$5,000 for a Real Estate Tax Strategy (Not Even Filing Taxes)

[James Mays]

I recently spoke with a real estate-focused tax strategist about optimizing my investment structure and deductions. Their quoted fee: $5,000 — and that’s just for the strategy itself, not actually filing the taxes.

For context: I do not file my own taxes. I already pay a CPA to prepare and file them each year. This $5,000 fee would be strictly for a strategic plan on how to structure my real estate holdings and maximize deductions — the CPA would still handle the actual filing separately.

I completely understand that good tax planning can save tens of thousands over time, and I'm a firm believer in paying for expertise. But as someone with a sales and MBA/business background who often self-educates (I lean heavily on tools like ChatGPT for research and scenario modeling), I can't help but question the ROI here.

Is this just the going rate for seasoned real estate tax professionals, or are we seeing inflated prices driven by online marketing and influencer branding?

My questions for the community:

• Have you paid for a tax strategy at this price point?

• Did the delivered plan justify the investment?

• Where do you personally draw the line between hiring premium expertise vs. self-educating?

Curious to hear if others have found these fees to be worthwhile or if better value can be found elsewhere.

[Michael Plaks]

@James Mays

As "someone with a sales and MBA/business background who often self-educates" you know that some services of "tax strategizing" is nothing but a generic template of a white paper on real estate taxation, with some <insert a client-specific fact here> customization, to look like a lot of work was done. I have seen those. 

While other services are an invaluable insight for a specific complex situation.

It's no different from any other kind of coaching/consulting: business, dating, nutrition, you name it. The value is ALWAYS relative to the complexity of your situation and the actual guidance provided, and it is often subjective, too.

Here is my long post specifically answering your question about ROI. (Preview: no such thing as measurable ROI) https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/1088325-expla...

PS. ChatGPT is not ready to provide guidance on tax strategies as of 2025, we tested it. Eventually it should be able to, but not today.