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Does Your Investment Property Still Measure Up?
By Tom Lundstedt, CCIM
The purpose of this article is to give a friendly whack upside the head to people who own rental property. You probably made a good investment when you first bought the property. But have you owned it too long?
Depending on how long you've held your property, it might not be a good investment anymore. I didn't say not a good property; I said not a good investment. Read on to find a simple way to determine if your property is still measuring up. You may be in for a surprise!
First, let's quickly review the four financial benefits of owning investment real estate:
- CASH FLOW: After you pay all expenses and loan payments, cash flow is the money left over.
- PRINCIPAL REDUCTION: The loan is paid down with money collected from tenants.
- INCOME TAX SAVINGS: IRS rules allow property owners to take depreciation deductions, which shelter the cash flow and principal reduction. Any leftover depreciation creates a paper loss, which, in many cases, can be used to shelter other income - such as salary from your job.
- APPRECIATION: Over time, the property increases in value.
These four benefits are powerful! You earn tax-sheltered cash flow, your tenants buy you the building, you get to tell the IRS you're losing money, and all-the-while, the property goes up in value. What a country!
So why am I challenging you to reconsider whether your property is still a good investment? Simple! Your "return on equity" is probably low - and getting lower by the year!
Let me show you an example. Don't get all tangled up in the numbers. Just concentrate on the big picture and how it applies to you.
Return on Equity Drops from 18 to 7 Percent
Assume you bought a rental house 16 years ago for $70,000. You invested $10,000 and borrowed the rest. Your goal is to retire in another 15 years and use the rental house to provide retirement income. (A great plan!)
So, how good was your investment 16 years ago? Let's total your benefits. Assume the cash flow, principal reduction and tax savings added up to $1,800 that first year. You were earning 18 percent ($1,800 divided by $10,000) on your investment. Not bad. Plus the rental house was appreciating. You're an investment genius!
Fast-forward 16 years to the present. Let's assume the following: Your yearly cash flow has increased to $5,000 and the principal reduction is $2,000; a total of $7,000 - just from the first two benefits! In addition, let's assume the net value of your rental house has appreciated over the years so it's now worth $120,000 and your loan has been paid down to $40,000.
However, because you've owned the property so long, the depreciation deductions (assume they're $3,000) are no longer enough to shelter the $7,000 of cash flow and principal reduction. That leaves $4,000 of unsheltered (taxable) income. Instead of saving tax, you have to pay tax. If you're in a 35-percent bracket, (combined federal and state), you pay $1,400 tax.
So, your benefits from the rental house now look like this: $5,000 cash flow, plus $2,000 principal reduction, minus $1,400 tax paid. A total of $5,600.
This is all summarized on the "Return on Equity Worksheet" below. (The blanks in the right column are for you to use on your own property.)
It's no wonder you consider yourself an investment genius if you measure the $5,600 against your original $10,000 investment: that's a 56 percent return. But that's where most people go wrong!
Your Original Investment Has Nothing to Do with Today's Rate of Return!
Your investment is not the amount you originally invested years ago. You've got way more than $10,000 "tied up" today! Your investment is the amount you could get out of the property if you sold it today. That's called your "net equity."
Over the past 16 years, your property has increased in value and your mortgage has been paid down. The current difference between the property's net value (after selling expenses) and your mortgage balance is $80,000. In other words, if you sold the property today, you could walk away with $80,000.
However, if you keep the property, in effect you're re-investing the $80,000 into the property. Now, how does your investment look?
Not so good. You're earning $5,600 in benefits on an $80,000 investment - that's only 7 percent! What if a REALTORŪ called you up and said, "I've got a great real estate investment for you. You'll earn a measly 7 percent." You'd hang up on them! Well, you already own it!
If you wouldn't buy a property like that, why would you continue to own it?
What if you did this instead? Use your $80,000 equity as the down payment on a different property - one that produces 18 percent again? With that down payment you could probably afford a $400,000 rental property. Once you've owned that property for a few years, your equity will have grown again (and your rate of return fallen), so you repeat the process. The goal is to maintain the highest possible rate of return, which will make a huge difference in your future wealth.
You'll maximize your wealth by wisely moving your equity from your current property to another as soon as your rate of return would be greater in the next property.
Just for fun, take out your calculator and figure how much money you'd have in 15 years if you leave the $80,000 invested at 7 percent. Then calculate what $80,000 invested at 18 percent grows to in 15 years. I could give you the answer but you might not believe me - check for yourself.it's gigantic!
Three Ways to Move Your Equity
Here's a key point. If you decide it's time to "move your equity," be sure to explore all your options. There are three common ways to move equity:
- SELL: You could sell your current property and buy another. The problem with selling is you have to pay capital gains tax.
- REFINANCE: You could refinance your current property and use the loan proceeds to buy another property. The problem with refinancing is you're probably not able to borrow the entire $80,000 equity.
- EXCHANGE: The third, and best, way to move your equity is to exchange. Exchanging allows you to move your entire $80,000 net equity to another property without paying tax. It's wealth building's most powerful tool.
So, what does this all mean? Well, if you own rental property, congratulations. Your investment brilliance shines brightly. However, the longer you own that property your glow begins to fade.
The wise thing to do is re-evaluate your property every year. In essence, make the decision to "re-buy" the property. As soon as the rate of return on your equity could be higher in another property, it's time to take action.
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All Dollars Are Not Created Equal
By Tom Lundstedt, CCIM
Have you ever asked yourself, "How come I earn so much income, but never seem to have any money?" It's a common problem and the answer might lie in the type of income you're earning. Let me show you what I mean.
Right now - reach into your wallet and take out three one-dollar bills and set them on the table in front of you. Look closely. Except for the serial number they're all the same, right?
Wrong!
Dollars are not all the same. As a matter of fact, some dollars - such as those earned from owning real estate - are twice as good as other dollars! I'll prove it to you.
Let's assume you earned each of these three dollars in a different way: the first dollar came from your job as a real estate salesperson, the second dollar came as cash flow from rental property you own, and the third dollar was part of the proceeds you received when you sold your house.
Take a closer look at the first dollar (the one you earned as a real estate salesperson). Think of all the effort that went into earning that baby: cold calls, listing presentations, offer writing, ad writing, driving persnickety clients around in your car, late nights and enough faxes to fill a bucket.
OK, now for a little magic. Wave your hand over all three of the dollars and chant these secret words:
Cold calls, late nights, clients and faxes.
That's ok, but what about taxes?
Dollar number one begins to shrink before your very eyes: 35 percent of it disappears to pay federal and state income tax. Then - poof! - another 15 percent goes for self-employment tax. You're now looking at a 50-cent dollar!
All that work and you've got a measly 50-cent dollar! That's right, 50 cents. The worst possible dollar you can earn is a dollar from your job. The reason: about half of it goes to pay taxes. It's no wonder most Americans retire with little or no wealth. They spend all their working days toiling for 50-cent dollars.
People try to save for future expenditures like a new car, a house or college tuition. Sadly, they'll probably never reach their goal because they're saving 50-cent dollars. When they begin to realize this, what do they do? They work harder to earn even more 50-cent dollars. That's nuts!
Think about the real estate magazines you read. Every month there's a profile of some agent who's a phenom. The interviewer asks, "How much do you work?" And the answer is always 60, 70 or even more hours per week. Sixty hours per week chasing 50-cent dollars? That's nothing to brag about!
Now look at dollar number two, the cash flow from your rental property. This dollar has not shrunk - it's still a whole dollar. Why? Because a dollar earned from your rental property can be tax sheltered. The depreciation shelters this dollar from federal and state income tax. In addition, there's no social security or self-employment tax.
But, don't lose your head. It's true there's no tax due on that dollar - at this time. However, there might be tax due in the future because the tax shelter created by depreciation is great while you own the property, but it's not a one-way street. That's because when you sell your rental property, your taxable gain is made up of appreciation and depreciation. (Keep in mind there are several ways to reduce or eliminate this tax, depending on how you dispose of the property.)
Even if you end up having to pay tax on this dollar someday, you'll have had the use of the entire dollar while you owned the property. This makes it a much better dollar than the one from your job.
OK, now look closely at the third dollar - the one you received when you sold your house. This is the king of all dollars. It hasn't shrunk and it will not shrink. Dollar number three is twice as good as dollar number one. And what did you have to do to earn it? Nothing, but live in your house! The tax rules greatly favor this dollar over any other dollar. If you've owned and occupied your house as your primary residence for any two of the most recent five years prior to the sale, you can receive profits up to $250,000 tax free. Not tax deferred. Not tax sheltered. Tax FREE. If you're married filing jointly the amount becomes $500,000!
Key point: the dollars people get from selling their house are twice as good as those 50-cent dollars from their job. If you're in the business of selling homes, you should be telling your clients this. People ought to concentrate on buying and selling homes.and forget about their jobs!
Well, that's a bit extreme but not totally bonkers. Since the current tax rules became effective there are people who have become serial homesellers. They buy a house, move in, fix it up, live there a couple years, then sell, and all the profit is tax free. Sure beats having a job!
So, what does this all mean?
Well, if you're one of those hard-working people who earns a lot of income but never seems to have any money, buck up! Instead of working harder to earn more 50-cent dollars, try working smarter to earn different dollars. Because as you know, all dollars are not created equal.
www.TomLundstedt.com
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