All Forum Posts by: Katie Southard

@Sean O'Keefe great catch on your part, I missed the married filing separately vs single delineation. 

Our tax professional is a tax professional only and up until now I've managed without a CPA. But with our tax guy retiring this year, I'm thinking it's probably a good idea to bring one on eventually, someone that can advise more thoroughly on this and other issues as well as file taxes.

I still wonder if filing seperately could eliminate some of the headache we have with his ex. I'd be willing to pay, in many cases, good money, to get her out of our email inbox even for just a topic.  I personally don't think the fixation she has on my husband in general is healthy- both make decent money and have agreed to not seek further child support, nevertheless she persists. She may actually exceed his income this year, but she's just very fixated on his activities and takes everything too far (most recently claiming our older male tenant is hanging out in my stepsons room playing video games, for example- an absurdity in and of itself- he's never been in our home).  

So I'm willing to take losses to avoid headaches but im not sure how significant they'd be, and I am having a difficult time determining that. 

I'm also hopeful to obtain more properties, but before I do, I need to know at what point an LLC or filing seperately is "reasonable" and I can't seem to find that answer. I'm very hesitant to make any moves that will cause further negative exposure for my husband. By and large, he is removed from any property management, save for some handyman work here and there.

In a reply above I also indicated something I left out: that the ex is not, in fact, entitled to my income or any knowledge of it, as I have no legal ties to her son. If she l, say, relinquished custody and I adopted him, that would be a different story, but that is not the case at all. 

@Jules Aton I appreciate the advice, but that's not actually true. I should have included that I am a former family paralegal and she's not entitled to my income whatsoever. She's also not entitled to know my income. At least in Colorado, this is the rule. She's not entitled to take from me, only my husband. My income is not to be counted for a child who already has two parents earning income. I have a child of my own, who's father is deceased, my income is for me and him, regardless of marriage, that's how the law works. 

Hey BP community, I could really use some perspective from folks who’ve been here.

Here’s our situation:

• We have one rental property (premarital, in my name) and a small attached unit in our primary home (joint title and mortgage) that we also rent out. Together, they bring in about $25–30K/year before expenses.
• My husband and I both work W-2 jobs, and are blessed to make about $200K combined income, and we file jointly (our tax guy says it’s almost always better. I’ve questioned it and continually insists this is the way to go).
• Here’s the catch: my husband has to furnish taxes every year to his ex for a custody case, and she combs through them. They make identical income but she’s relatively vindictive and super bored. Even though the main rental is mine legally, she calls it “his income” and makes it a big deal. Filing jointly just makes this messy. We already deal with 50 emails or more per month from the ex about any topic imaginable and try hard to limit our interactions and exposure with her. It’s a story for another type of forum…lol.

This year, our tax pro mentioned the $150K limit on the $25K rental loss deduction. I researched it and understand it- because we’re over $150K, losses just get deferred and carried forward until a sale or until we have passive income to offset. But it got me thinking:

• Is it worth pushing for filing separately so the rental income/loss stays with me, at least for the property in my name only? Or is that always a bad move financially?
• For those making over $150K, do you just accept that losses carry forward and not stress it?

Future thoughts:

• I may sell this rental in 2026 and buy 1-2 more properties. We would keep that activity in my name if possible. We need to decide this year because of the cap gains rule (we lived there before).
• Long-term dream is to scale enough that one of us can quit W-2 work and eventually hit real estate professional status (750 hrs) for tax benefits. Probably me if it happens, though logistically with my job benefits it’s more prudent to probably be my husband.

So I’m trying to figure out several things- both short-term (tax strategy) and long-term (career path). Has anyone navigated something similar—especially the filing status issue and the income threshold problem?

Would love to hear:

• How you handled taxes once your income went over $150K
• If you’ve filed separately because of personal/legal reasons—did it help or hurt financially?
• In what other ways could jumping from W-2 to real estate benefit us? We have several acquaintances who do this and they seem to write off plenty of losses- things we cannot write off now. One of those examples would include traveling to go look at homes in another state which we do at least once a year, but we cannot write off any of this activity because we don’t actually own a home in those states yet. A CPA once told me once I have more rentals including one in the state that I’m traveling to this could potentially qualify as a write off, but not yet.

Appreciate any advice—thanks for reading this wall of text. I know I’m asking several things so if you can only opine on part of it that’s perfectly fine.

Hey BP community, I could really use some perspective from folks who’ve been here.

Here’s our situation:

• We have one rental property (premarital, in my name) and a small attached unit in our primary home (joint title and mortgage) that we also rent out. Together, they bring in about $25–30K/year before expenses.
• My husband and I both work W-2 jobs, and are blessed to make about $200K combined income, and we file jointly (our tax guy says it’s almost always better. I’ve questioned it and continually insists this is the way to go).
• Here’s the catch: my husband has to furnish taxes every year to his ex for a custody case, and she combs through them. They make identical income but she’s relatively vindictive and super bored. Even though the main rental is mine legally, she calls it “his income” and makes it a big deal. Filing jointly just makes this messy. We already deal with 50 emails or more per month from the ex about any topic imaginable and try hard to limit our interactions and exposure with her. It’s a story for another type of forum…lol.

This year, our tax pro mentioned the $150K limit on the $25K rental loss deduction. I researched it and understand it- because we’re over $150K, losses just get deferred and carried forward until a sale or until we have passive income to offset. But it got me thinking:

• Is it worth pushing for filing separately so the rental income/loss stays with me, at least for the property in my name only? Or is that always a bad move financially?
• For those making over $150K, do you just accept that losses carry forward and not stress it?

Future thoughts:

• I may sell this rental in 2026 and buy 1-2 more properties. We would keep that activity in my name if possible. We need to decide this year because of the cap gains rule (we lived there before).
• Long-term dream is to scale enough that one of us can quit W-2 work and eventually hit real estate professional status (750 hrs) for tax benefits. Probably me if it happens, though logistically with my job benefits it’s more prudent to probably be my husband.

So I’m trying to figure out several things- both short-term (tax strategy) and long-term (career path). Has anyone navigated something similar—especially the filing status issue and the income threshold problem?

Would love to hear:

• How you handled taxes once your income went over $150K
• If you’ve filed separately because of personal/legal reasons—did it help or hurt financially?
• In what other ways could jumping from W-2 to real estate benefit us? We have several acquaintances who do this and they seem to write off plenty of losses- things we cannot write off now. One of those examples would include traveling to go look at homes in another state which we do at least once a year, but we cannot write off any of this activity because we don’t actually own a home in those states yet. A CPA once told me once I have more rentals including one in the state that I’m traveling to this could potentially qualify as a write off, but not yet.

Appreciate any advice—thanks for reading this wall of text. I know I’m asking several things so if you can only opine on part of it that’s perfectly fine.

@Bruce Woodruff want to buy the land now before it's all too expensive or sold... is the fear unrealistic?

Following as I'm interested in this market as well. Slightly less cash, but a home in CO with equity that i need to sell by July 2026 to avoid cap gains with roughly 200k equity (as of now at least).

About a year ago my husband and I went to see a gentleman. We know who owns 30 acres on a private self-sustaining farm in North Texas. We have long wanted to invest in North Texas. The farm is 30 acres, fully self-sustaining, working windmill, air compressors, and water collection tanks, and water purification. Totally off grid save for wifi. Storm cellar, small main cabin and three airbnb tiny homes that he used for family visits. Has a lake, room for goats, chickens, all my hope and dreams. 

the house is about the same price as our house in a suburb of Denver. We bought two years ago and we got a decent deal on an interest rate thanks to buying a new build but… we all know how new builds go.

We cannot move out of state until my 9yo stepson is older because of shared custody agreement with a very toxic coparent. But we still look at properties in North Texas because we wanted to buy, rent and potentially moved in eightish years.

there's a small chance we could get funding for a loan on this property, but it would be tight. probably a bit less than the 800k he wants. again I know the gentleman who is selling it and he is well off so I don't doubt that he would do something creative for us. But what?

we know quite a few people out there but not enough to ask favors really. Most stuff in North Texas is a handshake deal and it's all about who you know. Ideally we'd rent the main cabin cheap then have that person rent the 3 airbnbs but they likely wouldn't stay full all the time. We're talking north of McKinney on the way to OK. 

the dream is so real but the handcuffs of being stuck in Colorado until my husband can take his son (or his son is grown) is so real. We have another son, but we have him full-time, so we could go, save for this one thing. 

Not trying to be over dramatic, but do I let the dream die? I have a 750k home in Colorado with a 9000sqft lot for the same price as this homestead in TX on 30 acres with three income producing cabins. Not to mention rentable acreage. We have a rental in CO with about 200k equity, and a bit of cash stored, but it's a huge leap to take and i don't feel like my ducks will ever be in a row. When we visited, we were just checking out how the self-sustaining place worked but we didn't know that he would be selling so soon and then he kind of sprung it on and now it is up for sale. 

I'm full of creative ideas but now push comes to shove and im left feeling like a real dream is dying. I know there will be other opportunities, but we feel really good about North Texas and feel like it's one place where everything hasn't been scooped up yet. It's just not the price range we've been looking in, mostly looking at far less acreage and smaller properties to rent out until we can get there and rehab, add on, make our own. Anyone got any advice? Maybe i just need a therapy session. 

@Kyle Blackmon sorry for delay, thanks for the feedback! Managing a specialist team seems far more feasible at least to start, though GC sounds like a dream! I see a lot of roofing and siding simply due to the materials i work in, so that roadmap seems doable to me. Appreciate the feedback. Again, i think building your niche on your construction knowledge can help you build a client base that is smart enough to hire you which might make your job even easier- and specializing in new builds and common pitfalls/things to look out for/navigating builder pushback for your clients in my opinion makes you the #1 agent for folks buying a new build esp for the first time. I'd hire you in a heartbeat if I knew then what I know now about what kind of agent I actually NEEDED. As a marketer, i recommend marketing yourself with that niche! ;) 

@Jeb Durgin  is right and I've been following this post as that timeless person is me. And Texas feels like my second home and is of great interest to me. Granted it's scary to assume that project two will go off without a hitch, i don't know all details on owner finance- what happens if they default? So basically these folks want to "rent to own" and you're providing that opportunity? So they're paying what, like $800/mo for the next ten years? Accurate? And for project  2 you just want to do it again but sell it outright? How feasible is that? Cash only sale? Sorry for the questions. I work with trades pros in my career but on a national level and need good reliable contractors in Texas still. I have a few, but mostly out of Houston area, despite not liking that area. Partnering on a deal like this isn't out of the question but I'd really like to see the numbers more and see what the flip looked like etc. maybe we chat. I'm Colorado based. 

the added bonus here is that he is well known in the area and has a strong social media following and network, so IF he ended up having some influence on your job, he could probably spread the word far and wide. Kyle from RR buildings is his name- popularized on YT and IG.