Real Estate Bookkeeping Tailored For You

Alongside the bookkeeping, a working set of calculators covers cap rate, cash on cash return, DSCR, gross rent multiplier, and more, so you can run a number yourself before you call us about it.

Every property tells its own financial story. Blend ten units into one register and you lose the ability to see which one is actually making money, which one needs a rent increase, and which one is quietly losing you cash every month. Done right, bookkeeping for real estate keeps that story intact from the first transaction to the report your accountant uses at tax time.

Real estate bookkeeping is not one service. A landlord with two rentals and an investor running four entities need different things from the same file.

• Landlords and rental property owners running long term single or multi unit rentals
• Real estate investors building a portfolio across single family, multifamily, or syndicated deals
• Property management companies keeping multiple owner accounts separate and audit ready
• Real estate agents and brokers who need business books kept apart from any client property files they track

A general ledger tells you what happened. These numbers tell you whether the property is working.

Net Operating Income, or NOI, is income left after operating expenses and before debt service. It is the number a lender reads first.

Capitalization Rate, or cap rate, measures NOI against purchase price or current value, used to compare deals against each other.

Cash on Cash Return measures actual cash income against the cash you put in, the return you feel rather than the return on paper.

Debt Service Coverage Ratio, or DSCR, measures NOI against loan payments and decides whether a refinance clears underwriting.

Loan to Value, or LTV, measures the loan balance against property value, tracked every time the market or the balance moves.

Gross Rent Multiplier measures price against gross rent, a fast screen before the detailed numbers get pulled.

Operating Expense Ratio measures expenses against income, usually the first place a rising cost shows up.

Vacancy Rate tracks days or units unoccupied against total available, calculated property by property rather than blended across a portfolio.

Depreciation is the non cash expense that lowers taxable income every year you hold the property. It runs on the building value only, since land does not depreciate, and needs that split done correctly from month one.

Depreciation begins when each property is placed in service, using the correct convention, with land and building value split before the schedule starts.

Capital improvements get capitalized and depreciated, while repairs get expensed the year they happen. That call gets made as the transaction is coded, not months later at tax time.

For 1031 exchanges, we record the transaction and carry the substituted basis of the replacement property forward, so depreciation starts from the right figures. Person working on the case can confirm the final basis calculation.

Security deposits are tracked as a liability rather than income and, where your state requires it, kept separate from operating funds.

Short term rentals on Airbnb or Vrbo get their own income and expense categories, kept separate from long term leases, since occupancy tax treatment and deductible expenses differ.

Owner draws and distributions get recorded as such rather than as expenses, so the P&L reflects what the property actually earned.

For owners pursuing real estate professional status, we organize income and losses by property so your CPA can apply the passive activity rules. Time logs documenting your hours should be kept separately.

Where a portfolio runs across multiple entities, each entity keeps its own set of books, with activity between entities tracked rather than netted out.

For property managers holding tenant deposits and owner funds, we maintain separate tracking and a clear audit trail. State trust-accounting requirements vary, and your broker or licensed manager remains responsible for compliance.

Commercial properties with shared building costs get CAM reconciliation handled as part of the regular close rather than a year end scramble.

None of this replaces your CPA or your tax return. It gives your CPA organized, property-level records to work from, whether the return uses Schedule E, a partnership or corporate return, or another form.