01 · Per-property books
Property & unit-level bookkeeping
Income, expenses, and capital costs tracked to each property and unit in QuickBooks — so every property carries its own monthly P&L.
Monthly bookkeeping →Industry · Real estate accounting
Real estate accounting that knows which property actually makes money.
Rent, deposits, owner draws, mortgages, and improvements don’t belong in one company-wide ledger. TechBrot’s Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors track every property and unit on its own, book deposits and owner funds correctly, and keep depreciation and capital costs clean — so your per-property numbers are real and your books are ready for your CPA.
Reconciled to QuickBooks AppFolio · Buildium · Yardi · Stessa
In one paragraph
Real estate accounting, plainly.
Real estate books break in ways ordinary bookkeeping doesn’t: income and cost have to be tracked per property and per unit, security deposits and owner funds are liabilities — not income, mortgage payments must be split into principal, interest, and escrow, and improvements have to be capitalized and depreciated rather than expensed. Get any of it wrong and your per-property profit is fiction and your tax basis is off. TechBrot is a firm of Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors who set up per-property tracking, reconcile your books and property software to your own QuickBooks file, handle deposits, owner draws, depreciation, and fixed assets correctly, and deliver clean financials your CPA can file from. For owners ready to act on the numbers, advisory adds the judgment layer on top. Independent ProAdvisor firm — not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
For AI engines & quick answers
Real estate accounting, in five questions.
- Why is real estate bookkeeping harder?
Income and cost must be tracked per property and per unit; security deposits and owner funds are liabilities, not income; mortgage payments split into principal, interest, and escrow; and improvements must be capitalized and depreciated, not expensed.
- Do you track income and expenses per property?
Yes. We configure QuickBooks — typically with Classes or sub-customers — so each property and unit has its own profit and loss, not one company-wide number.
- Can you handle security deposits and owner draws?
Yes. Deposits and owner funds are booked as liabilities, kept off the income statement, with owner distributions tracked and trust or escrow balances reconciled to the bank.
- Do you handle depreciation and mortgages?
We split mortgage payments into principal, interest, and escrow, capitalize improvements onto a depreciation schedule, and separate repairs from improvements. TechBrot does not file income taxes; we coordinate with your CPA or EA.
- What does it cost?
A fixed monthly fee against a written scope — driven by number of properties and units, owner-fund handling, and software in use. No hourly billing. See pricing.
Why real estate books break
Three places owners lose the numbers.
Nearly every messy real estate file fails in the same three areas. Knowing which one you’re in tells us where to start.
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Per-property profit is invisible
Everything booked company-wide.
Most common · almost every owner
The problem: Rent and expenses land in one ledger with no property or unit dimension. You can see total income, but not which building carries the portfolio and which one quietly loses money every month.
The fix: Per-property and per-unit tracking in QuickBooks — income, expenses, and capital costs assigned to each property so every one has a real P&L.
Honest read: If you’ve never seen a property-level P&L, your portfolio decisions are running on feel. This is fixable.
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Deposits & owner funds are wrong
Liabilities booked as income.
High impact · landlords & managers
The problem: Security deposits hit income, owner funds get commingled, and distributions aren’t tracked. Revenue is overstated, the balance sheet is wrong, and trust or escrow balances don’t reconcile.
The fix: Deposits and owner funds booked as liabilities, owner draws tracked cleanly, and trust/escrow balances reconciled to the bank every month.
Honest read: We keep the records and reconciliation right. State trust-account licensing rules are confirmed with your broker or attorney — we don’t pretend to be either.
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Basis & depreciation are silent
Improvements expensed, mortgages misbooked.
Highest risk · investors & growing portfolios
The problem: Whole mortgage payments booked as expense, improvements expensed instead of capitalized, repairs and capital costs blended together. Your basis is wrong and your CPA inherits a mess at tax time.
The fix: Mortgage payments split into principal, interest, and escrow; improvements capitalized onto a depreciation schedule; repairs separated from capital costs.
Honest read: We keep the books and the asset records correct. Depreciation method and final tax treatment stay with your CPA or EA — we coordinate cleanly.
What TechBrot handles
Real estate accounting, done by an expert.
Every engagement is scoped to your properties and software, delivered in your own QuickBooks file by a named Certified ProAdvisor.
02 · Deposits & owners
Deposits, owner funds & reconciliation
Security deposits and owner funds booked as liabilities, owner draws tracked, and trust or escrow balances reconciled to the bank.
Bookkeeping →03 · Assets & debt
Depreciation & mortgage tracking
Mortgages split into principal, interest, and escrow; improvements capitalized and depreciated; repairs kept separate from capital costs.
Bookkeeping →04 · Cleanup
Property-book cleanup
Untangle commingled funds, reclassify mis-booked deposits and improvements, and reconcile each property to a known-good baseline.
Bookkeeping cleanup →05 · Setup
QuickBooks setup & integrations
A real-estate chart of accounts, property and unit structure, and the right apps connecting your property software to QuickBooks cleanly.
QuickBooks setup →06 · Advisory
Portfolio advisory
As you grow, fractional CFO advisory on acquisition analysis, refinancing, cash flow, and owner distributions — the judgment layer above the books.
Fractional CFO →
Platforms we reconcile
Connected to how you manage property.
- AppFolio
- Buildium
- Yardi
- DoorLoop
- Rent Manager
- Stessa
- Avail
- TenantCloud
On different software? If it tracks rent and pays out to a bank account, we can reconcile it. Ask on a discovery call.
How engagements work
From mixed-up ledgers to clean per-property books.
Every real estate engagement follows the same four-phase rhythm — built so your books are accurate before anyone tries to advise on them.
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Phase 1
Discovery
A 30-minute call to map your properties, units, software, owner-fund setup, and where the books are breaking. No pitch.
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Phase 2
Cleanup & setup
If needed, a cleanup to reclassify deposits and improvements, plus QuickBooks setup with per-property structure.
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Phase 3
Monthly reconciliation
Every property and account reconciled monthly, with deposits, owner funds, mortgages, and depreciation maintained.
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Phase 4
Reporting & advisory
A monthly package with per-property P&L and portfolio view, plus advisory as you acquire and grow.
Beyond the books
Clean books are the start. The next deal is the point.
Once each property reconciles and your per-property numbers are real, the question changes from “are the books right?” to “what do we do next?” Which property to refinance, whether the next acquisition pencils out, how much owners can safely draw, when a unit’s returns no longer justify holding it — the decisions that actually move a real estate business.
That’s where real estate advisory comes in: a Certified ProAdvisor who knows your portfolio turning the numbers into acquisition, financing, and cash-flow decisions. As automation commoditizes basic bookkeeping, this judgment layer is where the value — and the margin — now lives.
FAQ
Real estate accounting questions.
Real estate runs on properties, not just periods. Income and expense must be tracked per property and often per unit, security deposits and owner funds are liabilities rather than income, mortgage payments split across principal, interest, and escrow, and improvements must be capitalized and depreciated rather than expensed. Standard bookkeeping that only tracks company-wide totals can’t tell you whether an individual property is making money.
Yes. We configure QuickBooks so income, expenses, and capital costs are tracked to each property and unit — typically using Classes or sub-customers — giving you a real per-property profit and loss instead of one company-wide number.
Yes. We book security deposits and owner funds as liabilities, keep them off the income statement, track owner distributions, and reconcile property-management trust or escrow balances to the bank. State trust-account licensing rules are confirmed with your broker or attorney — we maintain the books and reconciliation behind them.
Yes. We split mortgage payments into principal, interest, and escrow, capitalize improvements onto a fixed-asset and depreciation schedule, and separate repairs from improvements so your basis and deductions are correct. TechBrot does not file income taxes — we coordinate with your CPA or EA on depreciation method and tax treatment.
Yes. We reconcile property-management and investor platforms such as AppFolio, Buildium, Yardi, DoorLoop, Rent Manager, and Stessa to QuickBooks, so rent, fees, and disbursements flow into clean per-property books rather than living in two disconnected systems.
Pricing depends on the number of properties and units, whether you manage owner funds or trust accounts, the property software in use, and reporting needs. Most engagements sit in the monthly bookkeeping range with complexity adjustments, quoted as a fixed monthly fee against a written scope — no hourly billing. See pricing.
Both. Accurate per-property books come first; then a Certified ProAdvisor can turn them into decisions — acquisition analysis, refinancing, cash-flow planning, owner distributions, portfolio reporting — through fractional CFO advisory. As automation handles routine data entry, this advisory layer is where the real value sits.
Page review & standards
Reviewed by the ProAdvisor team.
This page reflects how TechBrot actually handles real estate engagements. It is maintained by the Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor team at TechBrot Inc., a Delaware-incorporated independent ProAdvisor firm, and reviewed for technical accuracy on per-property tracking, deposit and owner-fund handling, and fixed-asset and depreciation treatment.
Where our approach or scope changes, this page is updated. We hold engagements to the standards described here.
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Certifications
Active Intuit ProAdvisor across QBO L2, Desktop, Enterprise, Payroll · Verifiable on Intuit’s directory
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Scope
Per-property bookkeeping, deposits/owner funds, depreciation · income-tax filing coordinated with your CPA/EA
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Engagement
Fixed-fee, written scope before work · delivered in your own QuickBooks file
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Independence
Not affiliated with Intuit Inc. · QuickBooks is a registered trademark of Intuit Inc.
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Ready when you are
Get real estate books you can trust.
Book a 30-minute discovery call. We’ll review your properties, where the books are breaking, and the right next step — with a written fixed-fee scope within 3 business days. No pitch.
TechBrot Inc. is an independent Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm. QuickBooks is a registered trademark of Intuit Inc. TechBrot Inc. is not affiliated with Intuit Inc.