Charleston Area Opportunity Zones, Everything You Need To Know

Very quickly Qualified Opportunity Zones, also known as, “O-zones”, “QOZ, “Blue Zones” are becoming all the buzz in the real estate industry.  As a seasoned investor/developer, in addition to a licensed REALTOR®, I have made it my prerogative to learn everything there is to know about this incredible new incentive. To be honest, I initially had low expectations. Rarely have I found any government incentives to be more than a niche’ offering.  I certainly did not expect that it would benefit my core client base of residential buyers, sellers, and small commercial investors. As I have slowly peeled away the multiple layers of the Investing In Opportunity Act, my experience has been quite contrary to my initial assumptions.

The Most Unbelievable Tax Break Ever

When reading about opportunity zones and the benefit being lauded as a “tax break”, one could assume the goal is to incentivize large commercial investors to develop low income housing. Several programs like this exist with very restrictive criteria and are very niche’ investment opportunities.  Dig a little deeper into the details of the early 2018 guidance, the Investing in Opportunity Act starts to sound very much like a revamp on 1031 exchange.  Another pretty good, not great program for savvy real estate investors with a lot of restrictions.  It takes an in depth story like the July 2018 Forbes posting “An unlikely group of billionaires and politicians has created the most unbelievable tax break ever” to really appreciate the scale of this program and opportunities for its many beneficiaries.  This is a bill with bi-partisan support, sponsored by South Carolina’s own Timothy Scott, Cory Booker from New Jersey, and heavy lobbying support from Mr. “You know what’s cool, A Billion dollars” himself, the legendary Sean Parker.

I have since dove into every piece of the passed bill including the recently updated guidance from the Treasury department.  I have spoken to all of my colleagues in commercial real estate and capital markets and have done my best to understand the opportunities for investors, for real estate professionals and most importantly find out Where’s the cash going and how can we direct it to the Charleston Tri-County area!? 

Everything You Need To Know

Jason Peé, founder of “Charleston Global Property Shop” and myself have put together a multi part video series to outline the basics of the program and get into some of the high-level details.  The series is a lead-in for a very special presentation by our friends from STACKSOURCE who will be hosting the “BlueZY Brunch” in early February.  At the presentation you can learn even more details on how to fully benefit from all phases of the Investing in Opportunity Act.  Details such as how to work with us at the Charleston Global Property Shop to connect with large funds investing in opportunity zones.  You will even learn how to start your own qualified opportunity zone fund (QOF).

It is important that the Charleston Real Estate community becomes educated on this program.  Every state in the US is allocating large swaths of land as opportunity zones. The Charleston real estate community must focus on becoming thought leaders and welcome these investment dollars to help revitalize our under-served communities.  The potential influx of capital expenditure will help expand our business communities, create additional housing to support our rapidly expanding job market, and even help take some pressure off the over development of our coastal sea islands.

If you are a residential real estate agent, a commercial real estate agent, a real estate attorney, a finance professional, a large commercial real estate investor, a “flip investor”, a homeowner in an opportunity zone,  an individual expecting to experience capital gains from selling your home or stocks, (have I covered everyone yet?) or if you are a human in the Charleston area, then this program can impact you significantly.

Stay tuned for the Charleston QOZ Video Series.

If you would like to hear more from qualified professionals and attend the BlueZY Brunch in early February 2019, please RSVP and we will get back to you when the details have been finalized!

KYLE PIASECKI

Founder| Realtor

Agent #ALLCHS Team at The Charleston Global Property Shop

684 King Street Charleston SC 29403

|| 843.466.4255 || kpiasecki@charlestongps.com || allchs.com ||