NexPoint vs. Medalist Diversified: Comparing Two DST Sponsors for Your 2026 1031 Exchange

TL;DR: NexPoint launched NexPoint Marina II DST, a $48.97 million Delaware Statutory Trust backed by two marina properties on Norris Lake, Tennessee and Lake Barkley, Kentucky, its 34th DST since a platform launch nearly a decade ago. Days earlier, Medalist Diversified, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRR) announced its second DST, an all-cash Caliber Collision property in Overland Park, Kansas. Both offerings target accredited investors doing 1031 exchanges, and both deserve a hard look before you wire six figures into either one.

Two Sponsors, Two Different Bets on 2026

If you're sitting on a 1031 exchange deadline this fall, you've probably noticed the DST market has gotten busier this year. NexPoint, the Dallas-based alternative investment firm, just rolled out its second marina-focused DST of the year: NexPoint Marina II DST, backed by Stardust Marina on Norris Lake in Andersonville, Tennessee (598 slips) and Kuttawa Harbor Marina on Lake Barkley in Kuttawa, Kentucky (409 slips). NexPoint acquired the properties for approximately $44 million, and the offering carries a total capitalization near $49 million with a $100,000 minimum. It follows NexPoint's first marina DST of the year, a $42.7 million offering backed by Eufaula Cove Marina in Oklahoma and Grafton Harbor in Illinois, which launched in March and fully subscribed by July. NexPoint also launched an $81.6 million lodging DST in mid-July. Marina II is NexPoint's 34th DST offering, and cumulative DST acquisitions now exceed $3.2 billion since the platform launched nearly ten years ago.

Medalist Diversified is playing a different game entirely. It's a Richmond, Virginia-based real estate company that has traded on NASDAQ since 2018, and it entered the DST sponsor business only this year. Its first offering, MDRR XXV DST 1, was a Tesla-leased facility in Pensacola, Florida, announced in May 2026 and now fully subscribed. Its second, MDI Overland Park Net Lease DST, is an all-cash, debt-free deal built around a Caliber Collision facility in Overland Park, Kansas. The 17,592-square-foot property is leased to Caliber Holdings, LLC under an absolute NNN lease with about 12 years remaining and a corporate guaranty from Wand Newco 3, Inc.

You've got a decade-old platform launching its 34th DST against a DST business that is months old, backed by an eleven-year-old public company. That contrast cuts in more directions than "more experience wins."

Track Record and Scale: What Ten Years and $3.2 Billion Buys You

NexPoint's scale matters. A sponsor that has closed 34 DSTs has been through interest rate cycles, tenant turnover, and multiple property dispositions, and has demonstrated an ability to structure offerings that satisfy IRS Revenue Ruling 2004-86 and get properties sold at the end of a hold period, the hardest part of the DST lifecycle to evaluate in advance. But track record at the platform level doesn't automatically transfer to a specific property. NexPoint's marina niche depends heavily on New Haven Property Management's ability to run these waterfront assets well. Thirty-three prior DSTs tell you about institutional competence. They don't tell you whether Stardust Marina's occupancy holds up through a soft boating season.

Medalist, by contrast, has two DSTs and months of operating history as a sponsor. That's thin by any measure. What it lacks in DST-specific repetitions, it makes up for with something NexPoint's private structure doesn't have to provide: continuous public disclosure. Because Medalist Diversified is listed on NASDAQ and reports under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, you can pull its 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K filings and see the parent company's balance sheet, cash flow, and executive compensation. NexPoint, a private, multibillion-dollar alternative investment firm, isn't required to file anything with the SEC about its own corporate finances.

That's the real tradeoff, and it isn't "experienced sponsor versus untested sponsor" in the abstract. It's a decade of DST repetitions with limited visibility into the sponsor's own finances, against two DST repetitions with full visibility into the sponsor's own finances. Neither is obviously safer on its face, and "more experience" shouldn't stand in for actual due diligence on either one.

Side-by-Side: NexPoint Marina II DST vs. MDI Overland Park Net Lease DST

Factor	NexPoint Marina II DST	MDI Overland Park Net Lease DST
Sponsor	NexPoint (private, multibillion-dollar alternative investment firm)	MDI Sponsor, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Medalist Diversified, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRR)
Sponsor's DST track record	34th DST since platform launch; over $3.2 billion cumulative DST acquisitions	Second DST ever; platform launched May 2026
Asset class niche	Recreational: marinas and, separately, lodging and hotels	Single-tenant net lease (Tesla, Caliber Collision)
Offering size	$48.97 million total capitalization	Not publicly disclosed; underlying property acquired for $5.8 million cash
Minimum investment	$100,000	$100,000
Leverage	Not disclosed in press release	All-cash, debt-free; no lender or refinancing risk
Sponsor reporting status	Private company; no SEC reporting obligation on the sponsor itself	Public parent reports 10-K/10-Q/8-K under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Independent audit	Not publicly disclosed for the sponsor entity	Cherry Bekaert LLP audits parent company financials
Board structure	Not applicable in the same way to a private sponsor	Majority-independent board of directors
Third-party due diligence	Not named in press materials reviewed	FactRight, an independent DST due diligence firm
Distributing broker-dealer	Distributed through participating broker-dealers (not named in this release)	Realta Equities, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC
Sponsor alignment signal	Not specified in press materials	Medalist management invested alongside investors in its first DST offering

Niche Focus: Marinas and Lodging vs. Single-Tenant Net Lease

NexPoint has built a recognizable niche in recreational real estate. Two marina DSTs and a lodging DST in a single year isn't scattershot. It's a bet that marina slips and hotel rooms benefit from structural supply constraints and durable demand. Marinas have real barriers to entry, since permitting makes new waterfront development difficult, and the properties NexPoint has assembled, from Eufaula Cove and Grafton Harbor to Stardust and Kuttawa Harbor, all report high historical occupancy and active waitlists. That's a genuine tailwind, but your return also depends on discretionary spending on boating and travel, categories that get cut first when household budgets tighten.

Medalist's niche is the opposite of discretionary. Single-tenant, absolute net-lease real estate leased to a corporate-guaranteed tenant, like Caliber Collision's parent Wand Newco 3, Inc., or Tesla in the Pensacola deal, is about as close to a bond-like real estate structure as you can get. The tenant pays taxes, insurance, and maintenance, and your income depends almost entirely on one company's ability to keep paying rent for 12 more years. Caliber Collision, which operates more than 1,800 centers across 41 states, has reportedly filed confidentially for a 2026 IPO, a possible credit-quality catalyst that is not guaranteed.

Sponsor Alignment: Why Skin in the Game Actually Matters

One detail from Medalist's platform is worth pulling out. In its first DST offering, Medalist management invested alongside the outside DST investors: the same executives structuring the deal also put their own capital into the same trust, on the same terms. That's a meaningfully different posture from a sponsor that only earns fees on a deal it has no personal capital riding on. When a sponsor's own money is exposed to the same downside as yours, you get a natural check against overpaying for a property, because the sponsor eats the consequences too.

This isn't a knock on NexPoint. Its press materials for Marina II DST don't disclose whether NexPoint or its principals hold beneficial interests alongside investors, and that silence doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It means you should ask. Co-investment is one of the more concrete alignment signals in a business built on trusting a manager you'll never get a vote against.

Due Diligence and Oversight: What Backs the Marketing Claims

Medalist's second offering names its third-party due diligence firm directly: FactRight, an independent firm that reviews DST sponsors' financial condition, underwriting, and legal structure before broker-dealers put a deal on their shelf. Its first offering also cited due diligence work from Mountain Dell Consulting. Medalist's parent also reports quarterly and annually under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, is audited by Cherry Bekaert LLP, and runs a board with an independent majority. That's four checkable layers: broker-dealer suitability review, independent due diligence, SEC-mandated disclosure, and an outside audit.

NexPoint's press materials for Marina II DST don't name a third-party due diligence firm, an auditor, or board composition, because NexPoint isn't required to disclose any of that as a private company. That doesn't mean NexPoint skips due diligence; broker-dealers must still vet the sponsor under FINRA rules first. But you have less to independently verify without asking directly.

What DST Risk Looks Like No Matter Whose Name Is on the Offering

Before you compare sponsors any further, sit with the risks that apply to both of these deals and to every DST, regardless of how long the sponsor has been in business.

Illiquidity is the big one. A DST interest is a security sold under Regulation D, typically to accredited investors only, with no public market for it. You are locked in until the sponsor decides to sell the underlying property, commonly five to seven years out, and that timing is the sponsor's call, not yours. If you need capital back early, any secondary sale you manage to arrange will likely come at a discount.

Single-property concentration is the second risk, and it's structural to how DSTs work. Unlike a diversified REIT holding dozens or hundreds of properties, a DST typically holds one or two specific assets. If Caliber Collision defaults on its Overland Park lease, or if either Tennessee or Kentucky marina has a bad season, that risk lands directly on that trust's investors, with no portfolio effect to soften the blow.

Then there's disposition risk, sometimes discussed alongside a Section 721 exchange into an operating partnership, or "UpREIT," structure. At the end of a DST's hold period, the sponsor sells the property, and you face a choice: take the cash and pay tax on any gain, roll proceeds into a new 1031 exchange, or exchange into an operating partnership unit under Section 721. Each path carries its own risk that the sponsor doesn't execute the sale at the price or timing you expected. According to the IRS's own guidance on like-kind exchanges, Section 1031 deferral rules are unforgiving, and missing a deadline can trigger the capital gains bill you were trying to defer. None of this makes either NexPoint or Medalist a bad sponsor. It means every DST carries a floor of risk that no track record or public reporting eliminates.

Questions to Ask Before You Commit Exchange Proceeds

Work through these before you sign a subscription agreement, and don't accept a marketing brochure as the answer. Ask what percentage of the offering the sponsor or its principals are retaining, on the same terms as yours. Ask for the sponsor's full track record of prior DST dispositions, including how many properties sold at, above, or below projected value. Ask who performed third-party due diligence and what firm audited the financials. Ask about leverage: the loan-to-value ratio, whether debt is fixed or floating, and who guarantees it under Revenue Ruling 2004-86's no-refinancing restriction. Ask what circumstances would trigger a springing LLC provision that could complicate a future 1031 exchange. Ask what happens to your capital if the anchor tenant, or the marina operator, underperforms or exits early. Finally, ask your broker-dealer to walk you through their suitability determination in writing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a publicly traded sponsor automatically safer than a private, more experienced DST sponsor?

Not automatically, but it gives you more to independently verify. A public parent like Medalist Diversified must file audited financials and governance disclosures under federal securities law, which you can read yourself. A private sponsor like NexPoint may have far more DST repetitions and a longer disposition track record, but you're relying more on your broker-dealer's due diligence than your own review of public filings. Both paths can lead to a well-run offering; each just requires different verification.

What does it mean when a DST sponsor's management "invests alongside" outside investors?

It means the sponsor's principals put their own capital into the same trust, on the same terms, as the accredited investors who buy in through a broker-dealer. Medalist disclosed this for its first DST offering. It matters because it aligns the sponsor's financial outcome with yours: a sponsor with money in the deal has less incentive to overpay for the property, since it loses alongside you if the asset underperforms.

Can I lose my entire investment in a DST like these?

Yes. Every DST offering discussed here explicitly discloses that the investment is speculative, illiquid, and carries a risk of total loss of principal, standard language required in the offering's Private Placement Memorandum. Read the Risk Factors section of the PPM in full before committing exchange proceeds, regardless of how creditworthy the tenant or how experienced the sponsor.

Does a corporate lease guaranty, like the one from Caliber Collision's parent, eliminate tenant risk?

No. A corporate guaranty from a parent company like Wand Newco 3, Inc. improves the credit quality behind the lease, but it does not eliminate the risk that the tenant defaults or that the parent itself experiences financial distress. You're still exposed to a single tenant's performance over a 12-year remaining lease term, and a guaranty is only as strong as the guarantor's own balance sheet when it's called upon.

Author Disclosure: Jeff Barnes, MBA has no personal position in any company, fund, or platform named in this article. Angel Investors Network has no current commercial relationship with any party mentioned. AIN provides marketing and education services, not investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal.