#real-estate
Real Estate
Real estate accounting, property tracking, and investment management
Idaho HB 583: What the New Short-Term Rental Preemption Law Means for Airbnb and VRBO Hosts
Idaho's HB 583, effective July 1, 2026, bans cities from requiring STR licenses, owner-occupancy, night caps, or mandatory property managers — but hosts must still register with the State Tax Commission and remit lodging taxes on stays of 30 days or fewer.
The National Flood Insurance Program Expires September 30, 2026: A Small Business Guide
The NFIP's authority to issue and renew flood insurance expires September 30, 2026 unless Congress reauthorizes it. During a lapse, existing policies stay in force and claims are still paid, but no new or renewal policies can be written — a risk for small businesses closing on property, refinancing, or renewing coverage in flood zones. Here's what happens in a lapse and how to prepare.
Three-Way Reconciliation for Title and Escrow Agencies: How Trust Account Bookkeeping Actually Works
A three-way reconciliation matches three numbers every cycle: the adjusted trust bank balance, the book balance, and the sum of every client file ledger. Here's how title and escrow agencies run it under ALTA's roughly 10-business-day standard, the five discrepancies auditors flag most, and why it's the last defense against real estate wire fraud that cost victims over $275 million in 2025.
The $2.25 Million Lesson: What the RentGrow FTC Settlement Means If Your Business Runs Background Checks
RentGrow paid a $2.25 million civil penalty to settle FTC allegations of FCRA violations: duplicated eviction and criminal records, an undisclosed data source, and mishandled consumer disputes. Here is what the consent order requires, and the separate FCRA obligations — permissible purpose, written consent, adverse action notices — that any business using screening reports must still meet.
Spec Home Builder Bookkeeping: WIP Schedules, Percentage of Completion, and Why Profitable Builders Run Out of Cash
A monthly work-in-progress (WIP) schedule turns four numbers per job — contract price, estimated cost, costs to date, and billings to date — into an early warning for overbilling and underbilling, the cash-flow gaps that sink profitable builders. Spec builders also differ from contract builders on revenue recognition, since homes held as inventory typically use the completed contract method under the IRC Section 460 home construction exemption.
Depreciation Recapture Explained: The Tax Bill Waiting When You Sell Depreciated Equipment or Real Estate
Depreciation recapture taxes the deductions you already took when you sell a business asset at a gain — Section 1245 equipment gains are recaptured as ordinary income at rates up to 37%, while Section 1250 real estate depreciation is capped at 25%. With 100% bonus depreciation restored and the Section 179 limit at $2,560,000 for 2026, a fully expensed asset has a $0 basis from day one, so nearly the entire sale price becomes taxable. Here's how the rules split, a worked example, and five strategies owners use to manage the bill.
Whigham v. Commissioner: Why Home Equity Can Sink a 'Currently Not Collectible' Claim With the IRS
In Whigham v. Commissioner (T.C. Memo. 2026-55), the Tax Court upheld an IRS levy against a taxpayer with a genuine hardship story because he held over $190,000 of equity across four properties and offered no proof it was inaccessible. This guide explains how Reasonable Collection Potential values real-estate equity at roughly 80% of fair market value, why bare hardship assertions fail Currently Not Collectible reviews, and what documentation self-employed taxpayers need before a CDP hearing.
When a Deficit Restoration Obligation Isn't One: What CCA 202628009 Means for Partnership Loss and Liability Allocations
IRS Chief Counsel Advice CCA 202628009 (July 10, 2026) held that a demand-based deficit restoration obligation enforceable only by withholding future distributions is not unconditional, failing both the §1.704-1(b) economic-effect safe harbor and the §1.752-2(b) recourse-liability test — a fact pattern common in family LP boilerplate that can reallocate recourse debt and suspend previously deducted losses.
Edmund Ha v. Commissioner: Why a Detailed Mileage Log Still Lost a $76,000 Deduction Fight
In Edmund Ha v. Commissioner (June 2026), the Tax Court allowed just $711.60 of $59,866 in claimed travel and meal deductions and denied a $16,325 vehicle deduction entirely, because Section 274(d) bars courts from estimating these expenses without contemporaneous records of amount, time, place, and business purpose — while the same taxpayer's $13,328 home office deduction survived under the ordinary Cohan rule.
The FTC Junk Fees Rule: A Compliance Guide for Ticket Sellers and Short-Term Rental Hosts
The FTC's Junk Fees Rule, in effect since May 2025, requires live-event ticket sellers and short-term lodging hosts to display all-in total prices upfront, with violations carrying civil penalties of up to $51,744 each and a $10 million StubHub settlement already on the books.
Home Inspection Business Bookkeeping: E&O Insurance, Schedule C, and Job Costing
Home inspectors average one liability claim over a career and pay roughly $989/year for E&O insurance, so amortizing that premium per job and tracking mileage, report-writing time, and licensing renewals on Schedule C is what separates a profitable inspection business from one guessing at its margins.
NAR's $52.25M Tuccori Settlement: What It Means for Real Estate Agent Bookkeeping
NAR's $52.25 million Tuccori settlement, approved April 10, 2026, doesn't change buyer-agent commission rules — it makes the August 2024 Sitzer/Burnett practice changes permanent, so agents must book gross commission across multiple funding sources rather than treating deposits as a single income line.