Property Profits Real Estate Podcast · Dave Dubeau

The Real Estate CPA Who Survived the Bust and Built a Better Business

April 8, 2026·22 min·1 clip

Alex Lopez calls real estate his first love and first heartbreak after entering Florida's boom before the market crash.

1. Property Profits Real Estate Podcast examines how Alex Lopez applies CPA, accounting, and real estate experience to investor finances. 2. Dave DeBeau hosts Alex Lopez, a CPA and accounting-firm owner who focuses on real estate operators, investors, bookkeeping, and fractional CFO services. 3. The episode asks when real estate investors should replace informal bookkeeping and cap-rate assumptions with proactive financial planning. 4. Lopez entered real estate straight out of high school around 2005 and obtained his agent license at 18. 5. Lopez bought property as a teenager before the South Florida market crashed after only a couple of profitable years. 6. Lopez says the crash affected his family, friends, former partner, clients, and other Florida residents through foreclosures, bankruptcies, and job losses. 7. An introductory accounting course showed Lopez how financial records could reveal mistakes he had made in business. 8. Lopez later worked in commercial real estate while attending college and learned from an experienced colleague who took him under his wing. 9. After choosing accounting, Lopez asked to work with real estate clients and handled REITs, developers, property-management firms, and related companies. 10. Lopez worked four years at a large accounting firm and then spent time in corporate America before starting his own firm. 11. Lopez says sophisticated tools used by private-equity-backed and publicly traded companies are often practical for smaller businesses and investors. 12. He identifies businesses earning roughly $700,000 to $1.5 million in revenue as increasingly likely to need formal accounting and finance systems. 13. Lopez says multifamily investors and people raising money should develop at least a basic model for investment cash flows. 14. He warns that real estate tax treatment differs for passive investors, active participants, and real estate professionals. 15. A multifamily group led by a young, ambitious operator experienced serious cash trouble after renovations, rising interest rates, and higher costs. 16. The group also misunderstood how limited-partner and general-partner status could affect an investor's taxation. 17. Lopez says the group's pitch deck and legal structure changed after the financial and tax problems were identified. 18. The interview uses conversational questions, client examples, and back-and-forth explanations rather than a technical lecture. 19. Real estate operators raising capital and improving financial controls. 20. Investors seeking only introductory property-buying advice.

As heard by us

A clear look at when real estate books need to grow up.

This episode looks at what changes when a CPA knows real estate operators well enough to treat them as operators, not just another small business file.

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Want a CPA who speaks real estate instead of generic bookkeeping?

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