CPA

[Patty Cox]

I live on Oviedo Fl which is like saying I live in East Orlando and my husband and I became full time real estate investors last November.  Our company is set up as a C Corp.  We purchased out first flip in 2015.  We are searching for a CPA or someone who really understands real estate when it comes to doing taxes.  Can anyone give me a suggestion on who to use?  Thanks in advance!!

[Brandon Hall]

@Patty Cox Congrats on purchasing your first flip. For a real estate CPA you must first decide whether or not you want to use someone local or non-local. 

With a local CPA you will have the obvious benefit of being able to see them face-to-face and shake their hands. If that's the type of relationship you want to have, I'd recommend joining a local FaceBook group or reaching out to investors in your area here on BP and asking for referrals. 

The downside to the local CPA is that there simply may not be a local CPA who is an expert in real estate accounting/tax. That's where the big benefit of expanding your search to non-local CPAs really comes in handy. 

The non-local CPAs make great use of today's technology to collaborate effectively. Video calls and cloud file exchanges are two examples. The only thing you really can't do with the non-local CPA is shake their hand. 

Non-local CPAs will also have insights to what investors are doing around the country, and sometimes even globe. If you are interested in investing out of your area, you may be surprised to find that a non-local CPA has clients in the area and can tell you all about it. 

Regardless of whether you choose a local or non-local CPA, your CPA MUST invest in real estate themselves and have a practice that is primarily dedicated to servicing real estate investors or real estate business owners. If your CPA lacks any two of the above traits, they may not have the expertise they claim to have. 

Hope this helps!