by on January 17, 2012 4 Comments

3 Factors Real Estate Investors Can Use In Evaluating Their Portfolio

Every week I speak to some pretty smart cookies. They’ve invested in several properties in their hometown. The thing is, I spend somewhere around 40% of my time tellin’ investors they’re doin’ just fine, don’t change a thing. Or maybe change a few things and you’re flyin’ high. They’re usually surprised, but happy.

There are three basic factors to consider when deciding to sell/trade or keep a local income property.

1. The true quality of it’s location.

2. The true quality of it’s construction.

3. The current age of the property.

Location quality [Read more...]

Filed Under: 1031 Exchanges, Purposeful Planning, San Diego Property Owners
by on January 10, 2012 1 Comment

Time: The Costs of Hesitation

There are many unnoted costs in our lives.  One of the biggest is procrastination.  In personal finance you see it often.  You most often see it in making a decision about change.  Change can be very hard for people because often it means that you made a bad decision earlier.  Once momentum has been built doing one thing, it is very difficult to stop and go in a different direction.  Often I lay out the future for folks with their 401K investments and demonstrate the issues they will have.  They get that the mutual funds returns and the taxes paid are not going to be to their advantage as they go forward, but can’t seem to stop doing it!  Maybe it is too convenient for them, maybe it is easier to not think about the future, or maybe it is too scary to go off the beaten path?  The bottom line is hesitation and procrastination.

Then there are some people who are doing nothing currently and want to start to save for retirement.  But, how do they get over their fear of making a mistake?  The fear paralyzes them to the point of just not doing anything year after year. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Purposeful Planning
by on December 28, 2011 9 Comments

Reader Asks Superb Real Estate Investment Questions — Answered Here

In yesterday’s post, in which I addressed why Texas is the place to put your real estate investment capital, Dave, a reader for some time, apparently, asked a couple questions. They were so good, especially the second one, I thought the answers deserved center stage. So, thanks Dave.

Here’re Dave’s questions, verbatim, with text before and after, edited out. You can still see his comment in its entirety by going to the link above. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Capital Growth, Cash Flow, Depreciation, Financing, Purposeful Planning
by on November 17, 2011 1 Comment

Are Your Real Estate Losses Limited By the At Risk Rules?

In the 1980s it was common place to see limited partnerships used in real estate investing. These partnerships often offered attractive ways for investors to reap tax losses that exceeded their initial investments. Some, if not many, investors utilized these limited partnerships as vehicles for tax savings rather than as real investments at least that was how the IRS saw it.

Passive Activity Loss rules and At Risk limits were created to dissuade investors from using these limited partnerships. The feeling was they lacked economic substance — in other words they were not created to make a profit.

I think most investors are aware of what the Passive Activity Loss rules are, but these days many seem unaware of how the At Risk limit can impact any real estate losses in a given year.

Passive Activity Loss rules refresher: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Depreciation, IRS, Purposeful Planning
by on November 14, 2011 2 Comments

Attention Aging Baby Boomers: Abundant Retirement Income Still On Your Menu

About once weekly, sometimes more, I have a conversation with a fellow Boomer who’s had a rough day. It started the night before when their mind wouldn’t stop dialin’ 911. A realization had slammed into their psyche with the force of a car from the blind side. Their retirement plan simply wasn’t producing results. Here are the common denominators of these calls. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Purposeful Planning, Real Estate Investing, Retirement Income, San Diego Property Owners
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