Investors looking for an accountant who actually specializes in real estate usually find two kinds of firm: generalists who prepare the return and leave the planning to you, and national outfits who have never seen the property. The Hechtman Group is neither. We have worked from Northbrook for over 50 years, real estate is the core of the practice, and our clients own buildings we can drive to.
A CPA Firm That Specializes in Real Estate
Most of our real estate clients are not institutions. They are investors and families who built a portfolio over years: a few buildings, a few partnerships, property bought at different times under different rules, and a tax position that grew complicated by accretion rather than by design.
Across the North Shore that means small and mid-size multifamily held in separate entities, single-family and townhome rentals, neighborhood retail, professional and medical office condominiums, land held while entitlements are worked out, and property that arrived by inheritance or gift.
Looking for a specialist? Read more about our work as a real estate CPA in Chicago, our full real estate accounting services, or see how cost segregation can accelerate depreciation on property you already own.
When Investors Call Us
Rarely because of a question about a tax rule. Those answers are everywhere now and most of them are even right. Investors call at the points where the answer depends on their own numbers and getting it wrong is expensive.
They just bought or improved a building.Does a cost segregation study pay for itself on this property, this year, given their actual income position?
They are selling.An exchange has to be structured before the closing, not explained after it.
Property arrived by inheritance or gift.The basis question has to be settled before anything else can be.
A reassessment landed.The operating numbers no longer work the way the projection assumed.
A partner, a property or a family member was added.The entity structure no longer fits what it is holding.
Their losses are stuck.Suspended passive losses sitting unused for years, because nobody checked whether a disposition or a change in participation would free them.
They are near the hours threshold for real estate professional status.Is qualifying this year realistic, and what does the recordkeeping have to look like to survive a question?
Every one of those is a specific portfolio on a specific deadline. That is a conversation, not an article.
What We Handle for Property Investors
Depreciation and Cost Recovery
- Cost segregation studies
- Depreciation and amortization
- Bonus depreciation on qualifying property
- Infrastructure improvements
Exchanges and Deferral
- 1031 exchanges of like-kind investment property
- Tax deferral transactions
- Disposition planning
- Refinancing and disposition of distressed property
Tax Planning and Compliance
- Year-round tax planning strategies
- City, state and federal tax compliance
- Income tax credits
- Enterprise zone subsidies
Acquisition and Due Diligence
- Acquisition due diligence
- Budgets and projections
- Cash flow analysis
- Property tax abatements
Ownership, Entities and Succession
- Business entity selection
- Family limited partnerships
- Gifting and transfer of property to heirs
- Bankruptcy, insolvency and work out solutions
Reporting and CFO Support
- Business accounting services
- Outsourced CFO services
- Outsourced controller services
- IRS problem resolution
Cook County Reassessment and What It Does to Your Numbers
Cook County reassesses property on a three year cycle, dividing the county into the City of Chicago, the north and northwest suburbs, and the south and west suburbs. The north and northwest suburbs, Northfield Township among them, were reassessed in 2025.
For an investor that is not a filing detail. A reassessment resets the expense line that most directly determines whether a building clears its debt service, and it arrives on a schedule you can plan around rather than react to. We build the cycle into cash flow projections, into the hold or sell conversation, and into the question of whether an appeal is worth the cost in a given year.
Northbrook sits in Cook County and borders Lake County, and plenty of North Shore portfolios hold property on both sides of that line. The two counties assess on different systems and different calendars. If your holdings straddle it, the planning has to account for both.
A CPA You Can Sit Down With
Our office is on Skokie Boulevard in Northbrook. For investors who would rather review a projection across a table than over video, that matters, and on a portfolio of any size it tends to produce better decisions than an annual return handoff.
We are not a seasonal preparer. The conversations that change a tax position happen in the third and fourth quarter, before the year closes, not in March when the only remaining question is what to report.
TESTIMONIALS
A firm that specializes in real estate should be able to show it. Our CPAs stay current through the industry organizations our clients work in, including the Greater North Shore Estate and Financial Planning Council, and we are proud to be members of the following:
- Real Estate and Construction CPAs
- International Council of Shopping Centers, Inc (ICSC)
- Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago (HBAGC)
- The Greater North Shore Estate & Financial Planning Council (GNSEFPC)
Whether you own one building on the North Shore or a portfolio across Cook and Lake counties, our real estate team can help you plan around it.
Real Estate Tax and Accounting Resources
Real estate is the core of our practice. The guides below cover the questions property owners and investors bring us most often. If your holdings are in the city rather than the suburbs, our real estate CPA in Chicago page explains how we work with clients across the metro area.
Cost segregation and depreciation
- Cost segregation: turning property investments into tax advantages
- Why every property owner should understand cost segregation studies
- Bonus depreciation in 2025 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
- The bonus depreciation phase-out and what it means for your next purchase
Exchanges, deferral and incentives
- Understanding the 1031 exchange for real estate investors
- Opportunity zones explained: incentives and tax benefits
Ownership, transfer and exit
- From acquisition to exit: how a real estate CPA supports the investment lifecycle
- The role CPAs play in real estate transactions
- Asset sale or stock sale: which applies to your transaction
- The stepped-up basis: passing real estate to heirs tax free
- Family limited partnerships and real estate
- Gifting real estate to heirs: tax considerations