W-2 household · 5 rentals · 4 states
Cost seg run on the highest-basis property (a duplex). LLC titling fixed on two more. 1031 path surfaced and modeled for a 2026 exchange.
Who we help · Real estate investor · The biggest savings live here
Cost seg. STR. REPS. 1031. The five moves stacked correctly.
Real estate offers some of the strongest tax tools in the code, if you qualify. The moves exist. The documentation requirements are real. Most real-estate-investor tax returns we audit have only the cheap moves done: Schedule E filed, depreciation taken on the wrong schedule, no cost seg, no STR positioning, no REPS analysis, no 1031 planning. We do all of it.
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This is you if
Your real estate picture looks like one of these. And the strategy hasn't kept up.
- One to ten rentals in personal name or single-purpose LLCs with no cost seg done
- Short-term rental operator running 1+ Airbnbs where the STR loophole is on the table
- Real estate professional status qualifier (or spouse qualifies) with W-2 income to offset
- BRRRR / fix-and-flip operator with multiple holds and capex history
- Syndication LP getting K-1s you don't fully understand and depreciation losses you can't use
- Fund GP with operating + investor entities + multi-state filings + carry planning
- Recent property sale with depreciation recapture, 1031 deadline pressure, or QOZ window
- Multi-state operator with rentals in 3+ states and credits for tax paid never modeled
What you're done with
Three real real-estate operators. Same three patterns.
Real estate clients almost always come in saying some version of the same thing: 'I know there's more available than what my preparer is doing.' They're right. Real estate has the deepest tax-code complexity of any asset class, and most preparers don't speak it.
I have five rentals. My preparer just reports them on Schedule E and moves on. Never raised cost seg. Never raised STR. I think I'm leaving real money on the table.
$320K W-2 · 5 rentals · 4 states · Apr 2026
We bought an Airbnb because the internet said it would lower our W-2 taxes. Our preparer says 'rental losses don't offset W-2 income.' Which one is right?
Dual-W-2 · 1 STR · Mar 2026
Our K-1 from the syndication says we have $80K of paper losses. My CPA says we can't use them because of the passive-loss rules. There has to be a way.
Syndication LP · $480K HHI · Feb 2026
The work we do for real-estate investors isn't novel. It's just disciplined. Cost seg ran where the math says yes. STR loophole positioned where material participation holds. REPS engaged where the household qualifies. 1031 planned before the sale window opens. None of this is a TikTok strategy. It's the section 168 / 469 / 1031 work the IRS Code already allows.
What we'd actually do for you
Six moves. Stacked in the right order.
The moves only work when they're sequenced correctly. Run cost seg before the LLC titling is wrong and you've created a mess. Engage STR loophole without material-participation logs and the IRS will disallow it. Here's the order.
- 01
Cost segregation on every property that qualifies
Default depreciation: 27.5 years residential, 39 years commercial. Cost seg reclassifies components (carpet, fixtures, parking, landscaping) into 5, 7, and 15-year buckets, and bonus depreciation lets you deduct most in year one. A cost seg study on a $500,000 rental might add tens of thousands of dollars of first-year depreciation. Whether it lowers your tax now depends on your income and your role. It also creates recapture when you sell.
- 02
STR loophole positioning when applicable
If the average stay is 7 days or less and you do much of the work yourself (over 500 hours, or over 100 hours and more than anyone else), the rental is not treated as a rental activity under the section 469 passive-loss rules. With material participation, STR losses can offset your W-2 income. It has limits, and the IRS looks hard at the time logs, which must be kept airtight.
- 03
Real estate professional status (REPS) for the right households
If you or your spouse, on your own, spends more than 750 hours and more than half of your work time in real estate, and you also materially take part in your rentals, REPS unlocks use of rental losses against other income. This is one of the biggest moves available to real estate operators. Losses are still capped each year. We document the materials, the time logs, and the position.
- 04
1031 exchange planning + look-back studies
Section 1031 defers gains on like-kind exchanges. We model whether 1031 vs. outright sale wins on NPV, manage the 45/180-day deadline structure, and for properties you already own, file Form 3115 to take missed depreciation in one year without amending old returns.
- 05
Entity titling + audit defense
Holding a rental in your own name puts your other assets at risk if someone sues. An LLC can help, but it does not change your deductions. We model the LLC choices that fit your state (single-member, multi-member partnership, or series LLC where allowed; series LLCs are not allowed everywhere and their tax treatment is not settled) and check the loan and title first.
- 06
Multi-state allocation + state credits
Real estate in 3 or more states often means more than one state return. Your home state usually gives a credit for tax paid to other states. Most preparers skip the source-state allocation and the credits. We file every state cleanly and run the credit math so you're not double-taxed on the same income.
Recent real-estate outcomes
Three real investors. Three real outcomes.
Anonymized. Recent real-estate-investor engagements.
W-2 + 1 STR Airbnb
Airbnb running average-stay-under-7-days, material participation documented (cleaning, guest comms, design changes). Cost seg study run. The STR loophole offset W-2 income directly. Material-participation case binder built and saved.
Syndication LP · 6 funds
K-1 losses from 6 funds were passive. We tested whether any of the losses could be used now, and set up the records for when the funds sell.
Which tier fits
For most real-estate investors, Comprehensive is the right tier.
Multi-property + multi-state portfolios + W-2 income to offset put you above Standard. If you have 5+ properties, syndication positions, fund GP interests, or RE professional status modeling needed, Strategic is the right call.
Recommended for this segment
Tax Analysis · Comprehensive tier
$5,095 flat
3-year scope · cost seg feasibility on every property · STR positioning · REPS analysis · multi-state allocation · 1031 planning · entity titling review · ranked next-step list.
If you have 1–2 rentals and a simple W-2, Standard ($2,595) may fit. Syndication GPs, fund operators, and $1M+ HHI households go to Strategic ($10,095). The Discovery call confirms.
Next step
One 20-minute call. We model your property-by-property opportunity.
Bring the property list (basis, year acquired, type, state). We'll model the year-one cost seg + STR + REPS + 1031 opportunities before any work starts. If the math doesn't justify the engagement, we'll say so.
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