7 Hidden Perks of Real Estate (that nobody talks about)

^{Read time - 4 minutes / Disclosure}

 

Knowing the perks of real estate can:

- Help you pay less tax.

- Help you get homebuyer credits.

- Help you create generational wealth.

Unfortunately, many people have given up on homebuying.

 

The Costs

 

Over the last few years, many people have given up on the idea of buying a home because:

- Home prices are higher.

- Interest rates are higher.

- Insurance costs are higher.

When deciding to buy a home.

Most people compare the monthly cost of renting.

To the monthly cost of owning a home to figure out if homebuying makes sense.

Heck, I did the same thing at first.

But there's many hidden perks to buying a home.

Perks that aren't obvious.

Perks I didn't even know existed until after buying my first home.

 

 

Like it was a few years ago, I remember graduating from high school.

My family didn't have much money.

And I thought a lot about becoming a millionaire.

That sounds cheesy to say.

But I wanted to figure out how an ordinary person could go from $0 to $1M as fast as possible without:

- Inventing something.

- Building something.

- Changing the world.

My goal was to learn how to become a millionaire quickly while working my 9-5 job.

Without doing anything special.

I just wanted to have enough money to quit my job and do my own thing as soon as possible.

It wasn't about never working again.

It was about having total control of my time.

 

So I went to Barnes and Noble and read dozens of books on investing.

(because I didn't have money to buy the books back then)

Most of the books were written by famous people who made a lot of money.

And almost every book said..

To become a millionaire, you need to:

- Buy stocks.

- Buy real estate.

- Or start a business.

 

The thought of starting a business scared the hell out of me back then.

So I focused on tweaking my finances so I'd have enough money leftover each month to buy stocks.

And read more books on how to buy real estate so I could buy a home and get a few rental properties.

Without needing a lot of money.

 

The Hidden Perks of Real Estate

 

Here's 7 things I learned on my wild and strange journey to get 7 loans to buy 7 properties starting from scratch.

Hope it's useful.

Let's begin.

 

1. The 100% Loan

 

Most people think you need lots of money to buy a home.

I thought this too in the beginning.

But when getting my first home loan.

My loan officer explained..

Since I had a decent paying job, I didn't need to put down a lot of money to buy a home unless I wanted to.

Since I didn't have a lot of money to put down.

I knew my monthly home loan payment would be higher.

So I got a tiny 2 bedroom condo near Seattle, Washington and got a roommate that would pay rent to help keep my monthly costs down.

 

^{Tiny condo near Seattle}

To purchase the tiny condo, I had to come up with around $1,500.

And my home loan covered the rest.

Many home loan programs offer no money down or little money down options (but your monthly payment is higher).

 

2. The Tax Perks

 

The value of the tiny condo went up $100k in 2 years.

So I decided to sell it.

Get another home loan.

And use the $100k to help me buy a house.

But I was worried I'd have to pay lots of taxes on the $100k.

That's when my tax person explained..

I did not have to pay any taxes on the $100k.

That the government would not tax me on that money.

Because I lived in the home for at least 2 years.

So I sold the tiny condo, the $100k profit went towards a house and I got a new home loan.

 

^{Seattle house}

The roommate that paid me rent in the tiny condo also moved into the house.

They kept paying rent which helped keep my monthly costs down.

They lived upstairs in the house, and I lived downstairs.

Also..

I noticed my tax refund each year after becoming a homeowner was a few thousand dollars higher.

The person that did my taxes also explained..

People that own a home can write things off on their tax return.

Things that a renter can't write off, like:

- Property taxes.

- Upgrades to the home.

- Monthly interest charged on the home loan.

Owning a home can come with more tax write offs when filing your yearly tax return.

(note: this isn't tax advice, just sharing my experiences)

 

3. The Rental Perks

 

Two years after buying the house I decided to get another home loan to buy a rental condo.

But I was worried I would have to pay taxes on rental income from the condo.

My tax person explained..

When you own a rental property.

You can write off even more stuff on your tax return, like:

- Property taxes.

- Homeowners dues.

- Upgrades to the home.

- Monthly interest charged on the home loan.

- Depreciation, which is a fancy sounding term for writing off part of the purchase price of the home every year.

My tax person said it was unlikely I would have to pay taxes on the rental income because of all the tax write offs I would have.

And he was right.

So I got a home loan and bought this tiny rental condo in Downtown Seattle.

 

^{Tiny Downtown Seattle condo}

The tiny condo was only 300 square feet. Super small.

But it was in a good location a few blocks away from Amazon.

My tax person also said after having the tiny rental condo a few years.

If I ever decided to sell it, get another home loan and use the profits to help buy another rental property.

It's unlikely I'd have to pay any taxes on the profits if I did a 1031 exchange.

A 1031 exchange is another fancy sounding term.

It's a tax perk the government offers.

It allows a person to sell a rental property without having to pay taxes on the profits they make..

..if they buy another rental property.

Owning or selling a rental property comes with even more tax perks.

(note: talk to a tax pro before doing a 1031 exchange)

 

4. The Primary Residence Perks

 

Two things I noticed when buying the rental condo.

The interest rate was higher.

And I had to pay more money when getting the home loan.

My loan officer explained..

To get the lowest interest rate on a home loan.

And to pay the least amount of money when buying a home.

You must live in the home you buy for at least 1 year.

At that point, I decided to get another home loan to buy a 2nd condo in Downtown Seattle.

 

^{2nd Seattle condo}

But this time instead of renting out the condo.

I moved into it so I could get the lowest interest rate possible and put down the least amount of money possible.

And so did my friend that was paying me rent while we lived in the house.

My friend kept paying rent after we moved into the condo.

And the house we moved out of was rented out to a newlywed couple.

I planned to live in the condo for a year or two before renting it out and getting another home loan.

But life happened..

I lost my job unexpectedly.

And didn't work for 9 months.

Which hurt my finances pretty bad.

It took 4 years to fix my finances before I was able to get another home loan.

That's also when I got my first job in finance, which helped me learn more about loans and investing.

Getting a home loan on a primary residence that you move into offers better perks than getting a home loan on a rental property.

 

5. The Homebuyer Credits

 

After fixing my finances.

My goal was to figure out how to buy a few more homes without using much of my own money.

I'd learned a lot about homebuyer credits after watching hundreds of other people buy homes while working in my finance job as a banker.

So I asked for a bunch of homebuyer credits when getting my next home loan and got $30,000 to help me buy this California property.

 

^{California property}

(​my free playbook on getting homebuyer credits​)

Homebuyer credits can help you buy a home without using a lot of your own money and can be used to get a lower interest rate.

 

6. The Family Perks

 

While working as a banker, I also noticed many people buying homes from family members.

And the interesting part..

Most of these people did not have to put down any money.

It was fascinating.

The person buying the home got a normal home loan.

And most of the time they didn't have to come up with any money.

I found it to be a hush hush kind of thing people don't really talk about.

I did something similar with a family member's property when getting a home loan on this California property.

 

^{2nd California property}

Home loan lenders are flexible when buying a home or getting a loan on a family member's property which often means not putting down any money up front.

 

7. The Fix-It-Up Perks

 

Many people wanting to buy their first home hope to get a "fixer".

I wanted one too at first.

But over time I learned there's 2 types of "fixers".

The first type is the best option for first time homebuyers in my opinion.

The way it works is to get an ugly or outdated home that's in a livable condition.

Livable condition means you could move into the home and comfortably live there right away.

The best part about a home that's in a livable condition is..

You can get a regular home loan to buy it.

Then fix it up.

The second type of fixer is a home that's not in a livable condition.

It's a home that's:

- Missing a kitchen.

- Missing a bathroom.

- Has a lot of damage.

- Or all of the above.

The problem with these types of fixers is..

Many banks and credit unions won't do loans on them.

Which means you need to pay cash for the home.

Or get a special loan, which usually has a high interest rate.

These types of special loans are usually called "hard money loans".

I used some cash I had saved up plus used hard money loans to try and fix up this California home.

 

^{California fixer}

Buying a fixer.

Fixing it up.

Then selling it or renting it out can be super profitable.

But it can also be:

- Time consuming.

- Super stressful.

- Expensive.

My cousin and I worked on this home for almost 2 years.

It was a good deal for both of us.

But it was painful to deal with and a lot of work.

Buying and fixing an outdated home comes with tax perks, can take a lot of time and can be really profitable.

 

The bottom line

 

Today on the news you hear a lot of talk.

Talk about how renting a home is cheaper than buying a home and having a monthly home loan payment.

And some of these people even say renting forever is the better way to go.

But I've found most of these people are renters, not homeowners.

And most don't know (or don't talk about):

- How owning a home means getting more tax write offs.

- How buying a home with little money down by using homebuyer credits is possible.

- How buying a home and getting a lower interest rate by using homebuyer credits is possible.

- How buying a home with a separate area to rent out to help lower your monthly payment is a huge help.

I didn't know most of these things when I was a renter.

They were things I learned about after buying my first home.

Things I wish I knew sooner.

 

If you're thinking about buying a home.

I wrote a short little guide a few weeks back about the new way of buying a home that might be useful:

​The 2026 Affordable Homebuyer Guide​

I hope it helps you save time and money in 2026 if you decide to buy a home.

That's all for today.

See you next Saturday.