@AoverK This is so true. I found a house that was gifted to an owner by her parents, no mortgage. But I donβt think they told her about property taxes because it was up for tax auction.
Sheβll probably be forced to sell since she clearly canβt afford the taxes π€·πΏββοΈ
During a severe national housing affordability crisis, US banks issued risky loans to foreign buyers moving to America on temporary work visas
Then policy shifted and the tech job market turned
The end result, detailed in the New York Post:
I spoke with a member of the technical staff at Anthropic yesterday who is about to make $17 million.
He's been there less than 2.5 years and is blown away by his equity value. His biggest worry now is tax strategy.
His CPA told him to "max out his 401(k) and consider a donor-advised fund."
While that's a great starting point, here's what makes even more sense:
He's acquiring a 48 unit apartment complex in Phoenix for $14.5 million.
We're running a cost segregation study to reclassify approximately 30% of the depreciable basis into 5, 7, and 15 year property.
Here's the math:
β’ $14.5M purchase price
β’ ~$12.3M depreciable basis (excluding land)
β’ ~$3.7M reclassified to short-life assets via cost seg
β’ 100% bonus depreciation under OBBBA = $3.7M accelerated to Year 1
Plus standard Year 1 depreciation on the remaining basis adds another ~$315K.
Total Year 1 deduction: approximately 4M.
His wife is qualifying as a real estate professional 750+ hours, more time than any other activity. The loss is no longer passive. It offsets ordinary income.
At a 37% federal bracket plus 13.3% California, that's a combined rate just over 50%.
$4M Γ 50% = 2M+ in tax savings. Year 1.
Layer in operating expenses, loan interest, and startup costs on the property, the total offset against his Anthropic income crosses $3 million.
Not deferred. Not spread over 27.5 years.
Meanwhile, the property cash flows. He's converted concentrated tech stock into a real asset producing monthly income. And he's done it all before he files the return on his equity windfall.
This is what real tax planning looks like for tech liquidity.
If you're an engineer, exec, or early employee sitting on a meaningful equity position and your CPA hasn't mentioned cost segregation, bonus depreciation, or REPS qualification, you're probably leaving seven figures on the table.
New guy on our project just got taken off because he couldnβt ramp up fast enough.
Thatβs the only drawback of contract work: you gotta hit the ground running immediately.
Heβs not lying , the government is hella wasteful we see it everyday.
Thatβs why they give people tax breaks with real estate because they know they canβt solve that problem
Jeff Bezos: "If people want me to pay more billions, then let's have that debate, but don't pretend that that's gonna solve the problem. You could double the taxes I pay, and it's not gonna help that teacher in Queens.... Airbnb isn't causing high rents. What's really causing high rent is government intervention."