GUIDE
How Much Does a Real Estate Bookkeeper Cost? What Drives Bookkeeping Prices
The cost of a real estate bookkeeper follows the amount of work in your books: transactions, bank and card accounts, LLCs, deals a year, rentals, and any past years to catch up.
This guide explains each of those drivers and shows them in sample books. The examples use Demo Flips LLC and Demo Rentals LLC, which are sample companies. Every number is invented data.
What sets the price of real estate bookkeeping?
The volume and kind of work in your books. 6 things drive it: transactions, bank and card accounts, LLCs, deals a year, rentals, and any past years that need a cleanup. Each adds records to keep and check.
The price also depends on which role you are paying for. A bookkeeper records and reports, while a CPA or a tax preparer advises and files. We set that split out in bookkeeper vs accountant vs tax preparer. This page covers the bookkeeper's share only.
| Driver | What it adds to the work | In the sample books |
|---|---|---|
| Transactions | Each line is coded to a property or to overhead | 34 ledger lines for Demo Flips LLC in September 2026 |
| Bank and card accounts | Each statement is reconciled every month | 3 accounts: checking, a savings reserve and a business card |
| LLCs | Each LLC gets its own books and its own close | Demo Flips LLC and Demo Rentals LLC, kept apart |
| Deals a year | A purchase statement, draws, a sale statement and a payoff for each | 10 projects bought from Oct 8, 2025 to Sep 18, 2026, 7 sold |
| Rentals | Rent, a mortgage split and a statement for each property each month | 2 properties in Demo Rentals LLC |
| Past years | Months rebuilt and reconciled before monthly work starts | None: the sample books are current |
Demo Flips LLC and Demo Rentals LLC are sample companies.
Why do transactions and accounts change the price?
Every transaction is coded and every account is reconciled each month. More transactions mean more lines to code to a property. More bank and card accounts mean more statements to match to the books.
In September 2026, Demo Flips LLC had 34 ledger lines across its checking account and its business card. 27 of them were tagged to a project. The rest were overhead, an owner draw, a card payment, a $1,140 charge paid for Demo Rentals LLC and 1 transfer that needed the owner's answer.
At the close, each account was matched to its statement. On Sep 30, 2026, checking held $193,631.75 and the savings reserve held $40,000.00. The business card had $9,895.59 owed.
Each added account brings 1 more statement to match every month. That is why the number of accounts drives the price as well as the number of deals.
Why do LLCs and deals a year change the price?
Each LLC has its own set of books, closed and reconciled on its own. Each deal brings its own documents: a purchase closing statement, loan draws, a sale statement and a loan payoff.
In September 2026, Demo Flips LLC sold Project 7 at 88 Imaginary Ln, Modesto, CA on Sep 9, 2026 for $430,000. The sale statement paid off a loan of $322,850.00. It also bought Project 10 at 620 Demo Cir, Galt, CA on Sep 18, 2026 for $268,000. Each closing brought its own statement to record line by line.
Each added LLC means 1 more set of books. On Jul 8, 2026, Demo Flips LLC sent $40,000 to Demo Rentals LLC for the rehab on Property 2. Each LLC records its side of that transfer, and both balances have to agree at every close.
Why do rentals change the price?
A rental adds monthly records that a flip does not have: rent, a mortgage payment split into principal, interest and escrow, and often a property manager statement. Each property gets its own statement every month.
Property 1 at 275 Demo St, Davis, CA is managed by Sample Property Management, so its month has 2 documents: the lender's payment split and the manager's owner statement. Here is October 2026.
| Document | Line | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Lender's statement, Oct 1, 2026 | Principal | $236.40 |
| Interest | $1,214.60 | |
| Escrow | $623.00 | |
| Total payment | $2,074.00 | |
| Owner statement, paid Oct 10, 2026 | Rent collected | $2,900.00 |
| Management fee, 8% | -$232.00 | |
| Fix a leaking kitchen faucet | -$185.00 | |
| Net sent to the owner | $2,483.00 |
Demo Rentals LLC is a sample company.
Each line goes to a different place in the books. Of the payment, only the interest is a cost in October. The principal lowers the loan, and the escrow is money the lender holds. A flip has none of these monthly records.
Why is a cleanup of past years priced on its own?
A cleanup is a separate job from the monthly work. Past months are rebuilt and reconciled before the monthly books start. The price depends on how many periods, properties and entities there are, and on the records.
A cleanup rebuilds the past one month at a time. Bank and card statements are matched, deals are rebuilt from their closing statements, and open questions go on a list for the owner. Once the books are current, the monthly work carries on from that point.
That catch-up work is a service of its own, with its own steps. Our real estate bookkeeping cleanup service lays them out.
What does Flipper Bookkeeping charge?
Starter is $699 a month and Growth is $1,199 a month. Books above Growth, or with rentals mixed in, get a custom quote. A cleanup of past years is quoted on the call.
These are the published plans, as the home page prices them. Each plan is set by deals a year, LLCs and accounts, the same drivers as above.
| Plan | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $699 a month | Up to 12 flips a year, 1 LLC and up to 5 bank and card accounts |
| Growth | $1,199 a month | More than 12 flips a year, more than 1 LLC or more than 5 accounts, up to 24 flips, 3 LLCs and 10 accounts |
| Custom quote | Quoted | More than 24 flips a year, above Growth, or with rentals mixed in |
| Cleanup of past years | Quoted on the call | Past months rebuilt and reconciled, separate from the monthly plans |
Every plan includes the same monthly reports: a profit and loss for each deal, budget against actual while the rehab is running, holding costs month by month and cash against profit, from a month-end close with every account reconciled.
The sample companies on this page show how the drivers place a set of books on that table.
| Sample books | What drives it | Where it falls |
|---|---|---|
| Demo Flips LLC on its own | 10 projects bought in 12 months, 1 LLC, 3 bank and card accounts, no rentals | Starter |
| Demo Flips LLC with Demo Rentals LLC | Flips and rentals in 2 LLCs | Custom quote, because rentals are mixed in |
Real books are scoped on the call.
How do you compare 2 real estate bookkeeping quotes?
Compare what each quote covers, line by line. Check for per-deal profit and loss, the monthly close and reconciliation, separate books for each LLC, and the year-end records your CPA needs.
Ask whether a quote is billed by the hour or as a flat monthly fee. Either way, the useful question is what you receive at the end of each month.
- Per-deal profit and loss: one row for each property, not one total for the company.
- The monthly close: every bank and card account reconciled to its statement.
- Separate books for each LLC, with transfers between them recorded on both sides.
- Year-end records for your CPA: statements for each LLC, cost records for each property and contractor totals.
The fastest check is to ask for a sample of the monthly report. You can read ours, a real estate bookkeeping report example built with invented data.
A quote answers what the work costs. The questions that test the work itself are in how to choose a real estate bookkeeper.
Price is one side of the decision, and your own time is the other. If you are weighing both, see DIY vs outsourced bookkeeping.
Your company's performance, one deal at a time.
Flipper Bookkeeping keeps the books for real estate investors and sends you, every month, a profit and loss for each deal, budget against actual during the rehab, holding costs month by month and cash against profit. See real estate investor bookkeeping.
Want to talk it through for your own deals? Book a free call.