Tom and Alice own $30$ acres of prime farmland that they inherited from Tom's father several years ago. At that time, the fair market value of the land was $$150,000($which became their basis in the land$).$ The Honeycutts have been holding the land as an investment. The property recently was appraised for $$190,000,$ and there is an outstanding mortgage on the land of $$28,000.$ They are considering trading this land for property in the mountains of southern Colorado. The Colorado property owner$$who has significant land holdings in the area$$has provided two options to Tom and Alice $($in both cases, the Colorado property owner would assume the mortgage as part of the exchange$).$

$15$ acres of property with a fair market value of $$135,000$ plus $$27,000$ of cash, or

$10$ acres of property with a fair market value of $$160,000$ plus $$2,000$ of cash

The Honeycutts have come to you for advice, believing either transaction to be a like$-$kind exchange that will allow them to defer any gain. Assume that Tom and Alice expect their $2025$ taxable income to be about the same as in $2024($with any net capital gain taxed at a $15\%$ rate$).$