Back in August, I shared where we were at with withholding on our rental income and the general “fingers crossed” strategy we were working with.

Well, tax season is behind us now, and here’s how it turned out:
We ended up paying around $8,000 to the feds and $4,000 to the state.
So yeah, not exactly the kind of news that makes you want to pop champagne.

We probably came out ahead when you zoom out and look at the bigger picture—but it still stings. There’s that weird in-between feeling where you know it was a good year financially, but you’re also sitting there writing checks that make your eye twitch. Kind of like getting a decent report card and still getting grounded.

What this whole experience reminded us is that real estate isn’t just about the numbers. There’s emotion in it too—especially when you’re learning on the fly. We did the best we could with estimates, but next year, we’re definitely tightening things up.
At the end of the day, it’s a good problem to have—but that doesn’t mean it feels good in the moment.