Situations · Commercial real estate

Real estate wealth runs on taxes. Plan for them.

Brokers, developers and investors build wealth differently from salaried professionals. Income arrives in large, uneven deals. Much of the net worth sits in property, not accounts. And almost every move, from a sale to a refinance to an estate plan, is a tax decision first.

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What's actually at stake

Four decisions that decide what you keep.

Each one has rules with deadlines. Most of the cost comes from making them deal by deal, without a plan that ties them together.

01

Every sale is a 1031 decision

A 1031 exchange lets you defer the tax on a sale by buying like-kind real estate. The clock is strict: 45 days to identify the replacement property and 180 days to close, with the proceeds held by a qualified intermediary. Deferring is not always the right answer, and it is far easier to decide before the sale than during it.

02

Depreciation now, recapture later

Depreciation lowers your taxes while you own a property, and a cost segregation study can move more of it into the early years. The trade-off comes at sale, when depreciation is recaptured. Knowing your exit lets you decide how hard to lean on the front end.

03

Real estate professional status

If you spend more than 750 hours a year in real estate businesses you materially take part in, and that is more than half your working time, rental losses may offset your other income. The rules are strict and the records matter. It is worth knowing whether you qualify before filing, not after.

04

Lumpy income, steady life

Commissions and deal fees arrive unevenly. Quarterly estimated taxes, a cash reserve sized to your slowest year, and retirement plan contributions timed to your big years turn feast-or-famine income into a plan.

How Cannon helps

A CPA and a fiduciary advisor, working the same plan.

Our Director of Strategic Tax Planning is a CPA who sits at the same table as your advisor, so your deals, your taxes and your investments are one plan. We are fee-only. We sell no investment products and take no commission on any property or exchange, so nothing we recommend pays us more.

Common questions

People in this spot usually ask.

Do you help with 1031 exchanges?
We help you decide whether an exchange makes sense, what the tax looks like each way, and how it fits the rest of your plan. The exchange itself is handled by a qualified intermediary, and we work alongside yours. We don't sell replacement properties or exchange products.
What happens to my real estate when I die?
Under current law, heirs generally receive property at a stepped-up basis, which can erase the deferred gain built up over years of exchanges and depreciation. That makes estate planning part of the real estate strategy, not a separate project.
I'm a broker with uneven commission income. Where should I start?
With a cash reserve sized to your slowest year, and quarterly estimated taxes that track what you actually earned. Once those are steady, retirement plans and investing can be timed to your best years instead of your worst.
Do you work with real estate investors outside commercial real estate?
Yes. The same tax rules apply to residential rentals and mixed portfolios. We plan around the properties you own and the ones you expect to buy or sell.

Educational only — not investment, tax, or legal advice. Every situation is different; the right answer depends on the numbers, and that's what the strategy session is for.

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One conversation. No pressure, no pitch.

Sit down with a fiduciary — not a salesman — and leave with a complimentary strategy for your exact situation, whether or not you ever hire us.

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