Hi all,
Anyone know of the good CPA that is knowledgeable in dealing with real estate investors and will not charge an arm and leg. I need a CPA in the area of Silver Spring or Montgomery county, Maryland.
Thanks
nick
What do you need a CPA to do that you can’t do yourself?
Any benefit from professionals should exceed the cost. Cost savings should more than compensate for the fee.
having read all that, I usually find enough stuff someone missed by “doing it yourself” to easily pay my fees plus.
easier to play the game if you understand the rules.
it’s the same reason why I don’t do electrical work. I let the people trained to handle that stuff handle that stuff.
my time saved plus “real” savings of haivng it done right almost always outweighs the costs.
it’s important to know what you don’t know and when to let someone else handle things.
/soapbox
Mark,
I appreciate your viewpoint and generally agree that work I can’t do myself or don’t know how to do myself needs to be outsourced to competent professionals.
When I read the original post, I started reading behind the lines. When Nick asked for a referral to a GOOD CPA in Montgomery County that did not “charge an arm and leg”, I began to wonder what Nick did not know how to do himself, or to put it more bluntly, what Nick needs to start learning to do for himself.
Let me digress a little, then I will get back on point. I know you are in TX so you may not be that familiar with our east cost demographics. Montgomery County, MD is situated just north of Washington, D.C. and southwest of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the nation, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years old who hold a post-graduate degree. Montgomery County is the third largest biotechnology cluster in the nation and home to many large corporate offices, several federal government agencies, as well as major educational institutions such as the University of Maryland and an extension campus of Johns Hopkins University.
Now, with that context, do you think that a “good” CPA in Montgomery County who does not charge an arm and a leg is a bit of an oxymoron? If Nick lives up to his screen name and won’t pay an arm and a leg, then Nick may be no worse off doing himself whatever he wants done using the free advice competent professionals such as yourself and BLL readily dispense in these forums.
As an aside, I got some of my best tax advice, investment guidance, and pre-retirement planning assistance from a financial planner who is not a CPA. Instead, he is an attorney and a broker dealer. This past September, his picture was on the cover of Investment Advisor magazine and he was prominately featured in the cover story. By the way, he lives and works in Montgomery County, MD. I still use him now and again, only because my other choice for a financial planner who lives near you in the Dallas area is not licensed to practice in my state of SC. I am convinced that she knows everything useful to know about trusts and asset protection, and is not a practicing CPA either.