Looking for real estate exposure and tax advantage

[Dan Durusky]

Hi all,

My wife and I are high W-2 wage earners. We general follow "boglehead" philosophy and have a lean mean investment portfolio and live well below our means. One first world problem we have is earning a high income with none of the tax advantages of owning a business or real estate as income. 

We're considering adding more real estate exposure to our portfolio and potentially as away to bring in income with some tax breaks. We're leaning toward more passive types, possibly syndication or crowdfunding to start learning the ropes. It seems most/all syndications are K-1 income so you can include depreciation. Some of the easier buttons, like fundthatflip for example, provides 1099-int income so it's just ordinary income with no advantage. The disadvantage of crowdsourcing I believe is that you can't leverage it.

We could consider an actual real estate property, but we live in Boston where prices are insane so we'd be looking out of state. OOS combined with being a first timer seems a bit daunting. The good news is that I do have the time, energy, and ability to dive down this hole and learn a lot. That's the most fun thing in life!

This post makes less sense than I hoped it would. I guess I'm looking for advice on potentially passive investment deals that provide some tax benefit. If that isn't reasonable, perhaps I'll start considering more active options. Thanks!

[Dan Durusky]

Thanks for all the input so far. I've been learning a lot. It seems that besides quitting my job and becoming a Real Estate Professional, the only other way to offset W2 income is through STRs? Interesting. My brother actually bought a STR a couple years ago. The last time I visited him we spent it changing out toilets. haha

I think the advice to get CPA advice is a good one. I might find one for a consult in the near term. I also have questions about our existing income with RSUs, etc.