EXPLAINED: How to find a CPA focused on real estate

[Michael Plaks]

Tis the season. End of the year. The season of Bigger Pockets investors posting 10 nearly identical "Looking for a CPA" messages per day.

Disclosure: I am one of those people you are looking for. But this post is not about me.

1. CPA vs EA vs Tax strategist and so forth.

Long story short: it doesn't really matter. We all do the same thing, we just call ourselves different names and carry similar but different licenses:

- CPA - Certified Public Accountant
- EA - Enrolled Agent
- Accountant
- Tax advisor
- Tax strategist
- Tax consultant
- Tax planner

It all means basically the same. If you care to learn about the distinctions, read these posts:
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/517/topics/1215989-expl...
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51-tax-legal-issues-con...


2. What does matter, then?

Here's what matters:

1. Do they know real estate business and real estate taxation?
2. Do they provide good service, however you define it?
3. Are you compatible?

As far as checking your accountant's technical competence, you can use this old but still applicable questionnaire:
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/792277-how-to...

Other questions that you may want to ask are listed in this post:
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/795929-questi...


3. I want a CPA who is also an investor!

There's a common belief that your tax person should also be an investor themselves. I personally find it ridiculous.

If we adopt this mentality, then all OB/GYN doctors should be female and have children. And all therapists should be mental patients themselves. Well, my therapist friends claim that the latter is not too far from reality.

4. But I am looking for a local CPA.

I see no compelling reason for that. 10 years ago, most of the local clients of my firm liked to come to our Houston office. Post-Covid, nobody does. Everybody is now too used to Zoom and portals. We finally closed our physical office in 2024.

Most of the tax experts who specialize in real estate work completely virtually these days.

That said, a local CPA probably does have an edge if your state has state income tax and especially if your city has a local tax on top of it. Still, considering how difficult it is to find a good real estate focused accountant, limiting your search to local providers usually gives you too few options.

Expand your search to include remote CPAs. Just make sure they are familiar with your state tax laws if you have state-level taxation.

5. Bigger Pockets has a directory of tax professionals.

Here it is: https://www.biggerpockets.com/business/finder/tax-and-financ...

Just keep one thing in mind: any directory, this one no exception, is paid advertising. These tax professionals opted to pay to be included in this directory. Others opted not to.

No, there is nothing wrong with paid advertising. Some of my personal friends are on the list, and I highly respect them as my peers. It is entirely possible that every single professional in this directory is outstanding. Just remember that they are listed there not because they have been thoroughly vetted and endorsed by Bigger Pockets. They paid to be there.

Here is an analogy. Think of your favorite contractors, doctors, restaurants and so on. Some of them advertise, and some don't. Why so? Well, the exact same reasoning applies when you think of tax professionals.


6. Tax professionals on the Bigger Pockets tax forum.

I personally think that the best place to find a great real estate accountant is the Bigger Pockets Tax Forum:
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51-tax-legal-issues-con...

The forum features well over 20 of tax professionals. We all specialize in real estate, and we all work remotely and nationwide.

Here is how to go about this search:

- Browse the forum and find a few questions that are relevant to you.
- Watch who answered these questions and how. You can get a good feel for the competence and personality of these experts.
- Look next to the name of the person, and you can see whether they are a tax professional: a CPA, an EA (Enrolled Agent), a tax strategist and so on, it all means roughly the same, as we already discussed. 
- If you come across the same tax expert on multiple threads, and you consistently like their responses, send them a PM via Bigger Pockets or contact them via the contact information listed at the bottom of their comments.

IMPORTANT: we're prohibited from offering our services to you, both publicly and privately - unless YOU initiate the conversation from your end.

Still, some people choose to ignore these Bigger Pockets rules and will send you an unsolicited PM or even post publicly something like "give me a call, happy to chat." Whether you want to engage with such professionals who act unprofessionally is up to you.


7. AI

Artificial intellect is not (at least not yet) a replacement for the actual intellect and experience. It's fashionable - and tempting - to outsource tax research to AI. So far, the results have been disappointing. 

Remember that AI does not "think", at least not as of today. All it does is it aggregates information available on the Internet plus data fed into it by its "trainers." Since the Internet is flooded with trash information, AI absorbs it and produces its conclusions accordingly. Heard of GIGO? Garbage in - garbage out.

Be cautious with tax professionals who substitute AI for true research and analysis. AI is not yet ready to provide tax advice. It might be an improvement over TikTok influencers and self-proclaimed gurus, but not by much. Well, anything is better than influencers, IMHO. Even the Cybertruck owners.


8. When is the best time to look for a CPA?

Once in Downtown Chicago, our group of hungry guys was looking for a restaurant. Unfortunately, we picked a bad time, because a game just finished, and people were streaming out of Wrigley Field. Every restaurant had a long line. But we were hungry and chose one outfit that served us right away. We thoroughly regretted it well into the morning hours.

Bad news: Most good tax accountants also have lines and a long wait, and for the same reason. 

Worse news: the shortage of tax professionals specializing in real estate is getting worse every year. The old guard gets burned out and retires. The replacements often lack the experience.

If you're looking for tax preparation only, without tax advice, then the worst times to look for a CPA are March-April and August-October. Read this post for a longer take: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/1057644-augus...

If you are looking for tax planning aka tax strategies, the best time to look is November-December. When January comes, you will have two disadvantages:
- you will have missed on the end-of-year planning opportunities
- some of the most highly sought after professionals will be full and not taking clients anymore

And the longer you wait, the fewer choices you will have. When searching for a tax strategist / tax planner / tax advisor - the sooner the better.


9. Last but not least - how much does it cost?

Two long answers are here:
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/1088325-expla...
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/998718-explai...