#296 - Understanding Bonus Depreciation and the STR Loophole for Tax Savings - Ryan Carriere
Release Date: 10/15/2025
#307 - Building a W-2 Exit Plan with Short-Term Rentals - Stephen Arnaud
Living Off Rentals
In this episode of Living Off Rentals, host Kirby Atwell sits down with Stephen Arnaud, an engineer, W-2 employee, and father of three, who’s intentionally building his path out of the 9-to-5 through short-term rentals. Stephen shares why, even though he enjoys his career, the demands of a W-2 job started to conflict with family life and long-term freedom. Like many high-performing professionals, he realized that traditional investing alone wasn’t going to give him the flexibility he wanted anytime soon. That realization led him to short-term rentals. If you are still working a 9-to-5 but...
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#306 - Saving Historic Buildings and Creating Value Through Smart Redevelopment - Kevin Kreger
Living Off Rentals
Joining us for today's episode of Living Off Rentals is someone who specializes in historic preservation projects that many investors overlook, but can be transformed into high-performing rental assets. Kevin Kreger is Kirby Atwell's longtime friend and a construction expert. He is the founder of On Point Construction and Fiddle Leaf Development. He breaks down how he transitioned into design-build work and eventually into restoring historic downtown buildings with serious cash-flow potential. Listen as they dive deep into why historic properties aren’t as intimidating as they seem, how to...
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#305 - Building $50K/Month in Passive Income Without Wall Street - Joey Mure
Living Off Rentals
Joining us on this episode of Living Off Rentals is someone who teaches people how to build income streams on their own terms. Joey Mure is the co-founder of Wealth Without Wall Street, a platform dedicated to helping people rethink traditional money advice and create passive income that gives people more control over their lives. Once a high-earning corporate professional who felt constantly pulled away from his family, Joey now generates over $50,000 a month in passive income and guides others through the system for building passive income streams that helped him reclaim his time....
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#304 - How Short-Term Rentals Let Her Quit HR and Take Back Family Time
Living Off Rentals
Joining us on this episode of Living Off Rentals is a Navy veteran and mom of three who went from a high-pressure military career to building a real estate business that allowed her family to take back their time. Karin Ventresca is a Naval Academy graduate, former nuclear engineer, HR professional, and now a full-time real estate investor and short-term rental operator. After years of long commutes, daycare drop-offs, and COVID-era burnout, she and her husband built a short-term rental portfolio that gave them the freedom to reshape how they spend their days. Listen as she shares how they...
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#303 - From 9th Grade Dropout to Early Retirement with 150 Real Estate Units - Matt Hawkins
Living Off Rentals
What does it take to go from dropping out of school in ninth grade to owning more than 150 rental units and retiring in your 40s? Matt Hawkins, also known as the Lumberjack Landlord, is a self-taught investor who now manages over 50 buildings and 400 tenants with just one employee — all from his phone. He joins us on this episode of Living Off Rentals to unpack his incredible journey from humble beginnings to financial freedom. Listen as he shares how early mistakes, creative deal-making (like buying a city-owned police station), and consistent systems helped him build a real estate empire...
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#302 - Leveraging the 30-Year Fixed Loan to Create Generational Wealth Through Rentals - Adiel Gorel
Living Off Rentals
Joining us on this episode of Living Off Rentals is someone who has spent more than four decades helping people build wealth through simple, long-term rental investing. Adiel Gorel is an investor, educator, and the author of Remote Control Retirement Riches. He has helped thousands of people buy brand-new rental homes in strong U.S. markets, using the 30-year fixed loan as the foundation for building lasting wealth. Listen as he shares how he went from an engineer in 1980s Silicon Valley to a global real estate investor, why he believes that the 30-year fixed loan is the greatest financial...
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#301 - Sam Wegert - How Co-Living Creates Affordable Housing and Big Profits
Living Off Rentals
Joining us on this episode of Living Off Rentals is someone who turned a simple idea—renting out spare rooms—into a thriving real estate empire. Sam Wegert is the founder of Scale Your Co-Living Real Estate and leads the largest co-living mastermind in the world. He and his wife reached financial freedom by their early 20s and have since built a 2,500-door portfolio that blends strong cash flow with affordable housing. Listen as he shares how he went from running a martial arts school at 16 to discovering the co-living model by accident, why shared housing can outperform traditional...
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#300 - Top 10 Real Estate Investing Lessons After 300 Episodes - Kirby Atwell
Living Off Rentals
Joining us on this milestone 300th episode of Living Off Rentals is... me! I can hardly believe it’s been five years and 300 episodes since launching this show back in January 2020. What started as a way to document my own journey—transitioning from Army officer to full-time real estate investor—has turned into something much bigger. In this episode, I look back on what’s changed since those early days of flipping houses, what I’ve learned from hundreds of conversations with other investors, and the lessons that have shaped how I live and invest today. Enjoy the show! Key Takeaways:...
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#299 - From Firefighter, to Flipping Boston, to Real Estate Empire - Dave Seymour
Living Off Rentals
Joining us on this episode of Living Off Rentals is someone who knows what it takes to rebuild from the ground up. Dave Seymour is a former firefighter, star of the hit TV show “Flipping Boston,” and now a respected multifamily investor and educator. After working 120 hours a week and nearly losing everything, a chance radio ad about real estate became the turning point that changed his life. Listen as he shares how he went from the firehouse to financial freedom, the lessons that shaped his approach to business and leadership, and why financial literacy and discipline are the real...
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#298 - How to Structure Creative Real Estate Deals - Ronnie Walker
Living Off Rentals
Joining us on this episode of Living Off Rentals is someone who has built multiple successful real estate businesses and learned firsthand what it takes to recover after things go sideways. Ronnie Walker is a real estate investor and founder of Cedar Rock Homes. He shares his journey from working as a private banker at JPMorgan to leaving his 9-to-5 and diving headfirst into wholesaling, subject-to deals, and creative financing —scaling quickly but learning hard lessons along the way. Listen as he shares the realities of rapid growth, the financial missteps that nearly derailed his business,...
info_outlineJoining us on this episode of Living Off Rentals is someone who helps investors keep more of what they earn by using powerful, legal tax strategies.
Ryan Carriere is a Client Services Manager at Hall CPA, a firm that specializes in helping high-income earners maximize tax savings through real estate. As both a CPA and real estate investor, Ryan has worked with hundreds of clients to save millions by leveraging strategies like bonus depreciation and the short-term rental (STR) loophole.
Listen as he shares how to make the most of these tax advantages, what a cost segregation study actually involves, how to qualify for the STR loophole, and how even everyday investors can use these tools to build long-term wealth.
He also breaks down creative tax-saving strategies like shifting income to your kids—and why documentation is key to staying audit-proof.
Enjoy the show!
Key Takeaways:
[00:00] Introducing Ryan Carriere and his background
[02:06] Getting into the niche of tax strategy in real estate
[07:12] How he combined CPA work with real estate investing
[11:00] Bonus depreciation is back to 100% and why it matters
[12:40] How bonus depreciation works
[14:41] 100% bonus depreciation explained in plain English
[16:31] Real-world example of $35,000 in tax savings on a $500K property
[17:52] The most common kind of tax strategy for short-term rental investors/W-2 earners
[19:05] How the short-term rental loophole works and who qualifies
[20:30] Meeting the 100-hour material participation test
[25:32] The beauty of being married: Seen as one taxpayer instead of two
[26:47] Is it too late to use tax-saving tools?
[28:42] Determining the price point for the cost segregation study
[31:36] Bonus depreciation beyond real estate—vehicles, equipment, and more
[35:44] Benefits of shifting income to your kids
[42:05] Does using these strategies increase audit risk?
[48:08] Best practices for bookkeeping and compliance
[49:28] Connect with Ryan Carriere
[50:47] Outro
Guest Links:
Website: https://www.therealestatecpa.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryancarriere/
Cost Segregation Study Affiliate:
Get 10% off on Rental Property Refund's tax tool by checking out their free webinar here: https://www.livingoffrentals.com/costseg
Show Links:
Living Off Rentals YouTube Channel – youtube.com/c/LivingOffRentals
Living Off Rentals YouTube Podcast Channel - youtube.com/c/LivingOffRentalsPodcast
Living Off Rentals Facebook Group – facebook.com/groups/livingoffrentals
Living Off Rentals Website – https://www.livingoffrentals.com/
Living Off Rentals Instagram – instagram.com/livingoffrentals
Living Off Rentals TikTok – tiktok.com/@livingoffrentals