All Forum Posts by: Quinten Jones

@Joe Splitrock

Your specific advice is what my mentor was trying to convey.  

@Basit Siddiqi

Thank you for the advice on positioning myself as a "specialist."  As others have mentioned, many real estate investors are savvy on matters relating to taxation; augmented value should be the goal.  Moreover, thanks for the clarification on professional titles.  I updated my post to include the phrases "tax practice" and/or "CPA practice".

@Channing Brand

You are right in that I enjoy working in taxation and accounting more.  All the advice shared in this post emphasizes the importance of "specializing" in any given niche.  You bring out an excellent point in mentioning the value one's experience brings. 

Thank you!

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!

I am curious to know if the recent Tax Reform Bill will negatively impact our ability as Real Estate Professionals (Realtors, Investors, Flippers, etc.) to make money?  I am transitioning into the real estate full-time vs part-time and I hope to not make a bad career move.

Thanks.

I am a licensed Tax Professional with many Real Estate Investors and Landlords as clients, I have at least 3 or 4 that come in every year that have screwed up their taxes using that TurboTax with an IRS notice in one hand and a California FTB notice in the other.  If you know what you are doing and are perhaps renting out your granny house or a house you have gained as an inheritance, and you just want to report your income and expenses on the Sch. E that is one thing, but if you are a career Real Estate Professional and have major assets and multiple entities in place, it is wise to get an experienced tax professional to help you with your taxes.  I must say that just because you talk to someone who is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or IRS Enrolled Agent (EA) is meaningless unless they have experience in matters of Real Estate tax law.  Always ask your tax accountant if they have experience working on tax returns involving the investment of Real Estate and if they are willing to connect you with some of their clients for reference.  I also cringe every time a new client walks into my office who in previous years worked with Tax Professionals who were charging them $3,000 to $4,000 for the preparation of their tax returns chalked full of errors.  

I have been here on BiggerPockets for several months now, and I have learned so much about real estate investing.  The forums and Podcasts have been great and extremely educational.  However, I still find myself struggling to get started in the business.  A little background:  currently, I am an Enrolled Agent (EA), and I operate a small tax practice in addition to having the California Real Estate license.  I have closed a few real estate deals, but I am finding that I am more interested in working with Real Estate investors buy and sell properties - less emotional.  

The dilemma i'm in is that I don't know where to start in building my own successful real estate investment business.  I originally thought that I could continue to use my real estate license to help investors buy and sell properties, save my money and then start investing.  The problem is, I don't want to wait 10 years to start my investing career.  I don't have experience in flipping properties, and with that being the case, I am certain that there aren't any investors who would allow me to work with them to gain experience to jump out there and start flipping to build a nest egg to start investing in real estate full-time.  With that in mind, even if I was to acquire a hard-money loan to buy a property to flip and sell, joint venture/ partnership opportunities for a newbie would be in my guess minimal.  

Does anyone have any suggestions that could possibly point me in the right direction?  Should I continue to work and save enough money to fund my first deal entirely on my own, and then start my investing career?

@Don Johnston, things are coming along.  I have looked at a couple of houses already, however when using bigger pockets calculators, the numbers did not add up to make a move.  I have been contacted by a fellow BiggerPockets colleague who has offered his services in terms of potential financial assistance.  However, before I make an inquiry, I need to find a property here in Northern California that makes sense numbers wise.  Ideally, I will be able to find a Partner who would be willing to put the additional funds needed to complete the project, when it is located.  Moreover, I have received my California Real Estate license, so I would be offering the ability to sell the house when it is ready to go onto the market.  With my background in Taxation, I have knowledge of tax laws that could be helpful when it comes to the capital gains tax when the project is completed.  I am moving along well, I just need to find that house that makes sense numbers wise.  I am still looking for a good Partner who is willing and able to work with me.

@Jon Holdman, Thank you for the comment.  Definitely keeping this advice in my notebook!!!

Thanks @Kyle Karges !! The information is definitely useful, I am attending a REI meeting on Wednesday in Sacramento and I will certainly network with potential private hard money lenders. It would be nice to find a partner to JV with and contributing to the investment with a hard money loan. Again, thanks for the info.