The CPA couple started buying properties after helping real estate investors save large taxes. Their customers gave them a “cheat code” to successful investment.
Amanda Khan and Matthew McFarland are a full -time CPA and part -time investors.Amanda Khan and Matthew McFarland
Amanda Khan and Matthew McFarland used real estate for tax relief and income.
They began to invest in 2008 and focused on finding deals that would lead to a positive cash flow.
Their portfolio includes rentals and trade unions, balancing active and passive investment.
Amanda Khan and Matthew McFarland came across real estate at the beginning of their careers. They both worked at the Big Four accounting firm and were accommodated in the real estate group.
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“It was kind of accidental. They put you where they put you,” Han told Business Insider.
She was never interested in investing in property. She grew up, watching her parents and grandparents spend hours on their own real estate portfolios.
“They were super practical,” Khan said. She did not think this type of active investment was for her, but as she and McFarland were spending more and more time working with real estate investors in their daily jobs, the couple could not ignore tax breaks.
The moment of Aha came to McFarland for several years in the work of his tax manager.
“I was reviewing someone’s tax return, probably a gentleman of his 60s. He was retired and everything that continued was real estate,” McFarland recalled. “From the examination of his tax return, this person made money in real estate – cash flow – and did not pay any taxes on it because of the depreciation. And I was like:” Hey, there is something here. “
Han took a little longer, but when her father became ill, it emphasized the importance of having a stream of revenue from a backup.
“You have to have another source of income, because otherwise, however highly paid, if you have to stop working, you no longer have money,” she said. “And so I began to agree with Matt to look at real estate.”
Khan and McFarland launched Keystone CPA in 2008With the kind assistance of Amanda Khan and Matthew McFarland
Han and McFarland bought their first investment property at about the same time as their own company, Keystone CPA, in 2008.
Although we were doing a neighboring real estate job, “we were new to wearing an investor hat, so I think we had a lot of the same uncertainties and concerns that most new investors have,” Khan said.
The California-based couple chose to start a more affordable market and settled on Las Vegas, where Khan grew up and still had a family. From there, they started watching properties online. Their priority was to find something that would lead to a positive cash flow.
They bought against the backdrop of the 2008 housing disaster, “so we really doubted if we were doing the right thing,” Han said. But passing the numbers through the cash calculator they embedded in Excel, and given the exit strategies, they relieved their concerns. “We just pushed the numbers and said,” Okay, these numbers make sense. Let’s do it, “as scary as it looked at that time.”
She added that it was also useful to take into account the worst scenario:
“As, what happens if the property was free for six months? And knowing that in the most conservative case, we had the savings to endure us is one of the things that gave me comfort.”
As their calculator predicts, their first rent, a single-family home, which they created as a long-term rent-they started to win immediately.
“It was not something we would stop working for, but it has proven that we can do it. We can get a small amount of cash flow,” Khan said. “Until we lost money, we were pleased with it.”
After this first purchase, they expanded their portfolio and modeled their strategy based on what works for their clients. They call their “cheat code” and helped them determine which markets to invest and what type of investment to pursue.
Han and McFarland prefer more vital real estate investments as they raise their children.Amanda Khan and Matthew McFarland
The addition of real estate trade union deals to their portfolio was a specific change of strategy inspired by their customers.
With real estate trade unions, a group of investors brings together its capital to buy a property managed by the union. After the investor contributed to the capital, their role in the transaction becomes completely passive. The real estate union is responsible for finding the transaction, making the transaction and ultimately delivers investor returns.
“Over the years, we have learned that we are really good at tax strategists – this is our specialty – and we know that there are people who make real estate investments that are much better at this than we,” McFarland said. “So it makes sense to take advantage of their experience.”
By 2025, they actively managed three single -family rentals and between their 16 passive trade union deals had some apartments, apartments and mobile home parks. They are also the authors of the Book of Advanced Tax Strategies and share tax advice and information through their YouTube channel.
With experience with both active and passive real estate investment, “I don’t think there is one that is necessarily better than the other,” Han said. “Just comes down to your resources: Do you have more time or have more money?”
It also depends on your strengths and weaknesses.
“We have clients who make their own rentals and they do well. They generate much higher return than any trade union can provide,” she said. However, if your experience is not in real estate and you have more money than time to devote to your investments, trade unions may make more sense.
While the couple began buying property to create an additional flow of revenue in the form of rental income – and they still focus on cash flow in analyzing transactions – they said that the appreciation had the most impact on their net value.
Their lateral bustle also led to a greater assessment of their daily jobs.
“We started the trip, thinking that we would make real estate full -time and stop working as a CPAS,” Khan said. “But we quickly realized that we actually love our career as CPA. So, it goes more than retirement early to just extra income.”
