Writing
What we've learned taking buildings apart
For owners, and for the accountants who serve them. No gated PDFs, no lead magnets, no “download our free guide.” Just the reference we wish we'd had when we started.
Categories
Cost Segregation Basics
What a study is, what it produces, who it fits, and what it costs — written for owners who have never done one.
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Property Types
How reclassification percentages and component lists differ across offices, warehouses, restaurants, rentals and everything between.
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Depreciation & Bonus Depreciation
MACRS lives, conventions, the permanent 100% bonus rules, Section 179, QIP and land improvements.
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Tax Strategy for Real Estate Investors
Passive loss rules, real estate professional status, short-term rentals, entity structure, exit planning.
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IRS Rules, Form 3115 & Compliance
Method changes, §481(a) adjustments, audit posture, documentation, recapture and substantiation.
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Worked Examples & Case Studies
Illustrative numbers on real building shapes, from a $410,000 duplex to a $12 million distribution center.
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Recently published
What is cost segregation, in plain language
A building is not one asset. A study is the engineering work that proves it, component by component.
Read →Is a cost segregation study worth it? The honest threshold
The old rule of thumb was a million dollars of basis. Bonus depreciation moved it. Here is where it sits now.
Read →What actually happens during a cost segregation study
Five stages, four to six weeks, and a specific list of things we will ask you for.
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What a cost segregation study costs, and why we will not take a percentage
Fixed fees, what drives them, and the reason contingent pricing is a bad idea for both of us.
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Does a cost segregation study increase audit risk?
The IRS publishes the guide it uses to evaluate these studies. Build to it and the answer is largely no.
Read →When to run a cost segregation study — and the one deadline that is absolute
Best case is the year of acquisition. Worst case is never, because you sold.
Read →Complete index
Everything, by category
Cost Segregation Basics
- 01What is cost segregation, in plain languageCost Segregation Basics
- 02Is a cost segregation study worth it? The honest thresholdCost Segregation Basics
- 03What actually happens during a cost segregation studyCost Segregation Basics
- 04What a cost segregation study costs, and why we will not take a percentageCost Segregation Basics
- 05Does a cost segregation study increase audit risk?Cost Segregation Basics
- 06When to run a cost segregation study — and the one deadline that is absoluteCost Segregation Basics
- 07Why you cannot do cost segregation with a spreadsheetCost Segregation Basics
- 08Cost segregation for CPAs: what to look for before you recommend a firmCost Segregation Basics
- 09Seven things people believe about cost segregation that are not trueCost Segregation Basics
- 10How much does cost segregation actually save? Four worked numbersCost Segregation Basics
Property Types
- 01Cost segregation on apartment buildings: why unit count is the whole storyProperty Types
- 02Short-term rentals: the seven-day rule, stated carefullyProperty Types
- 03Restaurants reclassify better than any other property type. Here is whyProperty Types
- 04Self-storage: the simplest building with some of the best numbersProperty Types
- 05Medical and dental practices: the densest fit-out in commercial real estateProperty Types
- 06Hotels: three property types stacked into one buildingProperty Types
- 07Warehouses: the property type everyone assumes will not workProperty Types
- 08Single-family rentals: when one house is worth studyingProperty Types
- 09Retail centers: mostly parking, and parking is 15-year propertyProperty Types
- 10Office buildings: the cabling is worth more than you thinkProperty Types
Depreciation & Bonus Depreciation
- 01Bonus depreciation in 2026: what permanent actually meansDepreciation & Bonus Depreciation
- 02MACRS recovery periods, methods and conventions in one placeDepreciation & Bonus Depreciation
- 03Land improvements: what counts, what does not, and why it is missedDepreciation & Bonus Depreciation
- 04Qualified improvement property: the fix a lot of schedules never receivedDepreciation & Bonus Depreciation
- 05The Section 179 election most real estate owners never useDepreciation & Bonus Depreciation
- 06Depreciation recapture: the part of the pitch that usually gets skippedDepreciation & Bonus Depreciation
- 07The partial asset disposition election, and why you need a study to make itDepreciation & Bonus Depreciation
- 08Your state probably does not follow federal bonus depreciationDepreciation & Bonus Depreciation
- 09Section 1245 versus 1250: the distinction that drives every classificationDepreciation & Bonus Depreciation
- 10The land allocation is the highest-leverage number on your scheduleDepreciation & Bonus Depreciation
Tax Strategy for Real Estate Investors
- 01Passive activity loss rules: whether you can actually use the deductionTax Strategy for Real Estate Investors
- 02Real estate professional status: the tests, the grouping election and the recordsTax Strategy for Real Estate Investors
- 03Cost segregation and 1031 exchanges: sequence mattersTax Strategy for Real Estate Investors
- 04Cost segregation in syndications and fundsTax Strategy for Real Estate Investors
- 05Running cost segregation across a portfolio instead of one property at a timeTax Strategy for Real Estate Investors
- 06The estate planning case for accelerating depreciationTax Strategy for Real Estate Investors
- 07How your entity structure changes what a study is worthTax Strategy for Real Estate Investors
- 08If you are building, commission the study before you finishTax Strategy for Real Estate Investors
IRS Rules, Form 3115 & Compliance
- 01The look-back study: how Form 3115 recovers years of missed depreciationIRS Rules, Form 3115 & Compliance
- 02Section 481(a) adjustments in detailIRS Rules, Form 3115 & Compliance
- 03Reading the IRS Cost Segregation Audit Techniques Guide as an ownerIRS Rules, Form 3115 & Compliance
- 04Repair or improvement? The tangible property regulations for building ownersIRS Rules, Form 3115 & Compliance
- 05What documentation a study needs, and what to do when it does not existIRS Rules, Form 3115 & Compliance
- 06Eight errors that turn a good study into an examination problemIRS Rules, Form 3115 & Compliance
- 07Having an existing study reviewed: what a second look usually findsIRS Rules, Form 3115 & Compliance
Worked Examples & Case Studies
- 01Worked example: a $410,000 rental houseWorked Examples & Case Studies
- 02Worked example: a $3.1 million strip centerWorked Examples & Case Studies
- 03Worked example: an $18.5 million apartment communityWorked Examples & Case Studies
- 04Worked example: an $11.8 million distribution centerWorked Examples & Case Studies
- 05Worked example: an eleven-year look-back on a medical officeWorked Examples & Case Studies
No-cost feasibility review
Find out what your building is hiding.
A feasibility review is free and takes about twenty minutes. Bring the closing statement and the depreciation schedule; we will tell you plainly whether a study pays for itself.