#real-estate
Real Estate
Real estate accounting, property tracking, and investment management
Mortgage Broker and Loan Originator Bookkeeping: LO Comp, RESPA, EPO Clawbacks, and HMDA Reporting
A working playbook for independent mortgage brokerages: separating lender-paid and borrower-paid compensation under the LO Comp Rule, accruing EPO/EPD clawback reserves, classifying RESPA Section 8 payments, deferring lock and application fees, and staging loan-level data for HMDA LAR filing.
Coworking Space Bookkeeping: ASC 606 Deferred Revenue, NOI Per Square Foot, and the Occupancy KPIs Lenders Demand
How coworking operators separate hot desk, dedicated desk, and private office revenue under ASC 606, hold refundable deposits as liabilities, allocate common-area square footage to compute NOI per foot, capitalize build-out as Qualified Improvement Property with 100% bonus depreciation in 2026, and report the occupancy, RevPOD, churn, and MRR concentration metrics that lenders and acquirers actually price on.
Title Insurance and Settlement Agent Bookkeeping: ALTA Best Practices, Three-Way Reconciliation, and the Compliance Realities of Closing Other People's Money
How title insurance agencies and settlement firms keep escrow trust books — three-way daily reconciliation, ALTA Best Practices controls, premium remittance liability tracking, RESPA Section 8 compliance, and the wire-fraud controls that survive a state department of insurance audit.
Form 1099-DIV Box 3: The Return-of-Capital Basis Trap for REIT, BDC, and MLP Investors
A practical walkthrough of Form 1099-DIV Box 3 nondividend distributions — how return-of-capital payments from REITs, BDCs, MLPs, and managed-distribution funds reduce your cost basis under IRC Section 301(c)(2), convert into immediate capital gain under 301(c)(3) once basis hits zero, and what records you need to keep so the IRS matching program never catches you short.
Real Estate Broker Trust Account Reconciliation: The Three-Way Match That Protects a License
A brokerage that commingles a single earnest money deposit can lose its license, even with no theft involved. Here is the three-way reconciliation between bank, general ledger, and client sub-ledgers that brokers use to comply with state escrow rules, document deposit handling, and stay audit-ready.
Section 1033 Involuntary Conversion: A Non-Farm Business Guide to Deferring Gain on Property Destroyed, Stolen, or Condemned
Section 1033 lets non-farm businesses defer gain on property that is destroyed, stolen, or condemned if the proceeds are reinvested in qualifying replacement property within 2, 3, or 4 years. This guide covers the election mechanics on Form 4797, the similar-or-related-in-service-or-use vs. like-kind tests, the carryover-basis recapture trap, and the bookkeeping needed to survive an IRS look-back.
Section 467 Rental Agreements: Stepped, Prepaid, and Deferred Rent Under the Tax Code's Anti-Abuse Rule
Section 467 forces accrual accounting and imputed interest on commercial leases over $250,000 with stepped, prepaid, or deferred rent — overriding cash-basis treatment, recharacterizing part of every rent payment as a deemed loan between landlord and tenant, and creating Schedule M-1 book-tax differences from ASC 842 straight-line rent.
The Self-Rental Rule Under Section 469: How the Grouping Election Defuses the Passive Loss Trap
Section 469's self-rental rule recharacterizes rent from your own building as active income while losses stay passive — a one-way street that traps small business owners. A timely grouping election under Reg. 1.469-4 defuses it; missing the first-return filing window usually means living with the asymmetry for good.
Self-Storage Facility Bookkeeping: A Practical Guide for Operators
How self-storage operators should structure a chart of accounts by unit type, reconcile SiteLink or storEDGE with the general ledger, treat move-in discounts as contra-revenue, handle auction proceeds, and report physical occupancy, economic occupancy, and NOI per square foot.
California Proposition 19 and the End of the Old Parent-Child Property Tax Bargain: A 2026 Guide for Heirs of California Real Estate
How California's Proposition 19 replaced Section 63.1 for parent-child transfers after February 16, 2021 — the family home and farm rules, the one-year occupancy requirement, the BOE-19-P and BOE-266 filings, the $1,044,586 value cap floor, and the step-up-basis trade-off that determines whether to gift during life or transfer at death.
Form 1120-H vs. Form 1120 for HOAs: The Section 528 Election, the 60/90 Tests, and Revenue Ruling 70-604, Explained
A practical guide for HOA boards, treasurers, and small-firm CPAs on the Section 528 election, the four Form 1120-H eligibility tests, the 30% flat rate trade-off versus Form 1120, and why every association should record an annual Revenue Ruling 70-604 vote.
Section 45L Before the Lights Go Out: How Builders and Developers Can Still Claim $2,500 to $5,000 Per Unit Before June 30, 2026
Section 45L pays builders and developers $500 to $5,000 per energy-efficient home, but the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ends the credit for homes acquired after June 30, 2026. A practical guide to ENERGY STAR versus Zero Energy Ready certification, prevailing wage rules on multifamily, the LIHTC basis carve-out, and the Form 8908 mechanics that decide whether the credit survives audit.