Real Estate Investors
Every property needs its own P&L. We track income and expenses by address so you can see which units actually perform and which ones drain cash.
The Investment
Real estate investing looks simple on paper. Buy property, collect rent, build wealth. The accounting reality is messier. Each property has its own income stream, its own expenses, its own mortgage, and its own performance. When you own three, five, or twelve units, keeping those finances separated becomes a job in itself.
Northern New Mexico adds its own considerations. Older adobe homes need ongoing maintenance that newer construction doesn’t. The Santa Fe market includes investors holding long-term rentals alongside those who’ve shifted to vacation rentals. Some properties have been in families for generations. Others were purchased last year. Each situation requires tracking that matches the actual complexity of the investment.
Who This Covers
Who This Covers
Landlords with single rental homes. Owners of small multi-family buildings. Investors with scattered-site portfolios across Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico. Anyone building wealth through property who needs financial records that actually tell them something useful.
What Complicates It
What Complicates It
One contractor works on multiple properties. A mortgage refinance changes the payment split. A long-term rental converts to a vacation rental mid-year. New Mexico’s Gross Receipts Tax applies in certain situations. Security deposits sit in limbo between liability and potential income. Each variable requires precise tracking.
What We Handle
Every expense gets assigned to a specific property address. When your handyman fixes a fence at one rental and patches drywall at another, those costs land in the right places even if they’re on a single invoice. Same contractor, same check, different expense allocations. This is fundamental to understanding which properties actually make money.
Beyond the basic P&L, we manage the balance sheet items that trip up most investors. Security deposits are recorded as liabilities until properly applied or refunded. Mortgage payments get split between principal and interest for accurate tax reporting. When New Mexico’s Gross Receipts Tax applies to your rental income, we handle the filing so you stay compliant without tracking it yourself.
CapEx vs OpEx
CapEx vs OpEx
A new roof is a capital improvement that depreciates over 27.5 years. Fixing a few shingles after a storm is a repair you expense immediately. The distinction matters enormously for taxes. We classify each expense correctly so your depreciation schedules stay accurate and defensible.
Contractor Compliance
Contractor Compliance
Payments to contractors and handymen need 1099s at year end. We track who you’ve paid, collect W-9s before checks go out, and prepare the forms when January arrives. No scrambling to find addresses or remember who got paid what.
Common Problems
The most common problem is treating all properties as one bucket. Everything flows into generic “rental income” and “rental expense” accounts without separation. An investor might own six units and have no idea which three are performing well and which three are actually losing money after accounting for repairs and vacancies. The profitable properties subsidize the poor performers, and the owner never sees it.
Security deposit handling creates another frequent issue. Landlords record the deposit as income when the tenant moves in. But that money doesn’t belong to you until the lease ends and any damages are assessed. Recording it as income inflates your tax liability in year one and creates accounting confusion when the tenant moves out and expects funds returned.
Expense Misclassification
Expense Misclassification
A kitchen remodel gets expensed in full instead of capitalized and depreciated. This creates a tax problem now and throws off the property’s cost basis later. When you eventually sell, the numbers won’t reconcile and you’ll be reconstructing records from years past.
Missing Documentation
Missing Documentation
Paying contractors in cash without records. Receipts for materials that never make it into the books. Home Depot runs that get forgotten. The deductions are real but unprovable. An IRS inquiry becomes significantly more stressful than it needed to be.
What Changes
You can finally see which properties earn their keep. Property A shows an 11% cash-on-cash return while Property B barely breaks even after factoring in that ongoing plumbing problem. That information changes how you allocate capital for improvements, which properties you hold, and which you might sell to reinvest elsewhere.
Tax preparation becomes straightforward. Schedule E is organized by property with income and expenses already categorized correctly. Your tax preparer receives a complete package instead of spending billable hours cleaning up a year of commingled transactions before they can even start the return. The conversation shifts from data cleanup to actual tax strategy.
Portfolio Decisions
Portfolio Decisions
When you consider selling one property to buy another, you have real numbers to work with. Not rough estimates or gut feelings. Actual performance data for each asset in your portfolio. You can compare returns across properties and make decisions based on facts rather than assumptions.
Financing Confidence
Financing Confidence
Banks want to see clean financial statements when you apply for a loan on the next property. Property-level P&Ls, accurate rent rolls, and a clear picture of overall portfolio performance make a difference. The loan officer sees an organized investor, not someone guessing at their own numbers.
Santa Fe's Small Business Bookkeeper
The Next Step:
A Quick Conversation
Tell us about your business and what you're dealing with. We'll listen, ask a few questions, and give you a straightforward quote.
