taxes being due and payable only on the Cash which was removed from the Transaction(s).

The Intermediary is more likely than not a Law Firm which specializes in 1031s. My last 1031 involved the sale (trading) of a home here in Vermont for a home in Rhode Island which was purchased by a woman in Pennsylvania who took possession of the home here in Vermont, and never saw the property in Rhode Island . . . . but it served to provide the missing ingredient to make the deal(s) work.

In that last exchange, the Party who owned the Rhode Island property actually wound up with a Delaware home and that Party went to live in Pennsylvania . . . . so there were actually 4 Coordinated Simultaneous Closings, all choreographed by that one Firm. And I only met the Vermont Seller and his Pennsylvania Buyer. Nobody got something that they didn't want.