Real Estate Investor Bookkeeping: Frequently Asked Questions

Table of Contents

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Service Scope & Capabilities

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1: What services are included in your bookkeeping packages?

We deliver virtual bookkeeping services custom-designed for real estate investors, fix-and-flip operators, and rental property owners.

Services include:

  • QuickBooks Online setup

  • Monthly transaction categorization

  • Bank and credit card reconciliation

  • Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet reporting

  • Job costing by property

  • HUD-to-journal entry processing

  • Multi-entity tracking

  • and secure document management—all tailored to your investment strategy.

2: Can you help if my books are completely out of order or I don’t have bookkeeping at all?

Absolutely.

Whether you’ve never done bookkeeping or your records are a tangled mess, I’m here to help you start fresh. Our cleanup service includes:

  • Assessing how far back we need to go and scoping the project.

  • Reconciling bank, credit card, and balance sheet accounts to ensure everything matches.

  • Organizing your chart of accounts and categorizing transactions properly to set a clean foundation.

  • Implementing systems for separating personal and business expenses to prevent future confusion.

  • Delivering tidy, accurate Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet statements so you can make decisions with confidence.

We’ll start with a paid diagnostic review: I’ll assess your records and provide you with a realistic timeline and quote. Together, we’ll clear the chaos and lay a clean, professional foundation for your business.

Find out why Real Estate Investors are choosing us for their Bookkeeping needs.

3: What if I don’t use QuickBooks Online yet?

No problem—in fact, that’s often where I add the most value. I'll help you choose the right QuickBooks Online subscription and determine whether you’d benefit from multiple subscriptions or a single one with multi-entity tracking.

I'll handle the full setup:

  • configure your QuickBooks profile

  • integrate you into the secure client portal

  • organize your chart of accounts based on your real estate strategy (fix‑and‑flip, long-term rental, etc.)

  • and ensure everything runs smoothly from the start.

4: Do you support complex real estate strategies like BRRRR, fix and flip, and Subject To accounting?

Yes. We specialize in real estate investor bookkeeping across various investment strategies, including investors that build, rehab and reposition their properties.

We are experienced with supporting fix and flip and rental owner clients who use creative financing such as BRRRR, owner and seller financing, and Subject To.

Our services feature property level tracking to capture acquisition costs, renovation expenses, holding costs, and financing—essential for underwriting your true profitability and filing tax returns such as Schedule C and Schedule E.

5: Can you manage bookkeeping across multiple properties or LLCs with separate tracking?

Absolutely.

We employ QuickBooks Online features like Customers, Class and Location tracking to keep your bookkeeping segmented by property and entity.

This gives you detailed financial visibility at the property level and at the entity level.

For single and multifamily investors: This is essential if you have multiple assets and LLCs, and must track individually for tax reporting purposes such as filing Schedule E.

For house flippers: This is also essential when you have multiple, concurrent projects and need to review and analyze project profitability to improve operations.

Onboarding & Software Setup

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1: What does the onboarding process look like?

Here’s our streamlined onboarding:

  1. We begin with a 30 minute Discovery Call to understand your portfolio and goals.

  2. You receive a customized service recommendation and quote within 24 hours.

  3. After the client agreement signing and invoice payment, we set up QuickBooks, integrate your banking with view-only access, and establish the secure client portal.

  4. We work with you to collect necessary bookkeeping documents to ensure your financial reports are accurate.

  5. Finally, we configure your Chart of Accounts and deliver personalized reporting.

2: Is there an onboarding or setup fee? What does it cover?

Yes. We charge a one-time onboarding fee equal to one month of your chosen bookkeeping package. This covers essential set-up tasks—QuickBooks Online installation, secure portal access, Chart of Accounts configuration, historical data organization, and project structure—all to ensure smooth, accurate accounting from the start.

3: Which QuickBooks Online subscription is right for me?

We'll help determine whether Ledger, Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, or Advanced suits your needs, and whether multiple or single subscriptions work better for your structure.

4: What is the QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor Discount? Am I eligible for it?

As a Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor, we can enroll you in the Preferred Pricing Program, which may offer up to a 30% discount on new QuickBooks Online subscriptions.

Reporting & Deliverables

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1: How soon will I receive my first financial reports?

Once fully onboarded and all required documents (e.g., bank and credit card statements, HUD statements, Closing Disclosures) are submitted, you can expect your first Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet report by the 10th business day of the following month, ensuring you have timely insights to drive decisions.

2: What reports do I get each month? Can you prepare them for refinancing or tax planning?

You’ll receive an updated Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet each month, complete with property level reporting if applicable.

We can also generate custom reports in our higher tiered packages that can keep track of custom KPIs such as DSCR, Gross Profit Margin, and Net Operating Income (NOI) Margin.

These financial reports can be used to provide to creditors to process loan applications and to your CPA or tax planner for tax strategy.

Pricing & Contracts

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1: How much do your services cost?

Pricing varies and is determined after our 30 Minute Discovery Call and a review of the overall business complexity. We factor in the number of doors/properties, transaction volume, and services needed.

You will receive a detailed custom quote 24 hours after our discovery call.

2: Do I need to sign a long-term contract?

No.

You won’t be locked into anything. All our service agreements are month-to-month—you’re free to upgrade, downgrade, or cancel with just 30 days’ notice. No penalties. No lock-ins. Ever.

We ask for 30 days' notice because we’re running a business too—we need to forecast and manage cash flow just like you do. This gives both of us the clarity and flexibility we need to thrive together.

3: What kind of satisfaction guarantee do you offer?

We offer a 30-Day Secure Foundation Guarantee: If you’re not completely satisfied within your first 30 days, we’ll refund your full payment—no questions asked.

This promise is my way of helping you being with confidence.

We stand 100% behind our bookkeeping services. We understand real estate investing, bookkeeping, and client service. By offering this guarantee, I’m putting my expertise, backed by reassurance, behind your success.

Not many firms are ready to offer such guarantee.

Security & Trust

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1: How secure is my financial and banking data?

Security is top priority. All data is accessed through view-only permission in QuickBooks and bank portals. Documents are stored in an encrypted client portal, ensuring your records are audit-ready and protected.

2: Do you keep records audit-ready?

Absolutely. We maintain organized, clean, and complete financial records, including categorized transactions, reconciled accounts, and centralized documentation like HUDs and receipts—ensuring you’re always prepared for audits or lender scrutiny.

Special & Custom Services

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1: Do you offer job costing or project level tracking?

Yes.

We provide detailed job costing and project tracking per property or flip, broken down into acquisition, renovation, holding costs, and sale proceeds, enabling precise profitability and ROI insights for each project.

2: Can you clean up prior-year bookkeeping or start from scratch using an Excel or Google Sheet I have?

Yes.

Whether you need catch-up services for previous years or full cleanup from zero, we’ll reconcile past records, categorize transactions, rebuild your Chart of Accounts, and deliver accurate Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet statements.

We welcome any reporting you currently have and use that existing data to shape your new, efficient QuickBooks Online account going forward.

3: Do you provide ongoing consultations or KPI tracking?

Yes.

Monthly video reviews and consultations are available in our higher tier packages to help understand your financial reports and see how you’re doing with your goals.

We can keep track of KPIs like ROI, Net Operating Income (NOI), and Gross Profit Margin (GPM), and advise on optimizing your portfolio’s performance.

4: Do you support cash and accrual accounting?

Yes.

We work with both cash basis, modified cash basis, and accrual basis accounting and will align the method with your financial goals, tax strategy, and lender requirements.

Workflow & Logistics

Two real estate contractors working on blueprints or engineering plans, one pointing with a finger and the other holding a pencil.

1: Can I get bookkeeping services more frequently than monthly?

Yes, in our higher tiered packages, we can offer weekly or real time support. Let’s discuss your workflow to build a high-frequency bookkeeping plan that fits your pace.

2: How do I securely send you monthly documents?

You can grant view-only access to your financial accounts (e.g., online banking portals, loan servicing portals, tenant servicing portals such as Appfolio, Tenant Cloud, Baselane) for safe data retrieval, or upload documents to our encrypted client portal. We also send reminders when statements are due to keep everything on track.

3: Will you coordinate with my CPA or EA for tax prep and planning?

Absolutely. In our higher tiered packages, we will proactively connect with your tax planning and preparation professionals to ensure that your books while you continue to work on the business.

House Flipping Bookkeeping FAQs

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1: How do you manage job costing for fix and flip projects?

We allocate every acquisition, rehab, holding, closing, and selling cost to individual jobs in QuickBooks Online using the Projects Portal feature that is exclusive to QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced.

All loan origination fees are accurately capitalized per IRS guidelines so you don’t have to worry about it.

All costs for these categories to allocated to the correct Inventory accounts on the Balance Sheet during acquisition, rehab and holding periods.

All costs are then expensed to Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) when the property is sold.

The Project Portal numbers are used as a dashboard to enable simple review of precise gross profit of each individual project to support your ROI tracking for each flip.

2: Do you record closing and sale related expenses for flips?

Yes. We include broker fees, Realtor commissions, title costs, property taxes, buyer and seller concessions, attorney fees, and other sale specific line items to ensure each flip’s profitability is fully transparent and IRS compliant.

3: How do you handle inaccurate or non-existent bookkeeping for flips?

We offer clean up service that brings all past flips into order. During onboarding, we will work with you by providing you with a checklist of documents to gather and provide. We will answer any questions you might have to help identify any holes in your records.

4: Can you produce flip specific profitability reports?

Absolutely. We create detailed Profit & Loss reports per flip, helping you see the full margin impact and cash flow from each individual project.

These reports can be used in conjunction with your Work In Progress (WIP) reports to review the progress of your flip projects.

5: How do you account for holding costs like interest and insurance during rehab?

All project specific expenses incurred before sale must be properly capitalized to specific Work In Progress (WIP) Inventory accounts. This ensures that nothing is incorrectly expensed before the project is complete.

At the acquisition, rehab and hold phases, we send all appropriate costs—like purchase price, property taxes, loan origination fees, loan interest, and utilities—as part of Work In Progress (WIP) Inventory, while ensuring they’re considered in the project level ROI

Rental Owner & Landlord Bookkeeping FAQs

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1: How do you track expenses and ROI for long term repositions?

We allocate reposition, maintenance, and depreciation cost per property and compare it to long term rental income to provide accurate ROI and profit analytics.

2: If I have a Cost Segregation Study (“Cost Seg”), will you help me record it in my bookkeeping?

Yes, we will have this item on your onboarding checklist. We will ask for your Cost Seg study so we can ensure that it is accurately reflected in your bookkeeping records and Chart of Accounts. We separate each item into it’s appropriate capital expenditure (CapEx) account based on depreciation schedules. We will work with your tax professional to ensure that it’s accurately reflected for tax planning purposes.

3: Do you separate long term rental (LTR) vs short term rental (STR) income and expenses?

We recommend keeping long term rentals (LTRs) and short term rentals (STRs) in separate bookkeeping categories. During onboarding, we’ll integrate all of your business entities and rental assets into QuickBooks Online to accurately track your rental portfolio.

Under IRS rules, income from short term rentals (STR) is typically considered active income when you materially participate in the rental activities.

In contrast, income from long term rentals (LTR) is generally classified as passive income, unless you're a real estate professional, and subject to passive activity rules.

That distinction is crucial because the IRS often limits deductions for passive activities, but active STR income allows for full deduction of losses when you've met the participation criteria.

Keeping these income sources separate in your bookkeeping is essential for accurate financials and tax preparation.

We will guide you through structuring your QuickBooks Online setup with clarity to ensure your rental portfolio is tracked properly and confidently.

4: How do you handle bookkeeping for property improvements and capital expenses?

We differentiate improvements (capitalized and depreciable) from repairs and maintenance (expenses), using appropriate Chart of Account categories that align with rental property owners and the Schedule E.

5: How do you manage short term rental bookkeeping different from long term rental?

We separate income streams, platform fees, cleaning costs, and occupancy tracking for short term rentals (STR), all categorized properly for tax compliance. We will ask you for view-only access to your hosting platform such as Airbnb, VRBO, and others so we can collect the accurate reports to capture these fees appropriately.

6: Do you handle bookkeeping for 1031 Exchanges in rental portfolios?

Yes, we specialize in structuring your QuickBooks Online so that 1031 Exchanges are accurately tracked and compliant.

We will record your HUD or Closing Disclosure to record the relinquished asset. We will follow your 1031 Exchange Escrow documents property record the deferred gain in a 1031 Exchange Escrow account on your QuickBooks Online.

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BRRRR & Creative Financing Bookkeeping FAQs

1: Can you handle full cycle BRRRR strategy bookkeeping?

Yes, we structure your books around the BRRRR method (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat) so each phase’s costs and income are tracked clearly per property.

BRRRR is a mix of house flipping and rental ownership. Each method has very different tax implications and recordkeeping procedures.

We will accurately capitalize and record all costs during the Buy and Rehab phases in their appropriate Work In Progress (WIP) Inventory accounts.

We will expense them at the sale to your Rental Property LLC and close out the flip project.

We will maintain the asset on the Rental Property LLC’s books using our Schedule E optimized QuickBooks Online system during the Rent phase.

2: How do you differentiate rental income from refinance proceeds?

We use separate accounts for operating income (rent) and refinance proceeds to ensure that you are not improperly recording income.

Improperly recorded income leads to higher paying taxes.

3: How are BRRRR rehab and holding costs captured?

During the Buy and Rehab phases, we allocate every acquisition, rehab, holding, closing, and selling cost to individual jobs in QuickBooks Online using the Projects Portal feature that is exclusive to QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced.

All loan origination fees are accurately capitalized per IRS guidelines so you don’t have to worry about it.

All costs for these categories to allocated to the correct Inventory accounts on the Balance Sheet during acquisition, rehab and holding periods.

All costs are then expensed to Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) when the property is sold.

The Project Portal numbers are used as a dashboard to enable simple review of precise gross profit of each individual project to support your ROI tracking during the Buy and Rehab phases.

4: Can your bookkeeping adapt for repeated BRRRR cycles?

Yes, we build scalable QuickBooks Online structures that support reinvestment, fund rollover, and multi-project strategies.