Advise RE Tax vs AE Tax Advisors: Real Estate Tax Advisory Compared
Both firms serve real estate investors and both do proactive planning rather than seasonal filing. The differences are narrower here than in most comparisons, and they come down to cost segregation delivery and how much of your income is not real estate.
The short version
This is one of the closer comparisons on our site, because Advise RE and AE Tax Advisors are genuinely similar in philosophy.
Advise RE is a real estate focused tax advisory practice. The orientation is proactive planning for investors: depreciation strategy, entity structuring for portfolios, passive activity loss planning, and the specific mechanics that separate real estate taxation from everything else. That is a real specialization and it is the correct thing to look for if your wealth is in property.
AE Tax Advisors is a national tax advisory and preparation practice based in Billings, Montana, with the same proactive orientation, IRS Enrolled Agents and licensed CPAs on staff, and one structural difference: cost segregation is performed by our own team rather than referred to an engineering firm, at $1 per square foot with a $2,000 minimum.
The second difference is breadth. Advise RE is a real estate specialist. We deliberately serve two overlapping groups, real estate investors and operating business owners, because the largest savings usually come from coordinating the two. If your income is entirely from property, that breadth is worth little to you. If you also run a business, it is often the whole game.
Who Advise RE is
Advise RE positions itself squarely as a tax firm for real estate investors, and the specialization is legitimate. Real estate taxation genuinely is its own discipline. The rules governing depreciation recovery periods, the difference between a repair and an improvement under the tangible property regulations, the passive activity loss limitations of Section 469, real estate professional status, and the short term rental exception are not intuitive, and generalist preparers get them wrong constantly.
A firm that works exclusively with investors develops pattern recognition a generalist does not have. They have seen the syndication K-1 that misallocates depreciation, the 1031 exchange with a basis carryover nobody tracked, the STR that failed material participation because the owner used a property manager. That experience has real value and we would not pretend otherwise.
The honest caveat is one that applies to any specialist firm: verify current scope directly. Real estate advisory practices differ substantially in whether they perform cost segregation in house or refer it, whether they prepare returns or only advise, and whether they handle Form 3115 filings. Those three questions determine most of what you are actually buying, and the answers change as firms grow. Ask them, and get the scope in writing.
Who AE Tax Advisors is
AE Tax Advisors serves clients nationwide from Billings, Montana. Our clients typically earn between $250,000 and $2 million. Roughly half are real estate investors holding long term rentals, short term rentals, or commercial property, and roughly half are operating business owners taxed as S-Corps or C-Corps. A large share are both, which is the profile we are built around.
Cost segregation is the clearest structural difference. Our team performs the study rather than referring it, at $1 per square foot with a $2,000 minimum. A 2,500 square foot short term rental is $2,500. Five properties at 1,600 square feet each is $8,000 for the whole portfolio. Standalone engineering firms commonly quote $5,000 to $15,000 per property, and that pricing gap is why many investors with mid sized properties never run a study at all.
Just as importantly, we run the usability analysis first. A large paper loss is worth nothing if Section 469 suspends it. Before recommending a study we check whether you can actually use the deduction this year, through real estate professional status, short term rental material participation, or offsetting passive income. Selling a study that produces a suspended loss is easy and we decline to do it.
When capturing missed depreciation on a property you already own requires a Form 3115 change in accounting method and a Section 481(a) catch up adjustment, we prepare it. When filing season arrives, the return is prepared by the same team that wrote the plan.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Advise RE | AE Tax Advisors | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Real estate investors | Real estate plus business owners |
| Proactive planning model | ✔ Yes | ✔ Yes |
| Cost segregation in house | ● Verify directly | ✔ Yes |
| Cost segregation pricing | Quoted per engagement | $1/sq ft, $2,000 min |
| Section 469 usability analysis before study | ● Verify directly | ✔ Yes |
| Form 3115 accounting method change | ✔ Yes | ✔ Yes |
| Real estate professional status analysis | ✔ Yes | ✔ Yes |
| Short-term rental material participation planning | ✔ Yes | ✔ Yes |
| 1031 exchange coordination | ✔ Yes | ✔ Yes |
| Entity structuring for portfolios | ✔ Yes | ✔ Yes |
| Operating business tax strategy | ● Secondary | ✔ Yes |
| S-Corp reasonable compensation modeling | ● Secondary | ✔ Yes |
| Tax return preparation included | ✔ Yes | ✔ Yes |
| Prior-year amendment recovery | ✔ Yes | ✔ Yes |
| Published advisory pricing | ✘ No | ✔ Yes |
| National reach | ✔ Yes | ✔ Yes |
Note how many rows are identical. That is the honest picture: two firms doing similar work, differentiated mainly on cost segregation delivery, pricing transparency, and whether operating business strategy is a primary competence or a secondary one.
Pros and Cons of Each
Advise RE
Real estate tax specialist
Strengths
- Genuine real estate specialization with deep pattern recognition
- Proactive planning model rather than seasonal preparation
- Strong on passive activity loss rules, REPS, and depreciation strategy
- Investor focused practice, so the whole client base shares your problems
- Advisory and return preparation delivered together
Limitations
- Confirm whether cost segregation is performed in house or referred out
- Pricing is quoted per engagement rather than published
- Operating business strategy is secondary to the real estate practice
- Less depth on S-Corp reasonable compensation and C-Corp planning
- Narrow specialization is a limitation if your income is diversified
AE Tax Advisors
Advisory and preparation practice
Strengths
- Cost segregation performed in house at $1 per square foot, $2,000 minimum
- Section 469 usability analysis run before you spend anything on a study
- Published pricing: $7,800 strategic advisory, $1,500 entity returns, $1,000 personal returns
- Equal depth on operating business and real estate, which is where coordination pays
- Form 3115, amendments, and filing all handled by the same team
Limitations
- Not exclusively a real estate firm, if pure specialization is what you want
- Smaller brand footprint than firms with large content operations
- Not the right fit below roughly $250,000 of income
- Very large institutional or industrial assets sit outside our cost segregation depth
- Based in Montana, so client contact is by video and phone rather than in person
Which One Should You Choose?
Choose Advise RE if
Your income is essentially all real estate, you want a firm whose entire client base looks like you, and pure specialization matters more to you than breadth. There is a real argument for hiring people who do nothing else, and we are not going to pretend that argument is invalid.
Choose AE Tax Advisors if
Cost segregation is central to your plan and you want it performed and filed by the same firm at published pricing, or you run an operating business alongside the portfolio. The coordination between an S-Corp generating income and real estate absorbing it is where the largest numbers usually appear, and it requires equal depth on both sides.
Either is a good outcome if
You are currently with a generalist preparer who has never mentioned cost segregation, real estate professional status, or the short term rental exception. Both firms will beat that by a wide margin. The genuinely bad choice here is neither of us, it is staying with someone who files your Schedule E without ever asking what you want it to do.
Questions to ask both of us
Who performs the cost segregation study, in house or referred. What it costs for a property of your specific size. Whether the Section 469 usability analysis happens before or after you pay for the study. Who prepares the Form 3115. And who signs the return. The answers to those five questions will tell you more than any comparison page, including this one.
Why Clients Choose AE Tax Advisors
- Cost segregation at $1 per square foot, performed in house. With a $2,000 minimum, a 2,500 square foot short term rental is $2,500 rather than the $5,000 to $15,000 standalone engineering firms typically quote. That pricing is what makes studies viable on mid sized properties where the economics otherwise do not work.
- We check usability before you spend anything. A study producing a $180,000 loss you cannot deduct this year is not a win. We analyze real estate professional status, short term rental material participation, and available passive income first, then recommend the study only if the deduction is actually usable.
- Form 3115 for properties you already own. If you have held a property for several years without a study, the missed depreciation can generally be claimed in the current year through a change in accounting method and a Section 481(a) adjustment, without amending prior returns. We prepare the form and file the return that reports it.
- Business and real estate in one practice. The biggest savings usually come from coordination: the operating business generates income, the real estate absorbs it, and the entity structure determines whether that works. A firm with depth on only one side will leave money on the table.
- Published pricing. Strategic advisory is $7,800 with a split pay option, entity returns are $1,500, personal returns are $1,000, amendments are $2,500. You can compare us against anyone before you book a call.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Advise RE a good tax firm for real estate investors?
Yes. It is a real estate focused advisory practice with genuine specialization in depreciation strategy, passive activity loss rules, and investor entity structuring, which is exactly what a property heavy client should be looking for. The comparison against AE Tax comes down to cost segregation delivery, pricing transparency, and whether you also need operating business depth.
How much does Advise RE cost compared to AE Tax Advisors?
Advise RE quotes fees per engagement rather than publishing a standard price list, so you need a consultation to get a number. AE Tax Advisors publishes pricing: $7,800 for strategic tax advisory with a split pay option, $1,500 per entity return, $1,000 per personal return, $2,500 per amended return, and cost segregation at $1 per square foot with a $2,000 minimum.
Does Advise RE do cost segregation studies?
Real estate advisory firms differ in whether they perform studies in house or refer them to engineering providers, and scope changes as firms grow, so ask directly rather than relying on any comparison page. The specific questions worth asking are who performs the study, what it costs for your square footage, who prepares the Form 3115, and who files the return. AE Tax performs all four in house.
What is the best Advise RE alternative?
It depends what you valued. For pure real estate specialization, Hall CPA and Keystone CPA occupy similar ground. For real estate plus operating business depth with cost segregation performed in house at published pricing, AE Tax Advisors is the closest comparison. For study only engineering on large or complex assets, KBKG and Engineered Tax Services are the specialists.
Do I need a real estate specialist or a general tax advisor?
If your income is essentially all from property, a specialist is the safer choice, because the rules are genuinely their own discipline and generalists get them wrong. If you run an operating business alongside the portfolio, you need depth on both, since the coordination between them usually produces larger numbers than either side alone. The wrong answer is a generalist who treats real estate as an afterthought.
Can I get a cost segregation study without switching tax advisors?
Yes. We perform standalone cost segregation studies at $1 per square foot with a $2,000 minimum, including the Section 469 usability analysis, and your existing advisor can implement the results. If they will also be preparing the Form 3115, confirm they are comfortable with it before you commission the study, because that filing is where implementation most often stalls.
Can I switch tax advisors in the middle of the year?
Yes, and mid year is often the best time. Switching before year end means the strategy can still affect the current tax year rather than only the next one. We handle the transition, request prior returns, and review the last three years for missed deductions as part of onboarding.
Does AE Tax Advisors work with clients outside Montana?
Yes. AE Tax Advisors is a national practice. Our office is in Billings, Montana, and the majority of our clients are elsewhere. Meetings are by video, documents move through a secure portal, and we handle multi state filings routinely.
Keep Comparing
Disclosure: this page is published by AE Tax Advisors, so we are not a neutral party. We have tried to describe the other firms accurately and fairly using their own public materials, and we say plainly where they are the better fit. Firm details, service menus, and pricing change, so verify anything that matters to your decision directly with the firm before you engage. Nothing here is tax advice for your specific situation.
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