Property operations & real assets

Books and taxes for residential property management companies.

Management fees, leasing fees, maintenance markups, and owner payouts running through one account. Gus sorts what is actually yours from what belongs to the owners you manage for, and an accountant checks every transaction.

Book a call What we handle
  • From $197 a month
  • An accountant on every transaction
  • Cancel whenever
MarchExample month
$9,300
what you made

March came in at $9,300. I moved the eviction attorney invoice onto its own line for 214 Elm so you can see what that one property is costing you separately from the rest of the portfolio.

  • AppFolio owner fee drawManagement fees
  • Placement fee, 214 ElmLeasing fees
  • Handyman Pro LLCMaintenance coordination
  • Zillow Rental ManagerListing and marketing
  • Eviction attorney retainerLegal fees
Money in$34,000
Money out$24,700
Set aside for taxes$2,100
An example month. Yours will have your numbers.

Why your books are different

A property management company's books hide two businesses inside one bank account.

Rent for the homes you manage passes through your account, but it was never your money. Your real business is the fee on top of it. When the books cannot tell the two apart, your revenue looks ten times bigger than it is and your real margin disappears.

  1. 1

    Owner rent counted as company revenue

    A $2,400 rent payment lands in your operating account before the owner gets their cut. If the full $2,400 gets booked as income, a company earning $220 a door looks like it is earning rent on a hundred houses.

    What we doBooks only the management fee, leasing fee, and other earned charges as your income. Rent passed through to an owner never counts as your revenue.
  2. 2

    Maintenance markup buried in vendor bills

    You pay Handyman Pro $180 for a repair and bill the owner $210. That $30 spread is real income, but if the whole $210 just looks like a pass-through reimbursement, you cannot tell if your markup is actually covering your coordination time.

    What we doSeparates what you paid the vendor from what you billed the owner, so the markup shows up as its own line, not lost inside a reimbursement.
  3. 3

    Leasing fees and renewal fees look the same

    A new placement fee and a lease renewal fee both show up as one lump sum called leasing income, so you cannot tell whether your growth is coming from new doors or from keeping the ones you already manage.

    What we doKeeps placement fees and renewal fees on separate lines so you can see whether you are growing the portfolio or holding it.
  4. 4

    One account, dozens of owners' security deposits

    Deposits for homes belonging to twenty different owners often sit in the same account as your operating cash. Spend against that balance without knowing whose deposit is whose, and you can end up short when a tenant moves out.

    What we doKeeps deposits flagged as money you are holding, not money you have earned, so your real operating cash is never confused with it.
  5. 5

    Reimbursable repairs mixed with company-paid repairs

    A repair you front and bill back to an owner is not the same expense as a repair on your own office or vehicle, but filed the same way, your real overhead looks higher than it is.

    What we doTags owner-reimbursable repairs separately from the company's own operating costs, so your true expenses stay visible.

Your categories

The categories Gus keeps for a property management company.

Set up once for how the fees come in and what the company itself spends. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.

Money in

  • Management feesThe monthly percentage or flat fee earned on each home you manage.
  • Leasing and placement feesEarned when a new tenant is placed in a home you manage.
  • Renewal feesEarned when an existing tenant signs another term.
  • Maintenance coordination markupThe spread between what a vendor charged and what the owner was billed.
  • Inspection and admin feesMove-in, move-out, and periodic inspection charges.

Money out

  • Property management softwareAppFolio, Buildium, or Rentec Direct subscription costs.
  • Tenant screeningBackground and credit checks run for each applicant.
  • Listing and marketingZillow Rental Manager, Apartments.com, and similar listing fees.
  • Office payrollLeasing agents, property managers, and admin staff.
  • Legal feesEviction filings and lease disputes.
  • Errors and omissions insuranceCoverage specific to managing property for other owners.
  • Vehicle and mileageDriving between properties for showings and inspections.

What we watch for you

  • Revenue per door

    Total fees earned divided by homes managed. It tells you if growth is actually paying for itself.

  • Owner retention

    How many owners renew their management agreement. Losing owners quietly is worse than losing tenants.

  • Maintenance markup margin

    What the coordination spread is actually covering against your time on each job.

  • The set-aside

    What the company itself will owe, tracked every month, separate from any owner's own return.

Ask Gus

Things property managers ask Gus.

Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.

An owner's rent check bounced through our account this month. Does that mess up our numbers?

No. That rent was never counted as your income, so a bounce there does not touch your books. It only shows up if it affects a fee you earned on it.

We just picked up 15 new doors from another management company. How do I track that?

I will start tracking revenue per door from day one on the new homes, so you can see if the new portfolio is pulling its weight separately from the rest.

Can I write off the E&O insurance as a business expense?

Usually, yes, since it covers you managing other people's property. I logged it under insurance and flagged it for the accountant to confirm with your policy in hand.

The tax side

The tax side of a property management company.

Most of what goes wrong here is mistaking owner money for company money. Get the fee income right and the rest of the return follows.

What your return has to get right

Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.

  • Only fee income is your revenueRent collected for an owner and passed through is not your income, so it should never inflate what you report as revenue or get taxed twice at your end.
  • Contractor 1099sVendors you pay directly and are not on payroll get a 1099-NEC by January 31 if paid $2,000 or more in 2026. This applies whether you or the owner ultimately covers the bill.
  • The pass-through deductionA management company earning fee income for a real business usually qualifies for the pass-through deduction of up to 20 percent of profit, with limits above $201,750 single or $403,500 joint.
  • Vehicle and mileage write-offsDriving to showings, inspections, and vendor meetings can be deducted at the standard mileage rate, 72.5 cents a mile through June 2026 and 76 cents after.

Deductions residential property management companies miss

Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.

  • Property management software
  • Tenant screening fees
  • Listing and marketing fees
  • Errors and omissions insurance
  • Mileage between properties
  • Legal fees for evictions
  • Office rent and utilities
  • Signage for managed homes
  • Lockboxes and key systems
  • Continuing education for licensing
  • Bank and ACH processing fees
  • Accounting and legal fees

General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.

All year, not just April

A property management year, kept every month.

Lease renewals and owner reports run on their own calendar all year. Your taxes come on a schedule. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.

  1. January

    Plan the year

    Last year's return gets started, the vendor 1099 list is ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so tax season is already handled.

  2. April

    Filed. Done.

    Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been running since January.

  3. July

    Halfway check

    Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether new doors picked up this year changed the number.

  4. October

    Before the fall wave

    Before the fall wave of lease renewals, Gus looks at owner retention and any equipment or software worth buying before December.

What you get

Starts at$197a month

What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.

Book a call
  • Monthly bookkeeping

    Every transaction sorted into categories set up for residential property management companies. You never categorize a thing.

  • An accountant checks every transaction

    Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.

  • Your business tax return, filed

    Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.

  • The monthly number

    What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.

  • Your own bookkeeper

    A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.

  • On your books all year

    Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.

  • Cancel any time

    No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.

Straight answers

Questions property managers ask first.

Do you reconcile our trust account against AppFolio or Buildium?

No. Trust and escrow reconciliation for the money you hold on behalf of owners is a licensed broker responsibility that runs on its own rules and its own software. Gus handles the company's own operating books, the fee income and the expenses that are actually yours.

How do you keep owner rent from inflating our revenue?

Gus books only what you earned, the management fee, leasing fee, and any markup, as company income. Rent that passes through to an owner never counts as your revenue, so your real margin stays visible.

We manage homes for 30 different owners. Is that too complicated for a flat subscription?

No. Gus works from your company's own bank statement, and the number of owners you manage for does not change how the company's own books get sorted.

Can Gus tell me which properties are actually profitable to manage?

He tracks revenue per door and maintenance markup margin from your own books, which gives you a real read on where your fee structure is working and where it is not.

Our books are a mess from switching software last year. Can you still help?

Yes. Send the bank statements you have from the switch forward. Gus sorts them and the accountant checks them, and most owners know where they stand inside a week.

Do you handle 1099s for the vendors we hire on behalf of owners?

Gus keeps the list of every vendor paid $2,000 or more ready all year. He does not file the 1099s, but nothing is scrambled together in January.

Is a real accountant checking my books?

Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.

What does it cost, and can I cancel?

It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.

More in property operations & real assets

We keep books for the business next door too.

What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for

Book a call

Pick a time. That's the whole signup.

Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.

  • $197 a month to start
  • An accountant on every transaction
  • Cancel whenever