LLC formation in NYS

[Phil M.]

So my partners and I have decided to start the formation of an LLC so that we have a business entity to protect our assets.

I understand that the Articles of Formation are a few hundred dollars, but I've spoken to a few other investors and most of them said it would cost about $3,000 to form an LLC. We would preforably want to formate in Richmond county, although I hear of other investors formating out of state, however I don't know the advantages of that. My question is how much would it cost in total? Is most of that cost attorney fees? Would it be significantly less expensive if I used legalzoom.com?