Making Real Estate Investments
Real estate has been a lucrative investment for many years. Real estate provides greater diversification properties as compared to equity or fixed
income investments. Two important benefits to investing in real estate are the abilities to leverage investments and to decrease tax liability.
Consider Sean's case:
Last year, Sean has an adjusted gross income from one job of $not including any deductions from real estate loss In addition,
Sean owns an apartment building that he rents out throughout the year. The revenues he received from his apartment building
amounted to $ in rent payments for the year. The operating expenses maintenance mortgage interest, and so forth amounted
to $ for the year.
His income before subtracting depreciation expenses for the apartment building is therefore
his rental income minus his expenses
His accountant has informed him that the apartment building can be depreciated up to $ Because his modified adjusted gross income MAGI
is less than $ he can subtract
of the depreciation expense from his rental income and thus not pay taxes on that amount anc
the remaining
of the depreciation
be written off against his ordinary income.
Suppose Sean is interested in purchasing an additional apartment building as an investment. He has $ in cash and can borrow an additional
$ at an annual interest rate of to purchase a property costing $
If the property is expected to generate $ per year after expenses, then the benefit from leveraging the investment
the cost of paying interest on the loan.