Parents use 1031 for a new property, but the child pays the new mortgage
Hello, I just wanted to check on the possibility of this. My parents have an investment home in Washington state that they want to sell. They want to use 1031 to buy a property in California where we currently reside. WA house selling value could be from 1.0 -1.3 mill but there’s still around $260k mortgage left on it. CA homes we’re looking at likely 1.3 to 1.6 mil. I understand that whatever price that they sell the WA house, we would need to buy a CA house for equal or greater value to qualify for 1031. But does the loan taken out on the CA home also have to be greater than $260k (loan on the WA house)? If they decide to pay off a good chunk of the loan before sale (say only $50k left), then does the loan only have to be greater than $50k?
The second part would be that my parents are getting old and will have hard time qualifying for a loan and don’t want to continue paying mortgage anymore. Is it possible for them to add me (the child) to the title of the new CA house while preserving the 1031? Can I put my name on the loan and just pay the entire mortgage on the CA house? Ultimately, the parents want to take their name off the title. Would this invalidate the 1031? The child may or may not live in this new CA house, but it would be at least 2 years of it being an investment property before the child does decide to live there and make it a primary residence. Any thoughts? Thanks!