OK real estate mavens, time to level up.

If the previous strategies were your bachelor’s degree in real estate tax strategies, consider this your Ph.D. program.

Imagine you're a chess player. You've mastered the basic moves, you understand the power of each piece, and you've won your fair share of games. But now, you're ready to learn the advanced strategies that grandmasters use – the moves that turn good players into champions.

Here are the moves.

Fair warning: this isn't a passive read. These strategies require effort to understand and implement. You need to consult with tax professionals. You'll definitely need to do some homework. But the payoff? It will be enormous.

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only. Consult qualified tax and legal professionals before implementing any strategy.

Strategy 6. Personal vs. Real Property - The Depreciation Accelerator.

Not all property is created equal in the eyes of the taxman! I once bought a property in Lake Tahoe for $1.5m, which included $150,000 of designer furniture not considered part of the home for property tax purposes. Result? My tax basis was locked in at $1.35m forever, saving me thousands of dollars per year in property taxes.  Forever.  Use this knowledge by including property from the seller in your purchase and submitting the right value to the local appraisal district.

Strategy 7. Cost Segregation - The Time Machine for Depreciation.

Different parts of your property age at different rates. The land will be there forever, and the roof might last two decades, but a fresh coat of greige paint may be old news after a few years.

Think of this like financial time travel, bringing future tax deductions to the present.

A cost segregation study is the tool you use to find these faster depreciating parts of your investment.

Strategy 8. Bonus Depreciation - The Turbocharged Write-Off.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 introduced significant changes to depreciation rules with the goal of accelerating investment in the economy. In some cases, investors were able to deduct a larger percentage of a property's cost in the first year (22%) than they had put down as a down payment (20%)!  While the party has died down, there's still champagne left in the bottle – in 2024, you can immediately deduct 60% of these faster-depreciating assets.

Strategy 9. Real Estate Professional Status - Tax Shields Unlocked.

 One of the ultimate pro tips in real estate is becoming a professional real estate investor. If you are spending 750 hours per year and more than half your time on real estate, you can deduct losses from investment against W-2 income, potentially significantly reducing your tax burden. Switch over partway through the year, and your W-2 income from that year might end up being entirely tax-free.

Strategy 10. Opportunity Zones - The Developer’s Win-Win.

Opportunity Zones are the government's way of saying, 'Hey, help us revitalize this depressed area, and we’ll eliminate your capital gains tax.'  Of all the tax strategies, this is the one I love the most – it turns those broken windowed downtowns into vibrant areas buzzing with the sound of whirring espresso machines and gives you a tax break while doing it.

I'm currently building an extended stay hotel in Yuma, AZ – a border town in the desert that you probably can't find on a map. But because the town has demand from nearby military bases, border patrol, and medical facilities, it's more like a desert oasis.

An especially cool feature of Opportunity Zones - I am rolling all types of gains (including on private company stock sales) into the property, and when I sell it 10 years from now, I won't owe taxes on any of the profit.