If you are thinking about diversifying your portfolio by trading out of real estate investments and into mineral rights, you’ll need to determine whether the mineral right is exchangeable and whether it is like kind to the real estate you plan to sell.  Because this is a complicated field, we recommend you talk to your tax adviser, but this article can give you an introduction into the topic.

There are many types of mineral rights, and some, but not all, can be exchanged in a 1031 exchange.  Starting in 2018, only real property can be exchanged, so whether you can exchange a mineral right for either another mineral right or for a more traditional real estate investment first depends on whether the right is considered to be real estate rather than personal property.