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All Forum Posts by: David Zimmer

David Zimmer has started 15 posts and replied 46 times.

Post: Sharing tax benefits with a partner/investor

David Zimmer Posted
  • Tallahassee, FL
  • Posts 46
  • Votes 8
Quote from @Ashish Acharya:

@David Zimmer Great structure—and it sounds like you’re building a solid partnership. When it comes to sharing tax benefits like bonus depreciation, the key thing to understand is: tax write-offs follow ownership percentages unless otherwise specified in a formal entity and operating agreement.

Since you're not using an LLC (yet) and likely filing as tenants in common or a general partnership, the IRS will expect all income, expenses, and depreciation to be split based on your actual ownership shares, not a side agreement.

So, no—you can't simply write a private agreement to “split the tax savings” after filing. That would not be supported in an audit. Instead, you’d need to:

  1. Form an LLC or partnership and file a partnership return (Form 1065).
  2. Draft an operating agreement that allows for special allocations of depreciation (e.g., 70/30 on depreciation, even if ownership is 50/50), which is legal under Section 704(b) rules if done properly.
  3. File using the K-1s reflecting the agreed allocations.

If you don't go this route, you'll each only be able to claim depreciation based on your ownership % and subject to your individual income limits and material participation status (especially if using the STR loophole).

If your partner's income is higher and he's more likely to benefit from bonus depreciation, a custom allocation in an LLC is the cleanest way to structure that.

This post does not create a CPA-Client relationship. The information contained in this post is not to be relied upon. Readers should seek professional advice.


Wow this is SUCH valuable, detailed info. Thank you so much for posting this. I will share this with my partner and make sure we get more input from our CPAs leading up to then. Thanks for taking the time!

Post: Sharing tax benefits with a partner/investor

David Zimmer Posted
  • Tallahassee, FL
  • Posts 46
  • Votes 8

A friend and co-investor are currently under contract on a beach home that will be strictly for investment. He is a home builder and his wife is a designer, and I've got experience in managing STRs - so it's a great fit. We plan to do a cost seg and bonus depreciate the house the first year, but we are not planning to start a legal entity like an LLC yet. I'm curious what sort of details we should enter in our operating agreement in terms of how to split the benefits of the bonus depreciation. His income could potentially be much higher than mine, so he may be able to write off more income than I could. Could we simply make a written agreement to split the amount of tax savings once taxes are filed and returns are received? Any recommendations on this?

Post: Cleaning costs and pet fees

David Zimmer Posted
  • Tallahassee, FL
  • Posts 46
  • Votes 8

How do you handle the combination of charging pet fees and cleaning fees? Do the cleaners make more money if there is a pet? Does your cleaner just charge "per turn" regardless of a pet or not? 

I'm paying my cleaner $150 for an 1800 sqft 2/2.5 and they seem to want more depending on if there was a pet. I'd like to find out what a somewhat standard practice out there looks like. Maybe there is a way to find the median cleaning costs in my area?

Post: Moving potential tenants through the leasing process

David Zimmer Posted
  • Tallahassee, FL
  • Posts 46
  • Votes 8
Quote from @Jamie Banks:

You did everything right, don't worry! It's a great idea to tell the guests the process especially if they're new to renting medium term. I would also collect a reference from the guest. I refer at least once reference and two for guests with pets. 


 Thank you!

Post: Moving potential tenants through the leasing process

David Zimmer Posted
  • Tallahassee, FL
  • Posts 46
  • Votes 8

I'm very new to this space and just have my first good lead through Furnished Finder. I'm eager to move forward and take care of the deposit and all things and want to move them through the process quickly and comfortably. They inquired and I replied quickly to let them know I would send details shortly and thanked them. A couple of hours later I emailed and asked for the tenant names and described what would be needed to go forward - a signed lease, tenant screening, and security/cleaning/pet deposits (all via KeyCheck). They sent the names and indicated they wanted to move forward so I sent everything via KeyCheck and so far they have completed the tenant screening.

Is there a better or more efficient way to move through the leasing process? What does the time frame usually look like? I don't want to come on too strong with a sales vibe but also don't want to let it drag on and lose a potential tenant. Thanks for any tips or guidance.

Post: Under contract - help checking my numbers

David Zimmer Posted
  • Tallahassee, FL
  • Posts 46
  • Votes 8
Quote from @Scott K.:

Bad deal. There are so many things you haven't mentioned at all it seems like you really haven't done any research if I'm being honest. You won't break even each month. 


 Like what?

Post: Under contract - help checking my numbers

David Zimmer Posted
  • Tallahassee, FL
  • Posts 46
  • Votes 8
Quote from @Glenna Wood:

Multiple tenants equals multiple cars. How are you expanding the single car driveway and carport?


This place uniquely has a second address and separate driveway from a different street in the back of the house. I’ll probably add pavers to the right of the carport and there is another spot or two on the road.  

Post: Under contract - help checking my numbers

David Zimmer Posted
  • Tallahassee, FL
  • Posts 46
  • Votes 8
Quote from @Alex Scattareggia:
Quote from @Alex Scattareggia:

Without knowing the market 100% it's hard to weigh in on the rental expectations. 

However, what I would recommend is to put your fixed costs aside (taxes, mortgage, etc.) and then get more conservative on your rental expectations by about 10-20% and increase your expected costs by the same.  If the deal still pencils out than you probably have enough cushion to make it work even in rough times.  I don´t like relying on any one source of information when analyzing a deal so I would average out as many sources as possible and then scrape some % off that number to get a safe estimate.

I also always like to work with a net in these kind of deals, worst case scenario if you rented both units long term would the investment still make sense or at least not lose money monthly? 


 I re-read this and it sounded negative, and I truly don´t mean it to come across that way.  The deal looks like it could be great.  

But especially right now in a shifting market there are a lot of people who are hurting because they used comps for the monthly income without totally understanding that we have had a pretty spectacular run post covid and that the true market might not be there like that for much longer.  

It is why I would argue for hyper conservative numbers especially on the revenue side in almost all markets.  There are still going to be deals that make sense using this method and then you have simply bought yourself some extra wiggle room if things get a little hairier than expected. 

I didn’t take it as a negative at all - thanks for the input! The place will be a house hack for the first year so I feel like
im mitigating some risk and giving time to furnish and know the property and neighborhood. So I think worst case scenario it helps me offset mortgage and gets me experience managing property. 

Post: Under contract - help checking my numbers

David Zimmer Posted
  • Tallahassee, FL
  • Posts 46
  • Votes 8
Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

From the info you provided and running the property through Airdna, this is a bad STR deal! Your COC is -13% and the occupancy is terrible at 37%! Unless you want a LTR or plan on moving in personally, I would not buy this property.


 I'm getting 12ish% when I run it pretty conservatively getting 1500 downstairs and 2500 upstairs. Am I missing anything?

Post: Under contract - help checking my numbers

David Zimmer Posted
  • Tallahassee, FL
  • Posts 46
  • Votes 8
Quote from @Michael Baum:

Hey @David Zimmer, have you looked into LTR the small apartment for steady income and a possible watcher and minor maintenance for the 3/2?

A quick look showed 1/1's going for about $1600 in Tallahassee. That matches your first estimate. No real work involved with that unit, then STR the 3/2.

Hey Michael - I hadn't thought too much about that yet. Is it because of the bigger rate I could get from the 3/2? Plus the stability of having a watchful tenant in the 1/1? I like the idea.