GUIDE
BRRRR Bookkeeping Through All 5 Phases
BRRRR bookkeeping is one property record kept from the purchase through the rehab, the lease and the refinance, so the cost, the loans and the rent all stay with the same property.
BRRRR stands for buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat. This guide follows one property through all 5: Demo Rentals LLC, Property 2, 1640 Test Way, Vacaville. Demo Rentals LLC is a sample company, and every number is invented data.
EXAMPLE, INVENTED DATA
| Phase | Dates | Document that drives it | Key figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy | Jun 2, 2026 | Purchase closing statement | $250,000 price, $180,000 loan |
| Rehab | Jun 10, 2026 to Oct 9, 2026 | Contractor invoices | $46,380 against a $45,000 budget |
| Rent | From Oct 15, 2026 | Lease and deposit receipt | $2,450 a month, $2,450 deposit |
| Refinance | Oct 22, 2026 | Refinance closing statement | $240,000 new loan, $55,200 cash out |
| Repeat | From Oct 23, 2026 | Bank statement | $41,380 repaid to Demo Flips LLC |
Sample company, invented data. Property 2 is self-managed.
A BRRRR is a rental with a rehab at the front. After the lease starts, its monthly books are the same as any rental's. The rental property bookkeeping guide covers those in full.
What is BRRRR bookkeeping?
Keeping one record for one property while it turns from a rehab into a rental and then refinances. Each of the 5 phases has its own document and entries, all on the same property.
The hard part is that one address plays 2 roles. For 4 months Property 2 was a rehab, with invoices and a budget. From Oct 15, 2026 it is a rental, with rent and a deposit. The property record carries straight through. Only the kind of activity on it changes.
What do the books record at the buy?
The purchase closing statement becomes one entry: the price and settlement costs on the property, the purchase loan, the points as a loan cost, and the cash brought to closing. That entry starts the property's cost record.
| Line | Amount | Where it goes in the books |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | $250,000 | Property record, Property 2 |
| Settlement costs | $3,100 | Property record, Property 2 |
| Points, 2% of the loan | $3,600 | Loan costs, purchase loan |
| Loan, Sample Hard Money Lending | -$180,000 | Owed to the lender |
| Cash to close | $76,700 | From Demo Rentals LLC checking |
The loan is interest-only, billed monthly.
Each line comes from the statement, as in purchase closing statement bookkeeping. The purchase loan is a hard money loan, recorded the same way as on a flip in hard money loan bookkeeping: points as a loan cost, interest as it is billed. The price and settlement costs start the rental property cost basis and depreciation records, which also cover the flip that becomes a rental.
What do the books record during the rehab?
Every rehab invoice is coded to the property and the trade, compared with the budget each month. Interest and insurance go on their own lines. Money borrowed from another of your LLCs is recorded as owed back.
| Contractor | Work | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Demo Framing Crew | Framing and a new back wall | $8,000 |
| Demo Drywall & Paint | Drywall and paint, whole house | $14,200 |
| Test Flooring Inc | Flooring | $9,850 |
| Sample Plumbing LLC | Repipe and fixtures | $7,430 |
| Mock Electric Services | Panel and rewiring | $6,900 |
| Total | Budget $45,000, $1,380 over | $46,380 |
The 5 invoices add to $46,380.
- Interest on the purchase loan: $1,650 on Jul 1, 2026, Aug 1, 2026, Sep 1, 2026, Oct 1, 2026, $6,600 in all, each on its own line.
- Insurance: $1,380, a yearly policy paid on Jun 2, 2026.
- On Jul 8, 2026, Demo Flips LLC sent $40,000 toward the rehab. Demo Rentals LLC recorded it as Due to Demo Flips LLC, not as income.
Each invoice on a rehab raises the question of repairs vs improvements on a rental property. The CPA decides, so we keep the records the CPA needs from the first invoice on. The $40,000 is money moving between 2 of the owner's own companies, recorded on both sides with due to and due from accounting.
What changes when the property is rented?
The rehab record closes and the rental record opens on the same property. The deposit is recorded as owed to the tenant, rent starts as income, and the dates that show the change of use are kept.
- Rehab finished: Oct 9, 2026. The property record stands at $299,480: price, settlement costs and rehab.
- Deposit received: $2,450 on Oct 12, 2026, recorded as owed to the tenant.
- Lease began: Oct 15, 2026, at $2,450 a month.
- October rent is prorated for 17 of 31 days: $1,343.55.
A deposit is held, not earned. Under security deposit accounting it is not income while the tenant is in place. From the lease start, Property 2 gets its own monthly statement, the same rental property P&L every rental has.
What do the books record at the refinance?
The old loan comes off, the new loan goes on, the loan costs are set aside as a loan cost, and the cash that is left goes to the bank as borrowed money. None of it is income.
On Oct 22, 2026, Property 2 appraised at $320,000 and Example Mortgage Co made a new 30-year loan of $240,000, 75% of the appraisal.
| Line | Amount | How it is recorded |
|---|---|---|
| New loan | $240,000 | Owed to Example Mortgage Co |
| Old loan paid off | -$180,000 | The Sample Hard Money Lending loan comes off |
| Loan costs | -$4,800 | A loan cost of the new loan |
| Cash to Demo Rentals LLC | $55,200 | Borrowed money, not income |
We set out the entry, the loan cost breakdown and the check against the lender's statements in cash-out refinance bookkeeping.
What does repeat mean for the books?
Repeat happens in the bank, not on the property record. The cash out first repays what was borrowed, then funds the next purchase, which starts its own record from its own closing statement.
On Oct 23, 2026, Demo Rentals LLC repaid the $41,380 it owed Demo Flips LLC. That balance was the $40,000 for the rehab plus 2 smaller items. One was $240, Demo Rentals LLC's share of the August office and admin bill. The other was $1,140 for Property 1's liability policy, paid on the Demo Flips LLC card. Both sets of books now show the pair at $0. $13,820 of the cash out is left in the bank.
The new loan's first payment will be due Dec 1, 2026: $1,616.92, of which $1,425.00 will be interest and $191.92 principal. The loan has no escrow, so Demo Rentals LLC pays Property 2's tax and insurance itself. Each payment is split the same way as in how to record a rental property mortgage payment.
How much of your own money is still in the property?
Add up the cash paid for the property from the purchase through the refinance, then take away the cash out. The books can answer this only if every cost was coded to the property from the purchase onward.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cash to close at the purchase | $76,700 |
| Rehab, 5 contractors | $46,380 |
| Yearly insurance policy | $1,380 |
| Interest on the purchase loan, 4 payments | $6,600 |
| Cash paid for Property 2 | $131,060 |
| Less the cash out at the refinance | -$55,200 |
| Still in the property | $75,860 |
The $40,000 from Demo Flips LLC is not subtracted: it was borrowed and has been repaid.
$75,860 of Demo Rentals LLC's money is still in Property 2. That figure exists only because every cost was coded to the property from the purchase onward. In our experience, the flippers who know what every deal really made make better decisions on the next one.
Your company's performance, one deal at a time.
For your rentals, Flipper Bookkeeping keeps the books and sends you, every month, a profit and loss for each property and each rehab, with cash against profit. See rental property bookkeeping services.
Free to use: the rental income and expense template.