01 · Per-property P&L
Profit by property & entity
A clean P&L for each property and entity using classes and entity separation, so you can see what every asset earns after debt service and capex.
QuickBooks setup →New York · Real Estate & Property
New York real estate accounting that tracks every property on its own.
For investors and operators, profit hides in the per-property numbers — and a single 1031 misstep can cost six figures in deferred tax. A named Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor builds books that report P&L by property and entity, tracks depreciation, and keeps the records your CPA and Qualified Intermediary need for a clean exchange.
- Built around
- Per-property P&L
- Monthly from
- $400
- Your ProAdvisor
- Named
The short version.
Real estate accounting in New York is about per-property visibility and protecting the tax position. The core work: a clean profit-and-loss for each property and entity, accurate depreciation, and books that hold up for a 1031 exchange — where New York follows federal Section 1031 and defers both federal and New York state capital gains. The exchange rules are unforgiving: a 45-day window to identify replacement property, 180 days to close, a Qualified Intermediary who must hold the proceeds, and the same-taxpayer rule (title can be held through an LLC). New York adds one wrinkle — nonresidents selling NY property must file Form IT-2663 for withholding at closing. With NYC combined capital gains reaching well into the double digits on top of federal, a botched exchange on a large gain can cost six figures. A named Certified ProAdvisor keeps the per-property books, tracks basis and depreciation, and maintains the records your CPA and QI rely on. Fixed-fee at $400–$2,500+/mo, all 62 counties. We do the books; your CPA files and your QI runs the exchange.
Quick answers
New York real estate accounting, in five questions.
- What's different about accounting for real estate?
Per-property and per-entity reporting. A portfolio P&L hides which buildings make money. Real estate accounting tracks each property separately, follows basis and depreciation, and keeps records clean enough for a 1031 exchange — where small errors carry large tax consequences.
- Does a 1031 exchange defer New York state tax too?
Yes. New York follows federal Section 1031, so a properly structured exchange defers both federal and New York state capital gains. The one NY-specific step: nonresidents selling New York property generally must file Form IT-2663 for withholding at closing.
- What are the key 1031 deadlines?
45 days to identify replacement property, 180 days to close (or your tax-filing date, if earlier). A Qualified Intermediary must hold the sale proceeds — if you take receipt of the funds, the exchange fails. We keep the books and basis records; your QI and CPA run the exchange.
- What does it cost?
$400–$2,500+/mo, fixed-fee against a written scope, set by number of properties and entities, transaction volume, and reporting complexity.
- Can you report P&L by property and by entity?
Yes — that's the core of it. A named Certified ProAdvisor structures QuickBooks with classes and entity separation so you can pull profit by individual property, by entity, or across the portfolio, with depreciation tracked correctly on each.
Why NY real-estate books mislead
Three places New York investors lose the real numbers.
A growing portfolio can look healthy in aggregate while one property bleeds and a tax position quietly erodes. Knowing which of these you're in tells us where to start.
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Big tax dollars at stake
Books aren't 1031- or basis-ready.
Highest stakes · any investor who sells
The problem: A 1031 exchange has hard deadlines — 45 days to identify, 180 to close — and requires accurate basis and depreciation records and a Qualified Intermediary holding the funds. If your books don't track adjusted basis cleanly, or you stumble on the mechanics, you can lose the deferral. With NYC combined capital gains stacked on federal, that's six figures on a large gain.
The fix: Per-property basis and depreciation tracked accurately year-round, with records organized so your CPA and QI can execute an exchange without scrambling to reconstruct numbers.
Honest read: If you can't produce adjusted basis on a property today, you're not ready for the exchange that defers the tax on it.
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Property profit is hidden
No per-property or per-entity P&L.
High impact · multi-property portfolios
The problem: When everything rolls into one set of books, a strong building masks a weak one. You see portfolio cash flow but not which property actually earns its keep after debt service, capital expense, and management — so you can't tell what to hold, refinance, or sell.
The fix: A separate profit-and-loss for each property and each entity, using QuickBooks classes and clean entity separation, so portfolio decisions rest on real per-asset numbers.
Honest read: If you don't know your worst-performing property by name and number, the portfolio is carrying it blind.
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Entity & NY rules
Entity books and NY closing rules blur.
Rising risk · LLC-per-property structures
The problem: Many investors hold each property in its own LLC for liability protection, but if the books don't respect those entity lines, the structure's value erodes and tax prep gets tangled. New York closings add their own layer — transfer taxes and, for nonresident sellers, Form IT-2663 withholding — that has to be reflected correctly.
The fix: Books that respect each entity's separation, with NY transfer-tax and nonresident-withholding entries handled correctly — the structure set by your attorney, the bookkeeping kept clean by us.
Honest read: An LLC per property only protects you if the books treat each one as the separate entity it legally is.
What TechBrot handles
New York real estate accounting, done by an expert.
Every engagement is scoped to your properties and entities, delivered in your own QuickBooks file by a named Certified ProAdvisor — coordinating with your CPA and Qualified Intermediary.
02 · Depreciation & basis
Depreciation & adjusted basis
Basis and depreciation tracked accurately on each property, so your tax position is current and a 1031 exchange has the records it needs.
Bookkeeping →03 · 1031 recordkeeping
Exchange-ready books
Records organized so your CPA and Qualified Intermediary can execute a 1031 exchange cleanly — basis, improvements, and proceeds all documented.
Bookkeeping →04 · Rent & CAM
Rent roll & CAM reconciliation
Rent, security deposits, and common-area-maintenance reconciliations tracked so income and tenant charges are accurate and current.
Monthly bookkeeping →05 · NY transfer & IT-2663
Closing-entry support
New York transfer taxes and nonresident Form IT-2663 withholding reflected correctly in the books at acquisition and sale.
Tax help →06 · Cleanup & catch-up
Back-books & reconstruction
Behind across multiple properties or entities? We rebuild the books CPA-ready — including basis and depreciation — then keep them clean.
Cleanup →
Tools we work alongside
Connected to how you manage property.
- QuickBooks Online
- AppFolio
- Buildium
- Rent Manager
- Stessa
- Bill.com
- Stripe
- Gusto
Using a different property-management platform? If it exports to QuickBooks, we can build the workflow around it. Ask on a discovery call.
How engagements work
From portfolio guesswork to per-property clarity.
Every New York real-estate engagement follows the same four-phase rhythm — books accurate first, per-property visibility second, advisory third.
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Phase 1
Discovery
A 30-minute call to map your properties, entity structure, financing, any planned acquisitions or sales, and where the books fall short. No pitch.
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Phase 2
Setup & cleanup
Configure per-property and per-entity tracking and depreciation, plus a cleanup to reconstruct basis and separate commingled property records.
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Phase 3
Monthly close & reporting
Monthly reconciliation, rent-roll and CAM tracking, depreciation, and per-property and portfolio reporting kept current and exchange-ready.
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Phase 4
Reporting & advisory
Per-property performance reporting and, as the portfolio grows, acquisition, refinance, and cash-flow advisory.
Beyond the books
Per-property clarity is the start. Building the portfolio is the point.
Once each property's numbers are clean, basis and depreciation are tracked, and your books are exchange-ready, the question shifts from "what did each property do?" to "what do we do next?" Which assets to hold, refinance, or 1031 into something larger, how leverage looks across the portfolio, when cash flow supports the next acquisition, how to time a sale around the tax — the decisions that separate New York investors who compound from those who plateau.
That's where advisory comes in: a Certified ProAdvisor who knows your portfolio's numbers turning them into acquisition analysis, refinance timing, and cash-flow forecasting. Automation handles the data entry. We handle the judgment. As automation takes over routine entry, this judgment layer is where investors find their edge. Exchange execution and tax strategy stay with your CPA and Qualified Intermediary.
Common questions
New York real estate accounting questions.
Two things drive it: per-property visibility and the tax position. A portfolio-level P&L tells you the business made money but hides which property earned it after debt service, capital expenditures, and management — so real estate books track each property, and often each entity, separately. And because so much of an investor's return is tax-driven, the books also have to follow adjusted basis and depreciation carefully and stay clean enough to support a 1031 exchange, where errors carry large consequences. Generalist bookkeeping rarely does either well.
Both. New York follows federal Section 1031, so a properly structured like-kind exchange of investment property defers both federal and New York state capital gains — if you don't report the gain to the IRS, you don't report it to New York. The one New York-specific requirement is at closing: nonresidents selling New York property generally must file Form IT-2663, which addresses state withholding on the sale. We keep the books and basis records that support the exchange; your CPA handles the tax filing and your Qualified Intermediary handles the exchange mechanics.
The headline rules: you have 45 calendar days from the sale of the relinquished property to identify replacement property (commonly up to three properties under the three-property rule), and 180 days total — or your tax-filing date, if earlier — to complete the purchase. A Qualified Intermediary must hold the sale proceeds; if you take receipt or control of the funds, the exchange fails. The same-taxpayer rule means the title holder must be consistent, though that can be an LLC. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 narrowed 1031 to real property only. We don't run the exchange — your QI and CPA do — but we keep the basis and records that make it executable.
Enough to matter a great deal in New York City. An NYC investor selling without an exchange can face capital gains across three authorities — federal, New York State, and New York City — with combined state and city rates reaching into the double digits on top of a federal rate approaching the high thirties. On a large gain, that combined bill can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, which a properly structured 1031 exchange defers. That's exactly why the records behind the exchange — accurate basis, documented improvements, clean proceeds tracking — have to be right, and why we keep them that way year-round rather than reconstructing them under deadline pressure.
Yes — it's the heart of investor accounting. Using QuickBooks classes and clean entity separation, we structure your file so you can pull a P&L for any single property, for an entity that holds several, or for the whole portfolio. That's what lets you see which assets earn their keep after financing and capex, which to refinance or sell, and how the portfolio actually performs — rather than a blended number that hides your weakest property behind your strongest.
It's common and sensible for liability protection, but it does require the books to respect each entity's separation rather than commingling everything — otherwise the structure's protection weakens and tax prep gets tangled. We keep each entity's records distinct while still letting you see the consolidated portfolio. Note that forming the entities and structuring ownership is a legal matter for your attorney; our role is keeping accurate books inside whatever structure you and your attorney establish, including the New York transfer-tax and nonresident-withholding entries that come up at closing.
Monthly bookkeeping for a New York real-estate investor runs $400–$2,500+ per month, fixed-fee against a written scope. Pricing is set by the number of properties and entities, transaction and rent-roll volume, and whether you need CAM reconciliation or detailed per-property reporting — a single rental in one LLC is at the lower end; a multi-property portfolio across several entities higher. We quote a firm number after reviewing your books.
Book a free discovery call. We review your QuickBooks file remotely, map your properties and entities, determine whether you need a cleanup first — including basis reconstruction — or can go straight to monthly service, and send a written fixed-fee proposal within 3 business days. Your named Certified ProAdvisor begins as soon as you approve. We do the books; your CPA files and your Qualified Intermediary runs any exchange.
Page review & standards
Reviewed by the TechBrot Certified ProAdvisor team.
Reviewed and maintained by the accounting team at TechBrot Inc., an independent Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm serving New York real-estate investors and operators remotely. Pricing reflects TechBrot's New York engagement ranges; 1031 exchange, Form IT-2663, and New York tax references reflect rules current as of the date below and are reviewed periodically. TechBrot keeps the books; exchange execution rests with your Qualified Intermediary and your CPA files.
Reviewer
David Westgate · 40+ years operational accounting experience
Standards
Fixed-fee, written scope · Client retains QuickBooks ownership · Exchange & entity matters handled by your QI and attorney · No legal or tax-filing advice (out of scope) · No fabricated data
Last reviewed: June 2026
Know what every property earns — and protect the tax on every sale.
Book a free books review. We'll look at your QuickBooks file and property structure, show you where per-property profit and basis records are hiding, and send a written fixed-fee quote within 3 business days. No pitch.
TechBrot is an independent Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm. We provide bookkeeping, QuickBooks, payroll, and advisory services and coordinate with your CPA, EA, or Qualified Intermediary. We do not provide legal advice, structure entities, execute 1031 exchanges, file tax returns, or represent clients before tax authorities. QuickBooks is a registered trademark of Intuit Inc.; TechBrot is not affiliated with Intuit Inc.