Reasons:
- Property taxes? Tanked.
- Capital gains? What capital gains?
- Money laundering? Check.
- Gift tax dodge? Probably.
- Transfer tax? Lol.
- Asset value shenanigans? You bet.
IRS gonna love this one. Good luck explaining that "market rate" to the auditors.
Most people probably pick a mix of winners and losers. After you find out which ones were the losers, then I guess you can cash them in to lower your taxes strategically. I think that's the idea.
...depends on the jurisdiction. In many property taxes aren't based on the last transaction price, they're based on what the city assesses the prices as. Selling the property for $1 won't affect the value of the property, unless all the other buildings in the same area do the same thing.
>- Money laundering? Check.
Except property transfers are public information so it's obvious what's going on.