How to effectively marry CPA practice with a Real Estate Practice

[Quinten Jones]

Good Morning!

      I'm an accountant with a successful tax practice.  I enjoy tax research, tax planning, financial modeling, and litigation support helping attorneys in family law, business valuations, etc.  I've held a Real Estate license for several years, and I've always used my license as a Realtor to help out friends, family, and business associates purchase homes.  However, real estate activities are very infrequent.  

     Many real estate opportunities have come my way this year, and my mentor, finding out I'm an accountant, tells me that I should leverage my accounting background with real estate more aggressively.  Her sentiments echo that of my tax and accounting clients who are in the real estate business full-time themselves.  These sentiments have me thinking long and hard about the possibility of marrying both professions together as one entity.

    What are your thoughts?  Should I reinvent my practice as an accountant who specializes in real estate tax and accounting?  Or, should I present myself to markets as a real estate professional/ investor first and offer ad hoc accounting and tax services to real estate investor clients?  I also enjoy real estate contracts and law, market research, and financial modeling geared towards real estate.

Thanks, guys!

[Channing Brand]

Hi Quinten:

Many CPAs, myself included, leverage their experience in real estate with their primary industry. It is essentially specializing in a niche and working with a particular set of real estate investors. The key is to focus on real estate as a subsection and drill down on what brings value to your investors. 

Which do you prefer to do more? It sounds like accounting, so I would present myself as an accountant that specializes in real estate. 

Another thing to mention is that a lot of real estate professionals are savvy when it comes to accounting and tax benefits. You are not separating yourself enough in my opinion if you do not focus on the value that your accounting background brings.