If you are planning to buy a business, then there are some things about CPA's and lawyers you need to know that aren't talked about often enough. And that is the whole question of, if you are buying a business out of your state or country, do you use your own CPA and lawyer...or do you hire a CPA and lawyer in the province or state of the seller?

The short answer is you need to go with people in the state or province the seller is in. There are many reasons for this. The main one being there are different things they do in different areas of the world and country.

Plus -- and this is just as important -- you want to make sure the attorney you hire draws up the agreement -- or at least analyzes the agreement if the sellers attorney draws the agreement up. Incidentally, I suggest not letting the seller's attorney do this because whoever draws up the contract wins. And if they aren't on the "straight and narrow"...well...you could end up getting swindled in the end.

So I always push for the buyer's attorney -- who is from that province or state -- to draw up the contract, using the same approach that everybody else does. Plus, another benefit to this is that when you hire people in the same area as the seller, the seller's boys and your boys will probably already know each other -- and probably play golf together -- which makes it a lot better.

And it's the same thing with a CPA. You want somebody local. You want somebody thatll stay on. You have to have your own representation.

And remember this: The majority of CPA's and lawyers you run into (I dont care where you are on the planet) will wait until the close of escrow to collect their fee if you understand how the game is played.