Mike Nuss
Mike Nuss has been a guest on Collecting Keys, the real estate investing podcast hosted by Mike DeHaan, Dan Austin and Dylan Koch.
The Future of Real Estate: Tenant in Common Deals, ADUs & Middle Housing w/ Mike Nuss
Mike Nuss, a Portland investor with an appraisal background, walks through how he runs multiple verticals — acquisitions, property management, a brokerage, flipping and a condo development pipeline — and how zoning changes around middle housing and ADUs created a land banking opportunity in single family neighborhoods. The bulk of the episode covers a tenant in common (TIC) deal structure he used to partner with 1031 exchange buyers, letting him earn ownership without bringing his own cash while his property management company operates the asset.
Key takeaways
- A tenant in common structure lets two parties hold direct fractional ownership on title instead of forming an LLC, which is what makes it workable for a partner doing a 1031 exchange — but it means both owners must agree on decisions, since there is no majority vote.
- In Nuss's TIC deal, the partner exchanged in enough to close, took taxable boot in cash, wiped out the tax hit with a cost segregation and bonus depreciation, then lent that cash back to the TIC to fund the value-add — replacing the cash flow they lost on the sold property.
- Nuss's ownership percentage is set by the deal itself: high-leverage seller financed deals need less outside cash and create more equity, so he justifies a larger share; bank debt deals requiring more cash mean he takes less.
- Zoning changes don't lift all land equally. He targets corner lots, alley access (dual frontage and reduced setbacks), and proximity to parks, transit and walkable amenities since parking requirements were removed — then overlays that map with equity to build a seller finance list.