Loopholes of Real Estate

I am an attorney in private practice and have many clients who fancy themselves real estate professionals. Very few of them, whether they own many properties or only a few, truly know and understand how to maximize the tax and legal advantages of real estate. I intend to recommend this book to all of my clients (and colleagues) who either already engage in, or express a desire in, real estate investing. Garrett Sutton's book, "Loopholes of Real Estate", is the best and most comprehensive book that I know of to frame a person's perspective of real estate investment through the lenses of tax minimization, asset protection, and cash flow maximization. Mr. Sutton, formerly a real estate broker himself and currently a real estate investor and attorney, brings real life experience, the law, and the professional knowledge of some of Robert Kiyosaki's greatest Rich Dad Advisors to bear in this outstanding work. This book is a survey of real estate law and investing concepts that is an absolute steal as a mass market product. The information in this book is sold for hundreds if not thousands of dollars in other media such as seminars, academic courses, and professional books. Sutton covers a myriad of topics, with an overall emphasis on tax minimization and keeping your investments out of the reach of ambulance-chasing attorneys. Among the topics covered in this book are: (a) the basics of asset depreciation including using cost segregation to maximize passive loss; (b) overview of 1031 exchanges and the basics of how to use and implement them; (c) concepts of property management; (d) how to hold real estate, including a devastating indictment of land trusts and the scam artists who promote them as a form of asset protection; (e) how to structure your real estate holdings, including how to use corporations, limited liability companies, and limited partnerships, including the different tax classifications of same (e.g., "S corp" versus "disregarded entity"); (f) how to layer your protective countermeasures using insurance, debt encumbrances, your state's homestead exemption, and equity stripping; (g) the different ways to hold title to real estate (e.g., the differences between tenancy in common and joint tenancy); (h) The different types of conveyances (e.g., grant 'warranty' deeds versus quit claim deeds) and their legal implications; (i) the "double negative" problem of investing in real estate using a Traditional (or Simple/SEP) IRA; and how to use a self-directed Roth IRA to invest in real estate if you choose to do so; and (j) how to protect your personal residence from creditors, including the proper use of your state's homestead exemption, LLCs, and debt encumbrance. Sutton's true brilliance is in how he crystallizes difficult, complex subjects into bite-size morsels that are easily consumed and digested by non-lawyers and non-real estate professionals. The Audible version of this book is narrated by Sutton himself, in a folksy, conversational tone which you can hardly tell is a narration at all. Listening to the audiobook often made me feel as if I was sitting in a chair in Sutton's law office having a personal conversation with him about how to achieve my real estate investment objectives. It is an absolutely brilliant production. There are many other topics covered in this book which you will find helpful and enlightening. Throughout the book, Sutton uses the case study method (used in law schools and business schools) to bring to life the reasons why proper asset protection planning and tax strategies can both maximize your income, minimize your tax liabilities, and protect your investments. In closing, I can't recommend this book more highly for anybody in any way connected with real estate. This should be the first thing you read about real estate investing, and Sutton provides numerous references for more in-depth discussions of certain topics. I recommend purchasing the Audible version and listening to it in the car, doing the dishes, and performing other chores, and then either owning the physical book or Kindle edition as a desktop reference. Rich Dad has once again hit a home run, and has successfully demystified and deconstructed a complex and daunting profession. With "Loopholes of Real Estate", the advantages of real estate investing are now open and accessible to ordinary Americans from every walk of life. Thank you, Mr. Sutton and Mr. Kiyosaki.

A local real estate club host interviews the author, Garret Sutton, on a radio show. This book is mentioned in the interview. I am hooked by the title of "Loopholes" of Real Estate, as I am active in learning tricks for tax saving. So, I go ahead and get a kindle version. After reading the whole book, I realize this book does not offer me any new tricks in saving tax from my real estate portfolio....don't get me wrong, this book does cover quite some tax saving techniques, but I know them already. However, to my surprise, this book has quite some asset protection related subjects. And I do learn quite a bit on this subject from this book....things like: 1) What is a land trust? This book helps me to fully understand the purpose, the usage, the pro and con of a land trust. 2) Why a California LLC is a weak LLC. Why Nevada LLC, or Wyomin LLC are strong LLCs. 3) What are the homestead exemption differences in different states. And how the homestead exemption can protect asset. 4) The difference between Grand deed and quit claim deed. 5) Use mortgage to discourage lawsuit. 6) Use line-of-credit on property to discourage lawsuit. I especially like Garret Sutton's approach in this book by using layman terms to cover subjects that could be hard to understand. Even better yet, quite some examples (or cases) are used to ensure readers fully understand each subject well. I have 10+ rental properties all under my own name. I have been using both personal umbrella and commercial umbrella policies as the shield for asset protection. This book really helps me to have a clear picture how to proceed from here to implement a better asset protection scheme. This book costs me less than 10 dollars. But what I got from it is far more than the book's cost. I highly recommend this book for real estate investors...whether they are looking for tax saving tips or for asset protection recommendations.

I received this book in a shipment with a few other books. I scanned all the books, deciding which to read first. When I opened this one, I saw that there were no chapter titles, which seemed sloppy or lazy or both. That really made a bad first impression. Further, when I used the index to look up the topic for which I had initially purchased the book, I found that the information on that topic was less robust than I anticipated. I set the book aside and read several others before deciding to read this one. I had low expectations for it. Once I finally decided to read it, the book turned out to be an excellent source of information. It provided insights about tax and legal strategies that I had not heard before, even though I have been investing in real estate (and paying hefty attorney fees) for a few years. While the subject matter could be dry, Sutton made the information interesting and accessible. He uses a generous amount of stories/examples to help the reader apply the information he presents. Honestly, the book was hard to put down and I read a significant portion of it in one afternoon. My highlighter got a workout while I was reading it. I have recommended it to several people and have lent it to friends who can benefit from it. If you are new to real estate investing, you should read this book. Even if you are a seasoned investor, you will likely find new and useful information in it. It will challenge some of the conventional wisdom that is frequently presented to real estate investors.

Great book for learning about real estate!