BOOKKEEPING FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTORS, AGENTS, & PROPERTY MANAGERS

Yes. We set up your QuickBooks with property-level tracking so every rental payment, maintenance expense, mortgage payment, and HOA fee ties to the right property. You'll see a P&L for each property and a consolidated view across your full portfolio. This is the foundation of real estate bookkeeping done right.

We track security deposits as liabilities in a separate trust account, which is what most states require. When a tenant moves out and you apply or refund the deposit, we record it properly. This keeps you compliant with state trust-account rules and makes it easy to see what you're holding at any time.

All three. Real estate agents are typically Schedule C (self-employed business income from commissions). Investors are typically Schedule E (passive rental income). Property managers are Schedule C for management fees plus Schedule E for any properties they own. We handle the full Schedule C + Schedule E + 1099-NEC workflow for each, and we make sure commission income, rental income, and management fees don't get crossed up.

Short-term rentals need their own setup. We track gross booking revenue, Airbnb/Vrbo service fees, occupancy and lodging taxes, cleaning fees, turnover costs, and professional photography/marketing as separate line items. Depending on what services you provide (daily cleaning, meals, concierge), your STR may qualify as a Schedule C active business rather than Schedule E passive rental, which changes your tax treatment significantly. We'll help you understand which category applies and structure the books accordingly.

Yes. We work with every major property management platform. AppFolio and Buildium are the most common for property managers with 20+ units. Stessa is the most common for smaller investors who want clean Schedule E reporting. TenantCloud and Rent Manager come up too. We connect your PM platform to QuickBooks Online so rent collection, maintenance work orders, and vendor payments flow into the books automatically.

Residential rental property depreciates over 27.5 years. Commercial is 39 years. Appliances, carpeting, and certain improvements are 5 years. Capital improvements (new roof, HVAC system, kitchen remodel) create their own depreciation schedule starting when they're placed in service. We maintain a depreciation schedule per property with purchase price, land allocation, improvements, and accumulated depreciation. Your CPA can pull it directly into the Schedule E or the corporate return.

Yes. A 1031 exchange defers capital gains when you reinvest sale proceeds into like-kind property. The accounting has to track original basis, exchange timeline (45 days to identify, 180 days to close), boot received (any cash or non-like-kind property received), and the new property's adjusted basis. We set up the exchange in QuickBooks so the carry-forward basis is correct and the exchange holds up under IRS scrutiny years later when you eventually sell the replacement property.

Yes. Many investors hold each property in a separate LLC for liability protection. We set up each LLC with its own QuickBooks file or class in a multi-entity structure, handle intercompany transactions (management fees, loans between entities, capital contributions), and produce consolidated reporting so you see both the individual LLC financials and the portfolio total. See our multi-entity management service for the full scope.

Absolutely. We'll set up your chart of accounts, property classes, vendor list, and tenant customer records specifically for real estate. Whether you have 3 properties or 30, the structure we build grows with you and keeps everything organized from day one. See our QuickBooks setup service for the full scope.

Our plans start at $399/month for Essentials, which fits most investors with 1 to 4 rental properties. Landlords with 5 to 15 properties usually fit best in our Growth plan at $599/month, which includes deeper reporting, depreciation schedule maintenance, and a quarterly strategy call. Large portfolios with multiple LLCs or short-term rentals typically use our Scale plan at $1,199/month. Your exact price depends on unit count, LLC complexity, and transaction volume.

You need both, and they do different jobs. A CPA handles tax strategy, Schedule E filing, cost segregation studies, and entity structure advice. A bookkeeper handles the daily and monthly work that keeps your books accurate: per-property tracking, depreciation updates, tenant ledgers, and reconciliation. Your CPA can only do their job well if your books are tax-ready when you hand them off. We get your books tax-ready so your CPA can focus on tax strategy.

Yes. If you're a Pittsburgh-area real estate investor, agent, or property manager (Allegheny County, Butler County, Westmoreland County, Beaver County) see our dedicated Pittsburgh Real Estate Bookkeeping page at /industries/real-estate/pittsburgh-pa. It covers PA realty transfer tax (1% state + up to 3% local), Allegheny County property reassessment cycles, Pittsburgh rental registration requirements, Airbnb regulations specific to Pittsburgh, and real worked examples from Pittsburgh-area investors.