Chicago Deferred Exchange Company

What Chicago Deferred Exchange Company does

Chicago Deferred Exchange Company (CDEC), founded in 1989 and headquartered at 231 South LaSalle Street in Chicago, is one of the oldest and most experienced Qualified Intermediary (QI) and Exchange Accommodation Titleholder (EAT) firms in the United States. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wintrust Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: WTFC), a diversified financial holding company, and operates as a specialized business unit focused exclusively on facilitating IRC Section 1031 tax-deferred real estate exchanges. CDEC serves individuals, partnerships, and corporations owning investment real estate who seek to defer capital gains taxes when selling appreciated properties and reinvesting proceeds into replacement properties, offering both forward exchanges (replacement property acquired after sale of relinquished property) and reverse exchanges (replacement property acquired before sale).

CDEC's operating model is built on segregated Qualified Trust accounts opened for each client on each transaction, with client funds held only in professionally managed, highly liquid institutional money market funds rated AA or better, and all interest accruing to client accounts. Funds held in trust are segregated from creditors' claims by operation of law. The firm employs Certified Exchange Specialists (CES) and in-house attorneys (Mary Cunningham as CEO, Karen Cholipski as President, Eric Brecher as EVP Business Development, Naomi Weitzel as EVP Client Relations, and additional VPs of Client Relations and Operations) and has received several Private Letter Rulings from the IRS that are beneficial to clients in structuring complex transactions. There is no proprietary technology platform; the firm's value proposition rests on regulatory expertise, legal specialization, and a 75,000+ exchange track record spanning every U.S. state and every real estate sector.

Revenue is generated on a transaction-fee basis for both forward and reverse exchange facilitation, with pricing not publicly disclosed and quotes handled via phone or web inquiry. The firm markets through industry educational content, complimentary CLE and CPE presentations to legal and accounting partners, and direct relationship-based engagement. As a niche financial services intermediary inside a publicly traded parent, CDEC's growth and revenue are closely correlated with U.S. commercial real estate transaction volumes rather than any technology or platform scaling dynamic.

Name

Chicago Deferred Exchange Company

Legal name

Chicago Deferred Exchange Company

Website

https://cdec1031.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Chicago Deferred Exchange Company is a Wintrust Financial subsidiary that acts as a Qualified Intermediary and Exchange Accommodation Titleholder, facilitating IRC Section 1031 tax-deferred forward and reverse real estate exchanges for individuals, partnerships, and corporations nationwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. 1031 Exchange Services: Transaction-based fees for Qualified Intermediary and Exchange Accommodation Titleholder services facilitating IRC Section 1031 tax-deferred real estate exchanges. Services include both forward and reverse exchanges.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Chicago Deferred Exchange Company (CDEC) provides Qualified Intermediary and Exchange Accommodation Titleholder services that facilitate IRC Section 1031 tax-deferred exchanges for real estate investors. The company creates a separate Qualified Trust account for every client on every transaction, holds funds in AA-rated institutional money market funds, and supports both forward and reverse exchange structures along with consultation services.

Product overview

CDEC operates as a specialized financial services firm offering a single core product: Qualified Intermediary and Exchange Accommodation Titleholder services for IRC Section 1031 tax-deferred exchanges. The company provides both forward exchanges (where the replacement property is acquired after the sale of the relinquished property) and reverse exchanges (where the replacement property is acquired before the sale), accompanied by consultation services. CDEC's service is built on a foundation of segregated Qualified Trust accounts for each client transaction, with funds held in AA-rated institutional money market funds. The company also offers educational resources including Exchange Basics, Forward Exchanges, Reverse Exchanges PDFs, and case studies on partnership issues and seller financing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CDEC 1031 Exchange Services Qualified Intermediary and Exchange Accommodation Titleholder services that enable real estate investors to defer capital gains under IRC Section 1031 through forward and reverse exchange transactions, supported by a separate Qualified Trust account for every client on every transaction and AA-rated institutional money market funds.
• Forward 1031 Exchanges Forward exchange service in which the replacement property is acquired after the sale of the relinquished property under IRC Section 1031, with CDEC acting as Qualified Intermediary and holding exchange proceeds in a segregated Qualified Trust account.
• Reverse 1031 Exchanges Reverse exchange service in which the replacement property is acquired before the sale of the relinquished property, with CDEC acting as Exchange Accommodation Titleholder to hold title to the replacement property until the relinquished property is sold.

Quantifiable outcome

• Successfully facilitated over 75,000 exchanges including thousands of reverse exchanges

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Fidelity National Financial: A large title insurance and transaction services conglomerate whose subsidiaries offer 1031 QI services alongside a much broader real estate services portfolio. Comparable as a larger incumbent with overlapping QI capabilities, though QI is not its primary focus.
• Stewart Information Services Corporation: A major title insurance company offering 1031 exchange services through affiliated arrangements. Comparable as a broad incumbent serving real estate investors, with overlapping but not specialized QI capabilities relative to CDEC's pure-play focus.

Direct peers

• IPX1031: One of the largest national Qualified Intermediaries for 1031 exchanges, providing both forward and reverse exchange services. Directly comparable to CDEC in service scope, target customer (real estate investors), and transaction-based fee model.
• Equity Advantage: An established Qualified Intermediary specializing in IRC Section 1031 exchanges, including forward, reverse, and improvement exchanges. Directly comparable to CDEC in niche focus, transaction-fee model, and real estate investor customer base.
• Exchange Authority, LLC: A national Qualified Intermediary specializing in 1031 exchanges, including complex reverse and improvement exchanges. Directly comparable to CDEC in service scope, customer type, and reliance on experienced staff to manage complex transactions.
• Asset Preservation, Inc. A long-standing national Qualified Intermediary providing 1031 exchange services for real estate investors. Directly comparable in service offering, regulatory expertise, and B2B target market of high-net-worth investors and partnerships.
• First American Exchange Company: The Qualified Intermediary subsidiary of First American Financial Corporation, providing 1031 exchange services nationally. Directly comparable as a QI competitor, with the added backing of a large title insurance parent — analogous to CDEC's Wintrust relationship.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/cdec1031
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/chicago-deferred-exchange-company

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Chicago Deferred Exchange Company