What’s one real estate move you still want to make before the year ends?

Question

Buy another property? Sell one? Refinance? Or finally get your books and tax plan in order?

With the final quarter coming up, the timing of a move can matter just as much as the move itself.

What’s at the top of your list before December 31? And have you checked the tax impact yet?

Chea Romine · Answer

If I had one Q4 move left, itd be a tax and books cleanup before another closing.

Quick pass that actually moves April:

Reconcile rental bank and card accounts through September.

Separate repairs from improvements and update the fixed-asset list with placed-in-service dates.

Pull YTD P&L by property and a rough Q4 estimate (vacancy, insurance renewals, capex).

Re-check estimated tax / withholding against current-year numbers, not last years voucher.

Confirm entity ownership, deeds, and W-9 / 1099 vendor files still match how you actually operate.

A local chat tool can turn a bank CSV into a first-pass repair-vs-improvement list, but I'd verify it against the invoices.

Buying or selling into December can still make sense. Just dont let the deal close before you know how it lands on Schedule E, depreciation, and your Q4 estimate. Timing the paperwork is often worth more than squeezing one more door before New Years.

Not personalized tax advice. Just what Id want done before Dec 31.

Caleb Brown · Answer

Purchase a STR or BRRR.

Diana Khan · Answer

@William Thompson, one thing I always like to see investors review before year-end is whether their ownership structure still matches what they actually own today.

I’ve worked with investors who added properties, refinanced, opened new LLCs, or changed how a property was titled during the year, but their estate plan or business documents never caught up. Before December 31, I think it is worth checking deeds, LLC ownership, operating agreements, beneficiary designations, and the estate plan to make sure everything still works together. I like this question because year end planning is not only about taxes. It is also a good time to clean up anything that changed during the year before another one starts.

Don Konipol · Answer

We have a commercial property we’ve leased optioned at a rental rate of $3,750 per month triple net. The leasee has set up a November 14 closing date, with a sales price of $675,000, down payment of $150,000 and seller financing of the balance.

We have a note we purchased for $2,600,000 secured by property worth $7,500,000. The note has matured so the borrower is in default for that and a couple other reasons. We have agreed in principal to the borrower signing a deed in lieu over to us and he having an option to buy the property back over the next two years, with a return to us equaling 21% annual. The attorneys have been going at it for 3 weeks and making little progress. I’m beginning to think this is an attorney / attorney game to drive their fees skyward. The other possibility is that the borrower doesn’t actually want to sign the deed over, although he’s already paid us $300,000 NON REFUNDABLE earnest money. Although I’d like to have this completed and done I also realize should it “blow up” there’s a good chance we earn a lot more. But at my age who need 2 years of lawsuits, etc.

What’s one real estate move you still want to make before the year ends?

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