While many real estate owners wait for anticipated changes in the capital gains tax structure by Congress, a few have taken advantage of a little-known tax-deferred exchange that allows a property owner to defer the recognition of capital gains when they exchange their ownership in a property for stock in a Real Estate Investment Trust. This exchange -- known as OP units and similar to a 1031 tax deferred property exchange -- has only recently been used by property owners. “The use of OP units has allowed us to make deals with sellers who were not considering the sale of the property due to the detrimental impact of paying capital gains tax upon sale," said Steve Hegge, representative of Apartment Investment & Management Company of Denver, Colo. "Our ideal seller is one who will have severe capital gains tax implications, but is looking to spread his risk outside of the day to day management of his property. By trading his interest in the property for our stock, it allows the Seller to spread his risk among 18,000 different units in the country, thus minimizing the risk of becoming dependent on one major metro area.” Although only a few transactions have occurred in the metro area with OP units, this additional tool in the tool-belt of REIT’s makes it likely that OP-Unit transactions will become more commonplace in the future.