Cost Seg Building

A Blog About Tax Savings for Building Owners

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Retail Strip Centers and Cost Segregation

March 29, 2024 /
Retail Strip Centers or Strip Malls are great candidates for cost segregation

Retail strip centers are a highly sought after asset class for commercial real estate investors. I think part of the reason they are liked is because you typically have anywhere from 4 -15 tenants depending upon the size of the building. This spreads out the risk with the cashflow so that if one or two tenants vacate, it’s usually not a huge burden. This is not the case of course if you have one of the tenants taking up a big part of the space. But normally when that happens, those tenants are on a significant, long-term lease.

Our firm studies lots of of strip malls or retail strip centers. Cost segregation for retail strip centers is an excellent idea for the owners. Besides the big depreciation expense that gets generated and of course if the main thing people hire us for, it’s really helpful to have a breakdown of all of the sytems and components of your buildings. Retail strips, just like other commercial property, require constant upkeep, maintenance and repair. If you have things identified, it then makes it easier to make decisions about expensing vs. capitalizing when it comes to repairs or improvements.

In terms of the study results, normally we see that the 5 year property might be 8-10% of the building cost. Sometimes if the property is dominated by a tenant that might be something like a Dollar-type store, those interiors are pretty sparse by design. Those might end up being 5-7% that get identified as 5 year property. But these properties tend to have ample parking and that’s where the big payoff comes in with cost segregation. It’s not uncommon to see these buildings have 10-20% of their overall cost tied to the land improvements. Land improvements are 15 year class life property and include things like the parking lot, lighting, landscaping, patios, signage etc. Because the way bonus depreciation works, this class life qualifies for it. Bonus Depreciation schedule is noted below.

Bonus Depreciation schedule as of 3/29/24 – subject to change by Congress any minute now as they look to bump bonus depreciation back up to 100% through 2025 but that has not yet been approved.

Buildings in-service date

  • After Sept. 27, 2017 and by Dec. 31, 2022 – 100% bonus depreciation
  • Jan. 1, 2023 – Dec. 31, 2023 – 80%
  • Jan. 1, 2024 – Dec. 31, 2024 – 60%
  • Jan. 1, 2025 – Dec. 31, 2025 – 40%
  • Jan. 1, 2026 – Dec. 31, 2026 – 20%
  • Jan. 1, 2027 – bonus depreciation goes to 0.

If you would like to talk about your building or get a quote for cost segregation, please don’t hesitate to reach out. There’s no cost or obligation. I’m not going to charge you in 15 minute increments to discuss. The consultations are free.

Cost Segregation for Charlotte Commercial Real Estate

March 28, 2024 /

If you own commercial real estate in the Charlotte, NC metro and if you haven’t done a cost segregation study for tax savings, please feel free to reach out and give me a call. I’m based out of Greenville, SC just 90 minutes away. I can work anywhere in the U.S.

Recently we studied this new construction building that is Aspen Dental and Clear Choice Dental Implant Center. These kinds of retail buildings perform very well with cost segregation because they are often built out quite nicely with internal finishes many of which are considered 5 year class life. Also since this was a new developed parcel, given the requirements for parking, the 15 year class life property also is typically quite large and benefits the owners.

As I write this, Congress has not yet officially passed the bill that would allow bonus depreciation to go back to 100%. As things stand today, any properties placed into service in 2023 get 80% bonus depreciation and those placed in-service in 2024 get 60% bonus. That means for all class life property identified as 20 years or less, the owners can take 60% of that cost as a depreciation expense.

John Murphy, CSSI, LLC 864-276-1448 / john.murphy@costsegregationservices.com

Cost Segregation for Dollar General Stores

March 22, 2024 /

I get asked this question quite a bit….is “this – insert building type or address” particular building a good candidate for cost segregation? And so I also hear this with Dollar General Stores. They are pretty basic. Generally if they are stand-alone buildings they are metal buildings with not a lot of finishing. That said, almost every commercial building that is profitable and has enough basis is usually worth studying. Dollar General Stores are no different.

I recently studied a couple of them for an owner recently and the studies turned out great for the owner. Every building is different of course but in general we might see about 5-6% of the cost be identified as 5 year class life and 10-20% identified as 15 year depending upon the size of the parking lot. The two I completed recently had the 15 year land improvements come back at 16 and 18%. That is significant especially given that 15 year can be taken as bonus depreciation. Remember, property eligible for bonus depreciation is those with class lives of 20 years or less. When we do our studies, we identify 5, 7 and 15 year property. For the tax year of 2023, if a building went intok service in this particular year bonus is 80%. (Note: Congress is currently considering revising this to take bonus back up to 100% at least through 2025 is what I’ve read).

The Franklin Executive Office Suites Greenville SC

March 19, 2024 /
Image Credit: Franklin Real Estate Development and the Upstate Business Journal

Franklin Real Estate Development has just opened these gorgeous newly renovated executive offices in downtown Greenville. Developer Kurt Wallenborn has done an outstanding job it appears on the renovation and restoration of this historic property. Upstate Business Journal has a story about the renovation.

Check out the office spaces offered at The Franklin.

1.5 Hours of Free Continuing Education for CPAs – March 26, 2024 at 10am Central

March 19, 2024 /

This is for the CPAs out there who might want to knock out a little CPE if they have the time. We’ll hold a webinar on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 at 10am central. CPAs can earn 1.5 hours of CPE – continuing education – at no charge.

Register here to be sure you get credit for attending.

The course is being provided by our team at CSSI, LLC, one of the nation’s leading providers of engineering-based cost segregation studies.

Dutch Bros For Sale Brigham City, UT

March 19, 2024 /

Dutch Bros is continuing to expand across the U.S. I had to post this as Daniel Herrold of Northmarq and his team are doing a great job all across the U.S. Anyway, this is a ground lease and if it’s structured that the new owner also owns the parking lot, this would be a phenomenal property for cost segregation.

Below is the link to Daniel’s post on LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7174067689185755137?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Cost Segregation for Real Estate Carolinas Real Estate Investors

December 31, 2023 /

Real estate investors who are buying and holding long term and mid term rental homes should look at doing cost segregation to saving money on income taxes. I do a lot of studies for real estate investors across the country. We are doing a number of them these days for investors in the Upstate of South Carolina as well as in the state of North Carolina. Upstate CREIA and Carolinas Real Estate Investors Assocation are two outstanding investor associations.

If your property has a cost basis of around $200,000 or more and if you are planning to hold the property for at least another 3 years, it’s highly likely you will stand to benefit from doing a cost segregation study.

The costs will generally range from about $2,200 – $3,500 depending up the size and cost basis of your property and whether or not you’ll need to file an IRS Change of Accounting form 3115. The 3115 form is used to let the IRS know you’re moving from straight line to accelerated depreciation. It’s used all the time. In fact I think we draft about a 1,000 of these each year.

But if you own a property, you might end up saving $5,000 – $10,000 after paying for the cost of the study. This works if you’re profitable and having to pay taxes on your rental income, or if you are considered a full time real estate professional. If your expenses and standard depreciation already wipe out your income, then doing a cost segregation study probably doesn’t make sense to do.

Cost Segregation for Commercial Real Estate Brokers

December 29, 2023 /

I get asked to come in and present to commercial real estate brokers, financial advisory firms, CPA firms and occasionally a college might ask me to speak to their accounting students. The the folks who are consistently really interested in learning more about cost segregation are the CRE brokers…as well they should.

This is not only easy money but it’s a great value-add service that you can tell your clients about which in turn might lead to another deal. How so? Let’s say you help a buyer purchase a new building. As part of your due diligence, you get an estimate for cost segregation. It’s likely the owner is not familiar with cost segregation. You might end up saving that owner $30, $50, $100k+ on his/her taxes. It might even be enough that they want to buy another building with you. You can earn a referral fee on business you send our way. Of course it’s nowhere near what you earn with real estate commissions but it all helps at the end of the day. Telling your clients about cost segregation and getting them an estimate is a win-win-win for everybody.

I recorded a presentation that I recently used to help educate many commercial real estate brokers. It’s not meant to be an in-depth study of cost segregation but hopefully provides enough of an overview to help you understand the power of cost segregation and why you should have a trusted source to help you and your clients maximize their building’s cash flow while minimizing the taxes for the owner.

Presentation about Cost Segregation for Commercial Real Estate Brokers
John Murphy Cost Segregation
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