Real Estate Investor Tax Strategy with CPA Alex Lopez — How a CFO Mindset Protects Your Profits

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In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Q Edmonds interviews Alex Lopez, a seasoned professional in real estate and accounting. They discuss Alex’s journey from starting in real estate during the boom and bust of the mid-2000s to establishing his own firm focused on tax strategy and CFO services. Alex emphasizes the importance of hard work, relationships, and the challenges of finding talent in a rapidly changing industry influenced by AI. The conversation highlights the rewarding aspects of building connections and the ongoing need for personal interaction in business.

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Alex Lopez (00:00)
And it’s interesting because it’s almost, it’s almost like an oxymoron, right? You would think that nowadays, you know, with everybody’s emphasis and their high expectations for AI and, and outsourcing things and all that. It’s all fine and dandy. And we do use AI quite, quite a bit, but it’s tough to properly articulate how far we are from being able to seriously rely on these tools and outsourcing agencies and to properly handle the complicated areas of finance and tax strategy. It’s just not realistic to think that that stuff can be automated or outsourced away.

Quentin (02:27)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds and you know, I’m excited, excited to be here. Excited about the guests that we have. We’re going to talk about, you know, taxes. Listen, y’all don’t get scared. Taxes is not a dirty word. This guy actually is going to make sure that you get the help and the strategy that you need. And I love it because

Quentin (02:54)
He has big time experience. He had experience working with big firms, but the feel that you’re going to get, you’re not going to get the feeling of overwhelmed. He’s going to make sure that he’s, that you’re personalized, that you feel like family, that you feel like home. And so I’m super excited to introduce you guys to Mr. Alex Lopez. Mr. Alex, how you doing today, sir?

Alex Lopez (03:15)
Hey, I’m great. Thanks, Q. Happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Quentin (03:21)
Absolutely. No, man, I’m so glad you’re on. So glad we get to do this episode together. And so I’ll be honest with you, Mr. Alex, I want you to take us into your world. We want to see things through your lens. So if you don’t mind, tell us what you’re mainly focused on these days. And maybe even if you want to tell us a little bit about how you got started, a little bit about your background, I’ll leave that up to you. But then also what market you’re operating in as well.

Alex Lopez (03:46)
Sure, let’s go back to the beginning, right? So I got started out in the real estate business straight out of high school, way back, right? So this was during the previous boom, right around 05, 06. I’m in South Florida in Palm Beach County, about an hour north of Miami.

Alex Lopez (04:11)
And that this was, if you recall, sort of the poster child of the boom and bust scenario, right? From the previous boom and bust. And, was a fantastic time, you know, for a little bit, right? When I was getting into the business, I got a little taste of the good times. I started making pretty decent money for a kid, right? And then everything came crashing down.

Now I always loved real estate. Even as a little kid, just always loved looking at skylines and watching buildings being constructed. And it was just one of those things that’s always been a part of me. Buildings, they’re one of my favorite things.

So naturally I was drawn to the business, and I was very tempted by what was going on at the time, but that didn’t last very long. And the crash here was absolutely brutal. Next thing you know, everybody’s losing their homes, real estate agents, realtors, loan officers, and everybody else was just basically fighting to survive. And I had to make a decision at that time. ⁓

Quentin (05:26)
Mm.

Alex Lopez (05:30)
I had been taking it easy on my college education because I saw a huge opportunity in real estate. But once things got so bloody, I doubled down on college. And I’m a businessman. I always loved business. So I knew I wanted a degree in business, but you know, I was a kid. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do.

Now for any business degree, they make you take accounting courses, a minimum of two. At least here in Florida, it’s two. And I ended up liking accounting a lot because it gave me an understanding of business that I never really thought existed. It’s sort of like a language of business. So long story short, I decided to major in that.

I continued to work in real estate while I was going to college. I got a leg up at a commercial real estate firm from my best friend and things started to look good, right? The market started coming back circa 08, 09 and I was starting to get somewhere in the business. But then I came to a crossroads. I had to decide.

Do I stay in this business or do I practice accounting? And the way it works in accounting is if you want to work for one of the big firms, they want you straight out of college. If you take some time off to decide or whatever, you’re pretty much damaged goods. Maybe you get an opportunity, but it’s very rare. They want you straight out of college. Saw how to decide when I graduated.

For better or worse, I chose accounting. But the first thing I did when I started at my firm, said, please put me on your real estate clients. This is what I love, it’s what I know, and I’d be very interested and passionate to work on that. And they did. They put me on reads, developers, the works. So I kept the learning and the growth in this field going.

the entire time since I got into the accounting field. And that’s still what I do. It’s my specialty and my passion, really.

Quentin (08:51)
I love it, man. Thank you for the journey, man. That was so well said. Thank you for the journey, telling us how you got into it. And now, man, you’re here. know, business is doing what it do. what’s been the key to the next steps? Like, what’s been the key to keeping that machine running smoothly? You told me how you started, but now what’s the key to keeping that thing, that the machine running the way that it’s running?

Alex Lopez (09:16)
Well, I would say the biggest ingredients are blood, sweat and tears. I have not been able to do without that. But you know, it’s been an interesting journey. Very, very rewarding. I’ve gotten to work with a terrific

group of entrepreneurs and investors and I’ve learned a ton about all kinds of companies. ⁓ So that is rewarding to me. It’s one of the things that I enjoy the most about what I do is that when you’re working with a company to straighten out their finances and come up with a tax strategy, you naturally have to dig very deep into the essence of what they do.

and you get to see all the key aspects of the company, all their key success factors become very apparent to you in this process. So I enjoyed that a lot.

That’s really my favorite part about what I do. And they all like real estate.

Quentin (11:04)
Yeah. Now,

yeah, yeah. Now I don’t want to cut you off at all, but I absolutely love it. I love how you say you see the success, you see the success points, right? You see what will work for them, what you need, know, how you can serve them. And I love that. And it’s interesting because you talked about seeing the success points. You know, I try to take a moment here in the podcast, particularly like around this time.

is because you’re right. A lot of people, even in their vantage points, they see people’s success, but very rarely do they see the journey to their success. And so even with you, we bring you on, you’re the expert, we love talking to Alex. We see your success, but Alex, can you tell me a little bit about the journey to get into success? Are there moments when things got real? Are there moments when things went sideways? Has there been a time when you had to pivot fast?

Alex Lopez (11:43)
Big time.

Quentin (12:03)
with you growing your business?

Alex Lopez (12:05)
Yeah, that describes about every day,

Quentin (12:08)
Yeah. ⁓

Alex Lopez (12:12)
Yeah, from day one ⁓ the way works in in accounting I mean there’s there are different paths that you can take but the one that I took which is sort of the big firm world, you know to get to earn your stripes so to speak You’re grinding, you know day in day out, you know, they throw you in the in the big pool and

They expect you to figure out some very complicated things and put in a massive amount of work. And, know, often seven days a week, sometimes more like six, but seven days is not out of the norm. So you want to do that for at least a few years because the learning that you get out of that is irreplaceable. That’s, it’s very, very, very difficult to get that kind of exposure and experience and make the connections that you make while you’re doing that.

So I’m very glad to have launched my career in that type of setting. And you would think that, you know, once you’ve gotten to where you wanted to be in terms of experience and all that, and you come out into either the corporate world or opening your own shop, things would be very different, but they’re not. You still have to keep running towards your goals.

First, I went into the corporate world for a few more years to sort of complete the picture, so to speak. But I always had it in my mind that I wanted my own thing. That’s never been a question. It was only really a question of when I would be ready in terms of experience, connections, resources, and all that. But I always kept my eyes on that ball.

Quentin (13:43)
Yeah.

Alex Lopez (13:59)
And I’m happy to say it’s been a few years now, you know, since I struck on my own and I took everything that I learned and that I’ve built myself to be. And now I’m bringing that to my own clients, my own community. And it’s been a very rewarding thing. Like you were saying, you know, there are times that, you you sort of want to pull your hair out.

you know, whatever little I have left, But then, but then you have all those rewarding moments, you know, the time that you spend with this, this wonderful people that you build this relationships with that, that count on you to guide them through, through very important processes and transactions, and they value your advice and vice versa. So it’s, it’s a

Quentin (14:27)
I got you.

Alex Lopez (14:55)
It’s a lot of good and bad, right? But in the end, it’s been a wonderful journey. And I still have a ⁓ few decades worth of that to look forward to.

Quentin (15:51)
Yeah, no, absolutely love it, man. Thank you for the journey. Just do your words, just do your storytelling. And I love how you said there are rewarding moments, right? Like the journey to success is just that it’s a journey and you can find joy in it. I just heard this weekend acronym for Joy is, man, ⁓ now I’m missing it. It’s just.

It’s, oh man, I had the acronym. I just totally went blank, but pretty much it’s the joy in the journey that sometimes you have to embrace. Like, yes, there’s going to be adversity, but also, like you said, there’s going to be these rewarding moments and you don’t get those rewarding moments without actually going through the process. And so I absolutely love it. Yep. I absolutely love it. Thank you for sharing. There you go. No pain, no gain, man. I love it. So Mr. Alex, let me ask you this.

Alex Lopez (16:40)
100%. No pain, no gain.

Quentin (16:48)
What are you most focused on solving next or scaling next? Like what’s the next real goal for you, Mr. Alex?

Alex Lopez (16:56)
My goal is to continue to grow the firm with its focus on real estate as a tax strategy and CFO services. Those are the two biggest things that we love to deliver to our clients. And there is a tremendous need for it out there.

Now, I would say, you know, one of the biggest challenges in my field, unfortunately, is talent. It’s very tough to find the right professionals. And we only have so many hours in the day. And that’s, I would say, the biggest challenge that we’re facing and realistically will still continue to face for a while.

And it’s interesting because it’s almost, it’s almost like an oxymoron, right? You would think that nowadays, you know, with everybody’s emphasis and their high expectations for AI and, and outsourcing things and all that. It’s all fine and dandy. And we do use AI quite, quite a bit, but it’s tough to properly articulate how far we are from

being able to seriously rely on these tools and outsourcing agencies and to properly handle the complicated areas of finance and tax strategy. It’s just not realistic to think that that stuff can be automated or outsourced away.

properly at any time soon, really. Hence, the continued need for talent. And it’s very tough to find people. And when they come out, the big firms swallow them up. So, interesting times.

Quentin (18:57)
Yeah. Now

you’re actually taking me right to the question I want to ask you, because like you said, AI is ramping up, but AI cannot replace these human connections, right? Like you said, finding the talent. We’re going to use it as a tool, but there’s such a huge need for us to make sure we keep that personal interaction connection between humans.

And so I want to talk to you a little bit about relationships, right? Cause it sounds like finding a talent is a portion of building the right relationships with the right people. So when it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?

Alex Lopez (19:41)
I hugely emphasize relationships. I believe in two things at the foundation of good business, quality work and relationships. So as I have scaled, I have made it a huge priority for me to spend more time building and strengthening the relationships that we have with our clients and with vendors and with

with other professionals in the field. So that’s just one of the things that’s never gonna go away, AI or not, right? If anything, as AI continues to grow with influence and…

technically threaten certain fields and professions, I think there’s gonna be an even bigger need for deeper relationships with people, right? Because then what’s left then? When the day comes that AI is in fact handling the lion’s share of everybody’s function, if anything, there’s just gonna be a bigger need for better relationships, stronger relationships in business and otherwise.

Quentin (20:58)
You said the two keys quality work and relationships and you’re absolutely right Relationships are everything in this space like making sure you’re connected with the right people and in authentic connections to you, right? The authentic on is connections. And so you’re right as AI ramp up is going to be the need so it’s actually it’s almost like it’s going to be a the human connection

Alex Lopez (21:16)
for sure.

Quentin (21:26)
in a sense is almost going to be like a premium kind of, not necessarily product, but a premium on human connections because so many people is going to be, you know, just focused on AI and automation. think that human connection, that point is going come back to being a premium. It’s almost going to be like, you know, like people is trying to phase it out. So therefore it’s going to become actually more.

uncommon, which is going to actually make it more, again, I keep using the word, I’m trying to find a different one, but premium. can’t really think of any other words, you know what mean? And so yeah, so no. Yeah, no, no. Yeah, no, absolutely. So I mean, I love it. I love what you’re building. I love ⁓ how you’re using real estate as a tech strategy, but I also love how you’re not forgetting about the connection with people, finding the right people.

Alex Lopez (21:58)
Thank

think that’s the right one. It’s a premium thing. 100%.

Quentin (22:20)
finding the right professional, finding the right talent. And so I have no idea that you’re just going to continue to keep knocking it off the park. And so Mr. Alex, I’ll be honest, man, before we wrap, no, absolutely, man. Before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate, learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you,

Alex Lopez (22:29)
Thank you.

alexlopezcpa.com

Quentin (22:45)
alexlopezcpa.com. Yes, sir. ⁓

Alex Lopez (22:47)
Or in.

Right? Yours truly.

Quentin (22:52)
⁓

Mr.Lopez thank you, man. Thank you so much for coming through. Thank you for adding so much value to this platform. I appreciate your story. I appreciate your perspective and your time. And so again, thank you so much for being here today.

Alex Lopez (22:59)
Thank you.

Absolutely, likewise.

Quentin (23:12)
Absolutely. So listen, y’all heard Mr. Alex, y’all got the value. I want you to continue to come back and get value just like Mr. Alex gave today. And so you have to make sure you’re subscribed. That way you can come back and just check this out, learn from what our viewers have to say and continue to get this incredible content that we gave. And so again, I thank you, Mr. Alex and to everyone else. We will see you on the next time. Appreciate you.

Alex Lopez (23:36)
Bless you.

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Real Estate Investor Tax Strategy with CPA Alex Lopez — How a CFO Mindset Protects Your Profits

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