I'm hoping to 1031 a rental property and then move into it myself for a bit. As far as I can tell this is fine, even when setting the mortgage to "primary residence" but how can I find out for sure? I want to make sure I don't bet hit with a minimum-wait before I can move in and work on the place etc etc.
The rental is in Utah but I'm not sure where I will be 1031ing to just yet.
You have an investment property so the "like kind" of a 1031 exchange would have to be another investment property. If you want to convert the new investment property into a principal residence and meet the IRS safe harbor, you'd need to rent the new place out for 2 years before converting it (see Moving into a 1031 Swap Residence). You could be more aggressive and move in sooner, forgoing the safe harbor, if you have other evidence that it was a bona fide investment property. But the existence of this question would cut against that possibility.
