Bookkeeping for Real Estate
Bookkeeping for Real Estate Agencies
State trust and escrow account compliance. Commission splits. Audit-ready, every month.
- AIPB Certified
- QuickBooks ProAdvisor
- Xero Partner
- US-based team
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Trust money is not your money, even for the eleven days it sits in your account before closing. Every state real estate commission has its own rules for how a brokerage trust or escrow account has to be run: separate from operating funds, reconciled on a set schedule, documented well enough to survive an audit with no notice. Get it wrong and the exposure isn't a late fee. It's a license.
We work with independent brokers running a handful of agents, mid-size agencies with a dozen producers on split commission, and property managers holding tenant deposits in trust alongside sales escrow. The accounts differ. The discipline doesn't: trust reconciled separately from operating, every commission split calculated and paid correctly, every 1099 agent payout tracked so year end isn't a scramble.
Once we're running the books, the anxiety around an audit request fades, because the reconciliation is already done every month, whether or not anyone asks to see it. What's left is the part you actually got into real estate for, closing deals and growing the agency, instead of reconciling a trust ledger at eleven at night before a compliance deadline.
Where real estate bookkeeping actually helps
- I'm never quite sure my trust account reconciliation would survive a surprise auditTrust reconciled to your state-required schedule every month, documented in a form an examiner can follow without needing a phone call to explain it.
- Commission splits between the brokerage and a dozen agents get calculated by hand and I don't fully trust the numberSplit calculations built into the payment process for each agent's plan, so every payout is verifiable and consistent from month to month.
- 1099-NEC season is always a mess because I pay agents as independent contractorsCommission payout data tracked from the first check of the year, so year-end filing support is built from clean numbers, not a scramble through twelve months of statements.
- My MLS and CRM data doesn't line up with what's actually in my accounting softwareTransaction data reconciled between your MLS or CRM and your books, so commission income matches what actually closed.
- I honestly don't know if my trust and operating accounts are properly separatedTrust and operating kept in fully separate accounts and ledgers from day one, with a monthly reconciliation pack that shows the separation clearly.
What's different about real estate bookkeeping
- State trust and escrow account reconciliation on the schedule your real estate commission requires
- Commission split calculation and payout tracking, per agent plan
- 1099-NEC tracking for agent commission payouts
- MLS and CRM transaction data reconciled against booked commission income
- Trust ledger kept fully separate from operating accounts
- Audit-ready documentation maintained monthly, not assembled after the fact
Where real estate agency books usually get exposed
Most agency files we take over share a handful of the same issues. Trust and operating funds occasionally comingled, usually by accident, sometimes just a deposit posted to the wrong account during a busy week. Commission splits calculated inconsistently between agents, or recalculated by hand every payout instead of following a documented formula. MLS and CRM transaction records disconnected from the books, so nobody can say with confidence which closings have actually been reconciled into income.
Each of those gets fixed at onboarding. Trust and operating move into cleanly separated accounts and ledgers, with transfers made only for earned commission and documented every time. Split calculations get built into the payment process per agent's agreement, so the number is the same whether it's calculated on a Tuesday or the last Friday of the month. MLS and CRM data gets reconciled against booked income monthly, so closings and commission always line up.
From there the reconciliation runs quietly, every month, whether or not your state commission has asked to see it. Audit requests stop being a scramble because the documentation was already current the day the request arrived.
"Trust account compliance is non-negotiable in this business. We needed someone who knew our state rules cold and could deliver the monthly reconciliation packs without us chasing. They have never been late once."
What's included
- Trust/escrow account reconciliation on your state's required schedule
- Commission split calculation and agent payout tracking
- 1099-NEC prep support for agent commissions
- MLS/CRM transaction reconciliation against booked income
- Operating account bookkeeping, fully separate from trust
- Monthly audit-ready reconciliation pack
- Payroll for salaried staff, where applicable
- Year-end handover to your CPA or EA
Why real estate agencies pick us
Trust reconciliation, done on schedule, every month
Reconciled to your state's required cadence whether or not an audit is on the calendar. The documentation is already there when it's asked for.
Commission splits you can actually verify
Each agent's split formula is built into the payment process, so the same input always produces the same output.
1099 agent payouts tracked from the first check
Commission payments tracked all year, so 1099-NEC filing support is built from clean data instead of a January scramble.
We speak agency, not just accounting
Splits, GCI, trust disbursement, closing statements. The vocabulary is familiar because we work in it every week.
Audit-ready before anyone asks
The reconciliation pack exists every month, not assembled the week an examiner calls.
MLS and CRM data reconciled to the books
Closings tracked in your transaction system get matched against booked commission income, so nothing falls through the gap.
Get the trust ledger off your worry list
Tell us your state and how many agents are on the books. Quote in writing the same business day.
Three agency shapes
Broker running a handful of agents
A small independent brokerage, five or six agents, one trust account, straightforward splits. Trust reconciliation has been done inconsistently and the broker wants it locked down before it becomes a problem.
What changes
- Trust reconciled monthly to state requirements
- Commission splits documented per agent
- Operating and trust fully separated
- Audit-ready pack every month
How real estate agencies typically run trust and operating books
In-house / office manager Small brokerage, DIY trust | Generalist bookkeeper Not real-estate specific | Real-estate focused (us) Trust, splits, audit-ready | |
|---|---|---|---|
Trust reconciled on state-required schedule | Partial | Partial | Yes |
Commission splits calculated consistently | Partial | Partial | Yes |
1099-NEC data tracked all year | No | Partial | Yes |
MLS/CRM reconciled to booked income | No | No | Yes |
Audit-ready documentation maintained monthly | No | Partial | Yes |
Books reviewed by an AIPB-certified bookkeeper | No | No | Yes |
How we price real estate bookkeeping
Real estate bookkeeping pricing depends on agent count, transaction volume through trust, and whether property management deposits sit alongside sales escrow. A five-agent independent brokerage and a twenty-agent multi-office team carry very different reconciliation loads even before commission splits enter the picture.
Fill in the quote form, tell us your state and roughly how many agents and closings you handle monthly, and we'll come back with a written number the same business day. Catch-up work on a trust account that's fallen behind is quoted separately.
What clients say
"Trust account compliance is non-negotiable in this business. We needed someone who knew our state rules cold and could deliver the monthly reconciliation packs without us chasing. They have never been late once."
Real Estate bookkeeping FAQ
Two things to remember
Every account is reconciled and kept tax-ready by an AIPB-certified bookkeeper. Every account is run inside the US. Those two anchors shape how we handle compliance for real estate agencies specifically.
Trust account, locked in.
Tell us your state and agent count. We'll quote your retainer the same day.