Decisions with real numbers
Keep, refinance or sell becomes an arithmetic question instead of a feeling.
Business
Know what each property actually earns
Per-property books, depreciation schedules that survive a sale, and returns prepared by people who read leases as well as ledgers.
Property owners almost always know their total rent. Far fewer can say which unit is actually making money once the mortgage interest, the property tax, the repairs and the depreciation are allocated to it — and that is the number that decides whether to keep, refinance or sell.
We keep the books property by property, maintain the depreciation schedule properly from the day of purchase, and keep the basis records that matter enormously on the day you sell. Repairs versus improvements is the distinction that quietly costs landlords the most, and we make it deliberately rather than by habit.
Scope
What’s included
Per-property profit and loss
Income and expenses allocated to each property and unit, not pooled into one number.
Depreciation schedules
Building, improvements and appliances tracked separately, with cost-segregation opportunities flagged.
Schedule E preparation
Rental income reported correctly, including passive-loss limits and at-risk rules.
Basis and improvement records
Every capital improvement logged as it happens, so the gain calculation at sale is defensible.
1031 exchange coordination
We work alongside your qualified intermediary and report the exchange correctly on the return.
Agent and broker accounting
Commission income, vehicle and marketing expense, and quarterly estimates for self-employed agents.
Outcome
Why it matters
No surprise at sale
Depreciation recapture and basis are known in advance, not discovered in escrow.
Deductions that hold up
Repair and improvement calls documented at the time, which is what an examiner asks for.
Process
How it works
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Portfolio review
Properties, purchase dates, existing depreciation schedules and how the books are kept now.
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Rebuild the schedules
Depreciation and basis corrected where needed, with prior-year fixes identified.
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Monthly bookkeeping
Rent, expenses and capital items posted by property, reconciled every month.
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Annual return
Schedule E or entity return prepared from books that were already right.
Suited to
Who this is for
- Landlords with one property or thirty
- Owners of San Gabriel Valley duplexes and apartment buildings
- Real estate agents and brokers taxed as self-employed
- Investors planning a 1031 exchange
- Anyone who inherited property and does not know its basis
FAQ
Questions
A full roof replacement is nearly always a capital improvement, depreciated over years rather than deducted at once. Patching a leak is a repair and comes off this year. The line matters because getting it wrong in either direction is costly — claiming an improvement as a repair invites adjustment, and capitalising a genuine repair means waiting decades for a deduction you could have had now. We decide it per item and write down why.
This is common and it is fixable. The IRS will calculate recapture at sale on the depreciation you were allowed to take, whether or not you took it — so not claiming it does not protect you. There is a change-of-accounting-method procedure that lets missed depreciation be caught up, often in a single year. It is worth doing before a sale, not after.
Often needed alongside this
Other services
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Individual & Family Tax Preparation
Every return is checked by a second reviewer, filed electronically, and tracked until the IRS and the FTB confirm acceptance.
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Bookkeeping & Catch-Up
We rebuild the periods in order, reconcile them properly, and then move you onto a monthly rhythm so it never happens again.
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California Franchise Tax Compliance
The $800 minimum, the LLC fee, the vouchers that are easy to forget and the returns they attach to — tracked, paid on schedule, and put right when they were not.
Let’s find out what you should actually be paying.
Thirty minutes with an Enrolled Agent, at no charge. Bring last year’s return and we will tell you plainly what we would do differently — and what it would cost.