Summit Office Solutions

A $20K commission isn’t $20K in your pocket.
Gross commission ≠ profit.

More properties and income streams mean your bookkeeping needs more structure.

“𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐆𝐨 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐲.”⁣
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They 𝘤𝘢𝘯.⁣
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But then you've lost most of the information that makes bookkeeping valuable.⁣
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If repairs, utilities, management fees, professional services, advertising, insurance, and other expenses are lumped together, you can't easily see:⁣
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→ Where your money is going⁣
→ Which costs are increasing⁣
→ Where margins are shrinking⁣
→ Which properties are expensive to maintain⁣
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The purpose of bookkeeping isn't simply to get transactions into QuickBooks.⁣
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It's to organize those transactions into information you can actually use.⁣

“I'll figure out which property that was for later.”
In real estate, “later” can mean losing track and costing you money.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐓𝐨 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐄𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠⁣
If you own multiple properties, one big Repairs & Maintenance total doesn't tell you very much.⁣
Your bookkeeping should let you see the performance of each property.⁣
Here's what to do:⁣
𝟏. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲⁣
Know exactly how much revenue each asset generates.⁣
𝟐. 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲⁣
Repairs, utilities, HOA dues, management fees, landscaping, and other property-specific costs should follow the property.⁣
𝟑. 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬⁣
Don't call the same type of expense "Repairs" one month and "Property Expense" the next.⁣
𝟒. 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬⁣
A new HVAC system and a $150 service call aren't necessarily treated the same way.⁣
𝟓. 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲⁣
Your highest-rent property isn't automatically your most profitable one.⁣
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Portfolio totals are useful.⁣
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But property-level numbers are what help investors decide what to hold, improve, refinance, or sell.⁣

Your bank balance tells you what you have today.
It doesn’t tell you if your business is profitable.

“𝐈 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐌𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐌𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 — 𝐈 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧.”⁣
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Rent collected is not the same thing as profit.⁣
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Mortgage interest.⁣
Property taxes.⁣
Insurance.⁣
Repairs.⁣
Maintenance.⁣
Management fees.⁣
HOA fees.⁣
Utilities.⁣
Turnover costs.⁣
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All of those affect what the property is actually producing.⁣
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If you're only looking at rent deposits, you're looking at revenue — not profitability.⁣
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Good bookkeeping should make it easy to answer:⁣
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𝗪𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞?⁣

Revenue shows what came in. Your books show what you kept.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐓𝐨 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈𝐟 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐄𝐧𝐝⁣
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September might feel early to start thinking about year-end.⁣
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It isn't.⁣
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Start by checking these five things:⁣
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𝟏. 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲?⁣
If you're still reconciling spring transactions, now is the time to catch up.⁣
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𝟐. 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦?⁣
Commissions, rental income, management fees, flips, and other income shouldn't all disappear into one bucket.⁣
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𝟑. 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲?⁣
You should be able to see what each investment property is actually costing you.⁣
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𝟒. 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬?⁣
Clean those up now instead of handing your CPA a year's worth in January.⁣
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𝟓. 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞?⁣
A reconciled QuickBooks file isn't very useful if the reports don't accurately reflect the business.⁣
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Year-end bookkeeping gets stressful when 12 months of problems are discovered at once.⁣
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September gives you time to fix them before that happens.⁣

September starts tomorrow. That means just 4 months left to get your real estate business financially ready for year-end.