All Forum Posts by: Sean Graham

@Matthew Samson, so I think you probably need to be buying something that's more than $1,000,000 to get close to $200K of first year depreciation. (Bonus depreciation in 2025 is 40% right?)

FYI, you want to look at short-term rentals as another alternative. That would let you keep your job and then get the giant deductions with relatively few hours. (With short-term rentals, you just need to average rental intervals of 7 days or less and then usually either carefully time the investment for late in the year or spend more than 100 hours to get material participation.)

Two other comments:

1. I'd connect with @Sean Graham to see his calculator. I know we've got those at our blog (JavaScript written by ChatGPT interestingly!). So it is absolutely possible to get actionable planning insights from a calculator.
2. My rough estimate above is based on the sorts of study results @Julio Gonzalez 's team has repeatedly done for our clients. (We've worked with his crew a lot over the recent past.)

Hi @Alexandra Isenhour, good to meet you. We help clients with Detailed Engineering Cost Segregation Studies. We are based in MI but help clients in FL too. We provide on-site visits nationwide. Happy to provide you with a free estimate done by our in-house engineers if you like? 

Hi all - Dave Matthews here. I've got two properties now, townhome and single family, both rented. This will be my first year where I will be reporting ALL the rental income (some 60k or so). My question to you all is how in the world do folks deduct deduct deduct so that their tax burden on rental income is zero or close to it? I am worried that I will owe big in 2026... 

Quote from @David Matthews:

@Julio Gonzalez thank Julio, and thanks for your message. I reached out to a cost seg company, it was about 3500$ and I didn't pull the trigger. My real question is... do I NEED a cost segregation study in order to depreciate? Or can I just use my structure value that was on the property appraisal? Both recently appraised in 2025.

A down and dirty way to estimate amounts to allocate to building and to land is to use the values determined by your county assessor for the year the property was placed in service. That ratio is applied to the purchase price to determine the value of the building that you will depreciate. Works if there hasn’t been much appreciation between date of purchase and date of putting into service. 

Hi everyone, I’m a beginner investor based in Colorado. I’ve saved $60K and I’m looking to invest in a rental property — possibly out of state. I’m still learning and would love to connect with others who’ve started with similar budgets. Open to advice, tips, or just hearing what’s worked for you! Thanks in advance.

Quote from @Bonnie Griffin Kaake:

@Drew Sygit and @Sean Graham

There are additional benefits to being a building owner/occupant. If in the first year of ownership, provided the building owner(s) and business owner(s) are the same, the building can be grouped with the business. This makes the building an active rather than passive investment. When you do a cost segregation study on the building, the losses created can be used against your income from the business. This reduces your taxes and increases your cash flow. 

Too many business owners miss this opportunity because their CPA/tax professional is not aware of this benefit. 

Great insight! Cost segregation studies can unlock significant upfront tax savings. And you're absolutely right—many CPAs don’t proactively bring this up, which is why it’s crucial for business owners to work with a tax professional who understands real estate strategies.