Real Estate Professional Status for Spose

[Joseph Labit]

Hello, I have a W2 job and my wife is currently a stay at home mom that does help out with my rental portfolio, but not up to the 750 hour minimum . I was thinking about getting her more involved in the business and claiming her as a real estate professional. Currently the properties are in LLCs owned by my business partner and I. We have 3 commercial properties with 95 tenants and have our own in house property management business that is also owned by my business partner and I. I asked my accountant and he said I can not do it unless her name is on the Properties.  Is this correct? He does not specialize in real estate and did not see to know much about the REPS, So I would like to get a second opinion.  

[Michael Plaks]

Quote from @Sean Graham:

Quote from @Michael Plaks:

It is not correct, she does not need to own the properties. But it could be hard for her to accumulate the required 750+ hours when you have a management company that does the majority of the work.

It sounds like the PM company is in house so she can participate in the PM. It’s not a 3rd party. So why do you say it might make it harder for her to qualify? 

I was reading too fast, did not notice it was in-house. No problem then.