All Forum Posts by: Michael Blank

Thanks, Junior! I'm glad you're finding the SDA helpful :) 

Hi all ... just started working with Wealthability about 2 months ago. Their goal is to reduce my taxes by 50% this year and get it to zero over 3 years. One key was to classify me as a "real estate professional" because that allows you to offset your ACTIVE income with the PASSIVE losses from the real estate. They're currently reviewing my entities for additional tax savings. Tom's philosophy in general is to figure out how to deduct EVERYTHING. It was a significant investment upfront but I expect to get that back in tax savings in year 1 and then everything moving forward will be gravy. While not exclusively focused on real estate, their "specialty" is real estate. I know a doctor who's been working with them; he's a passive investor with HUGE active income; Wealthabilty helped him figure out how to leverage the real estate depreciation to reduce his taxes.

Hope that helps.

I can't speak for Tom's previous company ProVision but have started working with his new company Wealthability. What I like about Tom is that his philosophy is not "can I deduct this" but "HOW can I deduct this". If you're investing in real estate, either actively or passively, his goal is to cut your taxes in half (ideally to 0) within 3 years. 

While I'm a full time real estate investor, I also have an educational company that teaches people how to invest in apartment buildings; I also have an acquisition and management team, so I'm not full time investing in deals myself. 

But they showed me how to not only classify myself as a real estate professional but how to track my time. If you're classified as a RE professional, you can offset ACTIVE income with the PASSIVE losses from real estate. That is amazing - and I bet many people on BP would qualify.

I also learned mind blowing stuff like: did you know you can 1031 exchange OUT of something you own INTO something you already own? Did you know there's a way you can 1031 exchange a syndicated deal even if not all of the limited partners want to keep their money in the deal? (actually, you do the exchange but still give the investors their money back).

But fair warning: they're not cheap. But if I can get my taxes down by at least half, I'll get a major ROI on my investment the first year, not counting all subsequent years, so I feel it's worth it.

Hope that helps.

Michael

BP Blog Contributor

One of my students has a good-looking 15-unit deal in Cleveland under contract, and she's looking for a partner or co-investor. It's a stable property (93% occupancy) and requires no repairs. The upside is a 5% increase in rents which is built into the leases. My student's property manager confirms that the rents are indeed under market. 

If you're interested in finding out more about this deal, please reply to this post or direct-message me.

Thanks!

Michael

I'm having the same issue. Here is a short video of what's going on: http://screencast.com/t/qt93Kd1H

I'll use the direct link suggested above in the meantime ...

Thx - Michael

Hi there BP'ers ... I'm doing a live training class next week if you're interested. Called "The Blueprint to your first apt building deal". It's next Wed at 9pm EST. Here is the link to register: www.TheMichaelBlank.com/blueprint.

Here are some of the topics I'll cover:

• Why TOP real estate entrepreneurs (and you) should be profiting from apartments
• Discover how to make an EXTRA $50K per year with a small apartment building
• Where to find the GOOD DEALS
• Learn this trick to quickly analyze deals and MAKE MORE OFFERS
• The secret to RAISING MONEY the right way
• How to be taken seriously as a newbie
• How to buy a duplex in the NEXT 90 days
• Plus a bunchmore ...

Here is the link to get registered now:

www.TheMichaelBlank.com/blueprint

See you there,

Michael

-----------------------

BP Blog Contributor / Apt Building Investing

Hi @Chukwudi Motanya - before talking with brokers I would learn some of the lingo first, especially how to analyze deals. That way, when you talk with brokers, you don't sound like a newbie. @Chiagozie Fawole , thanks for suggesting my web site. You might start with the free ebook "The 10-minute offer" which shows you how to analyze deals and use the right language. www.syndicateddealanalyzer.com/ebook. Hope that helps!

Michael

I too have John's KISS Guide to bookkeeping and it has pros and cons. I wrote a review about it here: http://www.themichaelblank.com/real-estate-bookkee...

Early on in my career I underestimated the importance of bookkeeping and trusted my bookkeeper. After flipping a dozen houses that year and it was tax time, the books were a mess. The issue is that real estate investing for the most part is very balance sheet intensive. It's not "normal" expenses, you kinda have to know what you're doing. My bookkeeper didn't. And I didn't know enough to catch the mistakes or ask the right questions.

The CPA charged me 5 hours of his time to get the books in order. Since then, my lesson is this: learn enough about basic bookkeeping (especially for whatever real estate transactions you're doing), and John's course does that. I just wish he would come out with an update.

Hope that helps ...

Michael

I'm not an expert on that end, I just owned 6 of them :) The franchisor has different models and demographics they look for. The brokers that are looking for spaces are supposed to help match the existing demographics with the concept's target demographics. Not sure if that helps, feel free to direct message me if I can help any further ...

Michael

Hi Christian -- not really looking to add this to the model -;)  I got this very specific question and determined that I didn't have a rule of thumb for that and so didn't have a ready answer. I normally do what you said: examine previous income and use that as a baseline. I like your answer though ... thanks!

Michael