All Forum Posts by: Jeff Nash

I think it's great that you are asking for help with this and not trying to do it yourself if you don't have expertise with software and accounting.  Quality books are needed for both internal monitoring so you can make decisions and for external needs like preparing taxes and qualifying for loans.  My biggest challenge working with business owners is lack of quality books and records.  I do not offer this service directly but can help provide you with a few options if you have not already found a resource.  

Great commentary here and I think some analysis and number crunching is in order.  I am normally not big on paying off the mortgage prematurely because of the opportunity cost and ability to use the funds to generate alpha from other diversified options.  The margin loan can be a good option assuming you have a low cost provider and invest wisely.  I would work with someone or a team of people to help you understand the pros/cons of any number of directions you can go.

I agree with @Steve Vaughan as you probably want a domestic entity with respect to where the property or business is located.  There are foreign filing fees and other considerations when you are out of state. In Texas for example you have the Texas Franchise Tax report to file whether you have gross receipts or not.  

You also might want to consider bonus depreciation (80% this year).  You generally should work with someone that will analyze each scenario and see which one is more advantageous or preferable in light of your future expected use as noted by @Marc Howard.  Look up Topic 510, Business Use of Car and/or Publication 463, Travel, Entertainment, Gift and Car Expenses in you are curious and want to read more in depth, but like I said, some analysis with a tax professional should help solve this matter.

I haven't been to college in some time now but I know a lot has changed in and outside of any formal educational setting.  I think it is important not to waste time and money on pursuing something that will not provide you with a definitive skillset as an education is an investment as already stated.  Obviously certain professions like attorneys, physicians, accountants, engineers, etc. require college bachelors degrees and beyond.  So if you know you don't fall into this camp, then what direction are you heading?  If you want to pursue a career in real estate it is helpful to have a finance background and possibly even something more specialized and multi-disciplinary like construction management.  From an intangible aspect, college gives you an opportunity to build relationships and network which is huge.  It should help improve your communication skills and hopefully help you focus on improving weaknesses to whatever extent yours are.  I can see the benefit of having a delayed start and trying to do some on the job learning or get a license or two under your belt (realtor, MLO, insurance, etc), but I would say the potential benefits of college should outweigh the costs.  You always have other variations to consider like working full-time in the summer or even going part-time for starters instead of breaking altogether.  If I had to do it all over again, I probably would use the period from ages 18-28 to essentially take on many different jobs and explore what each has to offer and tactically combine them.  This strategy for example is ideal in financial services and can definitely work in real estate as you can get creative.

@Marc Howard provided some good commentary.  Interest paid on the vacant lot or unproductive land is either deductible as investment interest (limited to investment income) or capitalized and added to your cost basis.  If you itemize then you might get the best tax benefit from interest expense.  For real estate taxes, it's the same but in your case for deductibility purposes you will want to capitalize.  There is an annual election (Section 266) to capitalize otherwise deductible expenditures and you can alternate and pick and choose.  Also, insurance and lawn mowing used to be deductible as miscellaneous itemized deductions but this changed for tax years 2018-2025 with the TCJA.  Hope this helps.

@Randy Rodenhouse offered good advice.  The only tack on would be to consider papering up the loan in a formal note to make it official (unfortunately things can happen between family members) and charge an arms length rate of interest or use AFR (just search for this term and there is a good article on Investopedia).

@Tyrone Carter there are all sorts of online and in person meet up groups you can locate pretty easily depending on where you are located.  @Denver McClure can you offer any suggestions?

Are you a real estate professional and if you accelerated depreciation what would be the impact be relative to your entire portfolio and income from other sources? @Julio Gonzalez is a professional in this space and addressed some great considerations so you might strongly consider reaching out to him.

Welcome!  The best advice I can give is to plan properly and write things down.  Identify the professionals you need to surround yourself with and get systems and processes in place.  Try to work on your business (that won't happen immediately) rather than in it and leverage solid people.  The best business owners are ones that probably know there are others smarter or more experienced than them and they make them part of the team.