Bonus depreciation is just a special part of the US tax code.It allows you to take accelerated depreciation on portions of your property depending on when an asset is put into service.At the time of this writing, you can write off a huge portion (60% in 2024) of many qualified components that have a useful lifespan of 15 years or less.That means a certain percentage of things like landscaping, sidewalks, latches, appliances, fences, certain flooring, etc is depreciable in year 1.The bonus depreciation rate percentage changes yearly depending on the administration and the tax code.For years 2015 through 2017 first-year depreciation for all the items on a 15-year schedule or less was set to 50%.It was scheduled to go down to 40% in 2018 and 30% in 2019 and then 0% in 2020.But then Trump got elected, and he enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.That moved the bonus depreciation percentage to 100% from 2017 to 2022.In 2023 it went down to 80% and it’s currently at 60%.Depending on who gets elected again, 100% may be back on the table.Only time will tell.We know that the US government wants to incentivize more development and ownership of RE.They want Americans to continue to build and maintain our physical world.That’s why real estate is one of the most tax-advantaged assets in the US.Depreciation and bonus depreciation for RE are very positive and will likely continue in the years ahead.

If there are issues with these items are these major red flags?

I have a spreadsheet of the rough timeline for when roofs and cap ex items will need to be done.

Deposit AmountThose are the 4 items you have to play with that do the negotiating. 

You should be calculating Cap Ex for all long term items that will need replacement at some point - appliances, roofs, ac, water heater, etc.

The other is end of service life items such as the roof that would have to be capitalized aka Depreciated rather than written off as an expense immediately.

On the residential side my experience has been that any cash flow I accumulate gets eaten by major “replacement” items every three years.  

I had to build fences along my driveway accessing a drive under garage, because the retaining wall was more than 30" tall (standard building code item) but these properties were built in the 40s/50s and never had a fence there until I rented Section 8 and they required it.From a tenant perspective, I never had any of the issues James notes.

After the must-pay items are handled, then I will apply remaining funds towards rent, late fees, etc.

We all have a limited amount of time to work, and there’s a constant push to maximize that time to earn as much as possible—so we can enjoy life beyond work.Most people work to meet their immediate needs—food, clothing, and shelter.