Hey BP Community,I’m actively exploring foreclosures, trustee sales, and off-market distressed properties in the DMV area (Montgomery County MD, Northern VA, and DC suburbs) for a primary residence and potential future investments.If you’re experienced with:Navigating court auctions or substitute trustee salesDealing with title risks, HOA liens, or pre-auction due diligenceSourcing off-market or non-MLS foreclosure leads…I’d love to connect and share resources, tools, or even partner on a deal.

RUBS (Ratio Utility Billing System) is a method of allocating utility costs to tenants using a consistent formula when individual metering is not available.

I know this space can be a different ball game compared to single-family, so I’m trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible and connect with others who have experience.If you have any insight, resources, or suggestions — whether it’s books, podcasts, YouTube channels, or just real-world lessons you’ve learned — I’d love to hear them.Appreciate any guidance you can share!

You can claim bonus depreciation on those items without a full cost segregation study, but you’ll still need to properly identify and separate them out from the 27.5-year building cost.A cost seg isn’t required by the IRS, but it gives you a defensible way to allocate costs to shorter-life assets and land improvements, especially in a remodel like yours. 

Others 15 yrs, etc.So we depreciate a portion of the asset costs faster.We do the study and get dollar amounts assigned to different parts and different schedules to front-load depreciation.Now you can get 5 or 6% of the value as a deduction in the early years...But wait... there's more.Bonus depreciation allows you to deduct a certain percentage of cost in the first year an asset is put into service.Anything that is on a schedule of 15 years or less...So the doors, sidewalks, HVAC, walls, latches, curbs, security, gates, etcA % of this stuff goes in Yr 1.For years 2015 through 2017, first-year bonus depreciation for these items was set at 50%.It was scheduled to go down to 40% in 2018 and 30% in 2019, 0% in 2020.But then the Tax Cuts and Jobs act moved this percentage to 100% from 2017 to 2022 and 80% in 2023 and 60% in 2024.Its not uncommon to allocate 30% of an asset cost to items that can be depreciated on a 15 year or faster time frame.So now 60% of that 30% of your asset's cost can be depreciated in the first year, excluding land.Pretty great.This is how real estate owners, investors, and operators make millions and pay very little in taxes compared to W2 employees.They pay even less and can offset other types of income if they are an RE Pro.

But you can often use the county’s land vs. improvement split as a reasonable method for allocating that purchase price between land (non-depreciable) and building (depreciable).So for example, if the county shows the value breakdown as $100K land and $250K improvements (on a total value of $350K), you can apply that same ratio to your actual purchase price.

Resources or tools you’d suggest for market analysis or off-market sourcing?

Old post, but I'm scrolling through Huntsville, AL location specific posts.

Ask how depreciation is allocated. 

Your allocation Is below what I use for an attached 2/1 triplex.