Press & Media Center
Leah Badach is a Certified Exchange Specialist (CES) and qualified intermediary who makes the 1031 exchange understandable. She is available for interviews, expert commentary, and podcast appearances on tax-deferred exchanges, capital-gains deferral, and real estate tax strategy — with quick turnaround and plain-English answers reporters can actually use.
Watch Leah
Leah publishes short-form video on YouTube — 1031 exchanges, capital-gains deferral, and real estate tax strategy, one idea at a time, in under a minute. For producers and podcast hosts, it’s the fastest way to preview her on-camera style before booking a segment.
Fast Facts
- Name
- Leah Badach
- Title
- Certified Exchange Specialist (CES), The Sontag Group
- Credential
- CES — administered by the Federation of Exchange Accommodators (FEA). Roughly 200 active holders nationwide.
- Experience
- 10+ years • 5,000+ exchanges facilitated • $1B+ in value
- Based
- Brooklyn, NY — available nationwide (remote + NYC in person)
- Specialties
- Forward, reverse, improvement/construction, and DST exchanges; NYC co-op & condo exchanges
- Available for
- Expert quotes, live/recorded interviews, podcasts, panels, webinars
- Turnaround
- Same-day for written quotes on deadline
- Press contact
- leah@sssqi.com
Topics Leah Can Speak On
Each of these works as a standalone segment, a written expert quote, or a full podcast episode. Happy to tailor to your audience — investors, agents, CPAs, or general consumers.
1031 Exchange 101
What a 1031 actually is, who it’s for, and why Congress wrote it — in plain English, no jargon.
The 45/180-Day Deadline Trap
The clock that kills most exchanges, why the IRS won’t extend it, and how investors lose deals at day 44.
Reverse & Improvement Exchanges
Buying before you sell, and building on the replacement property — the advanced moves most investors don’t know exist.
DSTs: Retiring From Landlording
How Delaware Statutory Trusts let investors stay in a 1031 and retire from landlording — and why zero-cash-flow structures are misunderstood.
QI Fraud & How to Stay Safe
Your intermediary holds 100% of your proceeds, often unlicensed. How to vet who holds the money.
Capital-Gains Strategy for Investors
Where the 1031 fits among Opportunity Zones, installment sales, and step-up basis in estate planning.
Biggest 1031 Mistakes
The avoidable errors — touching the proceeds, blowing identification, mismatched titling — that blow up exchanges.
Policy Watch: Is 1031 at Risk?
Proposed caps on 1031 deferral and what they would mean for everyday real estate investors and the housing market.
Ready-to-Use Soundbites
Quotable lines you’re welcome to use with attribution to Leah Badach, CES, The Sontag Group. Want one customized to your angle? Just ask.
“The 45-day identification window is the single most common place a 1031 exchange dies. The clock starts the day you close, and outside a federally declared disaster, the IRS does not grant extensions — not for a weekend, not for a death in the family.”
“A 1031 exchange isn’t a loophole. It’s the section of the tax code Congress wrote to keep investment capital moving. Every time an investor defers, that equity goes straight back to work buying the next building.”
“The most expensive mistake I see is people touching the money. The instant your sale proceeds land in your own account — even for a single day — the exchange is dead and the tax bill is due.”
“Your qualified intermediary holds every dollar of your sale proceeds, and in most states they need no license to do it. Vetting who holds that money matters far more than shaving a few hundred dollars off the fee.”
“For investors who are done with the 2 a.m. toilet calls but not ready to pay the tax, a Delaware Statutory Trust lets them stay inside a 1031 and walk away from the headaches — without writing the IRS a check.”
Suggested Interview Questions
- What is a 1031 exchange, in plain English — and who is it actually for?
- What’s the single biggest myth people believe about 1031 exchanges?
- Walk us through how a 1031 exchange goes wrong. Where do people slip?
- The money never touches the investor’s hands — how does that work and why?
- What should someone ask before trusting a qualified intermediary with their proceeds?
- What’s changing for 1031 exchanges in 2026 that investors should know?
- Is the 1031 exchange at risk politically? What would caps actually do?
- When does a 1031 not make sense — when should someone just pay the tax?
Biography
Short bio (for intros & show notes)
Leah Badach is a Certified Exchange Specialist (CES) at The Sontag Group who has facilitated more than 5,000 tax-deferred 1031 exchanges. Based in Brooklyn and serving investors nationwide, she’s known for turning one of the tax code’s most intimidating tools into plain English.
Long bio
Leah Badach is a Certified Exchange Specialist (CES) and qualified intermediary at The Sontag Group, with more than a decade of experience and over 5,000 1031 exchanges — representing in excess of $1 billion in real estate value — to her name. The CES credential, administered by the Federation of Exchange Accommodators, is held by only about 200 practitioners nationwide.
Leah specializes in the exchanges most professionals avoid: reverse exchanges, improvement and construction exchanges, DST placements, and the notoriously tricky world of New York City co-op and condo exchanges. Investors, CPAs, and attorneys bring her their hardest deals precisely because the deadlines are unforgiving and the dollar amounts are large.
She is a frequent resource for investors trying to understand capital-gains deferral, and is available to journalists and podcast hosts for clear, jargon-free commentary on 1031 exchanges, real estate tax strategy, and the policy debates shaping both.
Headshots & Assets
Approved for editorial use with credit to Leah Badach / The Sontag Group.
Book Leah
Email leah@sssqi.com with your outlet, deadline, and format (written quote, phone, video, or podcast). For breaking-news quotes, note your deadline in the subject line and Leah will prioritize it.