Can you spot a fraudulent QI...?

You've sold your purple duplex and you want to do a 1031 exchange. When it's time to pick your intermediary, how do you know if the intermediary has previously been convicted of fraud? At least one has! Can you tell if the intermediary is daytrading with their client's money? Several have! Could the intermediary get on an airplane with your money and disappear? Several have!

The answer is no -- you cannot tell from talking to them, or meeting them in person. And there is no agency that is dedicated to protecting you.

The only thing that you can do is make sure that your money is parked in a separate account where you can see it -- online or otherwise. And that you watch it the entire time the intermediary has it.

--The Experts