Talking Real Estate with Alan Hoffman

By Tom Hall

The Foundation for Accounting Education's Real Estate Accounting and Taxation Conference will take place on January 20, 1999 at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in New York City. To find out more about the program, The Trusted Professional spoke to conference Chair Alan Hoffman (Nassau), who also serves as a member and past chair of the NYSSCPA's Real Estate Committee.

"We live in exciting times. The real estate industry is on a tremendous upswing, and we're feeling the benefits. Even with the stock market dipping and recent layoffs, the bottom line is that interest rates and unemployment are low," Hoffman said. "The conference was put together with an eye on today's major issues and financing vehicles, such as real estate investment trusts, or REITS. A lot of people who own real estate as individuals are going public and forming REITs, cashing out, and buying more property. And because of the favorable tax advantages of REITs, their buying power is enhanced and they can buy even more property. The market is just very hot."

The tax treatment of properties and owners is a strong theme throughout the conference program.

"The industry is generally made up of wealthy people, so tax issues are always a big concern. For instance, with new tax changes on the way, more and more investors will be going to an alternative minimum tax. This changes the depreciation limits and adjustments and is a fairly complex process, but it will save our clients or companies a great deal of tax dollars," Hoffman said.

Topics covered at the conference include estate planning and the use of family partnerships and grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), ownership forms of entity, co-op and condo treatments, the current New York investment market, and the accounting guidelines for HUD loans.

"These topics are extremely timely. Federal estate taxes can run as high as 60 percent, and using GRATs allows investors to greatly reduce taxes by divesting holdings. Limited liability companies as an entity form have been a boon to investors. And our co-ops and condos session will discuss co-op tax exemptions, reductions for co-op sponsors, and savings passed on to the shareholders, as well as the new guidelines for rent basis," Hoffman explained.

He also pointed out that the conference speakers are CPAs and attorneys with real estate expertise and prominent industry executives.

"We're very excited about lunch speaker John Gilbert III, the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Rudin Management Company, one of the largest family-owned real estate organizations. He's also the chief technology officer for the New York Information Technology Center, where he's responsible for creating the worldwide network that will link smart-ready buildings in all of the world's major cities," Hoffman said.

Hoffman is comanaging partner of Shanholt Glassman Hoffman Klein & Co., CPAs PC, which specializes in the real estate industry. He helped author the AICPA's Common Interest Realty Associates (CIRA) guide, lectures frequently for professional groups, and has taught real estate accounting at New York University's School for Continuing Education.

Active in civic affairs, Hoffman serves on the board of directors of the United Jewish Appeal Surprise Lake Camp, and as treasurer of the Five Towns Community Chest, his local chapter of the United Way. He enjoys basketball, bicycling, and golf. He and his wife Nancy have three children, daughters Gayle, 15; and Lauren, 8; and son Jason, 13. *