That is a impressive portfolio that you have put together. We began some small real estate investing in the Huntsville area but the housing market has quickly turned into a sellers market and prices are in the stratosphere. We had an opportunity to purchase some very nice builder developed residential properties similar to those you purchased. Our conservatism kept us from pulling the trigger but these would have been excellent investments as I know yours have been.
My insurance agent became a significant property developer in North Alabama and ultimately became involved with major out of state developers due to his reputation with the banks. Of course 2008 happened and he lost practically everything through Chapter 11. Now he is back expanding his insurance business. It is always the case of not becoming overly leveraged in order to weather the inevitable downturns.
A lot of the decision on whether to invest in income-producing commercial real estate (IPCRE) or not comes down to management. As in, somebody has to do it. Who?
Does the investor have the skill set to collect rents as they’re due, pursue recalcitrant tenants, maintain the properties, acquire new tenants as old one roll off, and market the properties for sale when the time comes?
If so, IPCRE can provide excess returns (defined as something over the long-term return on equities).
If not, the investor has to pay someone else to do all that, and the excess returns tend to reduce or evaporate altogether.
Note: This doesn’t include the headaches of outside market interference — like bans on evictions. There’s a lot of landlords out there right now who aren’t getting rent, are still obligated to maintain the properties, and can do nothing to change the situation.
Real estate, maybe in the form of REITs and maybe in the form of direct ownership, does have a place in a diversified portfolio. But not because of increased returns (over the long haul, REITs tend to return about the same as stocks).
The cool thing about real estate is that, while it has ups and downs, they tend to be un-correlated with the stock market’s ups and downs. So IPCRE tends to have a moderating effect on returns, and smooth them out.
The not-so-cool thing is that every 15-20 years or so, there’s a godamighty nasty downturn. The first one I can personally remember was in the mid-1970s. Then there was one in the early 1990s. Then the one everybody remembers in 2008-10. Interspersed in there were more localized downturns in Texas, Florida and California.
If you’re not leveraged, have the skill set to manage the properties yourself, and have the stomach to stick with it through the troughs (and they’re nasty), direct ownership of real estate can be a money–maker.
I’m not much of a tax guy, but one note on that: the IRS will get their cut. It’s just a matter of when. A lot of people talk about the huge benefits of depreciation on the cash flow of IPCRE estate. And they’re right…..until it comes time to sell the property.
I’m sure there are all sorts of, “Yeah, but…”s in the tax code, but a greatly simplified version is this:
When you sell the property, the gain is the difference between the sales price and your tax basis. When you deduct depreciation on the property from income, you simultaneously reduce your tax basis in that property. Which increases your gain when you sell. So while the cash flow boost is nice while it lasts, you will eventually pay the piper / IRS.
The good news there is that the depreciation is a deduction against current income, at applicable tax rates. In all likelihood, the tax on the final sale, even if the property is fully depreciated (i.e., has a tax basis of $0), will be figured at Capital Gains rates. Which, for most real estate investors, are significantly less than current income tax rates. For now, anyway.…Congress is forever threatening to jigger with the Capital Gains tax rate.
You do get to increase your basis (and thereby reduce your gain) when you
improve the property. But you don’t get to increase the basis if you’re just maintaining it. Adding a deck is an improvement. Re-doing the kitchen is an improvement.
Replacing a leaky roof or a crapped-out AC are both maintenance, and represent immediate cash out. They do represent an expense deduction in the current year, but they have no effect on the tax basis of the property.