RESOURCE
A Real Estate Investor's Chart of Accounts
A chart of accounts is the list of accounts your books post to, and for an investor it decides whether you can ever see profit by deal.
This one is built for an investor who flips, wholesales or rents, or does all three. It is one core set of accounts, plus a module for each strategy. The full map is below in 4 tables.
Take the core and the module for what you do now. Nobody needs all 3 modules on day one. Add a module when you add a strategy.
The map comes from Flipper Bookkeeping, which keeps bookkeeping for house flippers, wholesalers and rental investors. The examples use our 3 sample companies, and every number in them is invented data.
Free download: the chart of accounts for house flippers (Excel spreadsheet), with the core accounts and the flip module below, and which ledger line posts to which account.
What is a chart of accounts for real estate investors?
A chart of accounts is the list of accounts every transaction posts to. For an investor it decides what reports can show: if every rehab cost lands in one account, no report can tell you what one flip made.
Every account is one of 5 types:
- Asset: what the business owns or is owed, such as cash, a flip still for sale or a deposit held.
- Liability: what the business owes, such as a card balance, a loan or a tenant’s security deposit.
- Equity: what belongs to you, the owner: your contributions, your draws and past profit.
- Income: what the business earns, such as a sale, an assignment fee or rent.
- Expense: what it cost to earn it, such as selling costs, marketing or a rental’s repairs.
The chart is the first layer of an investor's books. The guide to bookkeeping for real estate investors shows how the deal, property, entity and portfolio layers above it fit together.
What goes in the core set, whatever you invest in?
Bank accounts, credit cards, loans, owner contributions and draws, and overhead that belongs to no property: software, insurance for the business, professional fees. Everything else depends on what you invest in.
All 3 sample companies use this same core: Demo Flips LLC, Demo Wholesale LLC and Demo Rentals LLC. With more than 1 LLC, each one keeps its own full set.
| Account | Type | What posts to it | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank accounts, one per account | Asset | Every deposit and payment through each checking and savings account. | Each one is matched to its bank statement every month. Money moved between two of them is a transfer, not income or a cost. |
| Credit cards, one per card | Liability | Every charge on the card, and every payment made to it. | The charges are the costs. A payment from checking only lowers what you owe, so it is not a cost. |
| Loans, one per loan | Liability | Loan money received, draws, principal paid and payoffs: hard-money loans, mortgages, any line of credit. | Loan money is borrowed, not earned. Each balance should match the lender’s statement. |
| Due from and due to your other companies, one per company | Asset or liability | Money one of your LLCs lends to another, or borrows from it. | It exists only to be reconciled. The 2 companies’ balances must agree to the dollar. |
| Owner contributions | Equity | Your own money put into the business. | It is not income, so it never makes profit look bigger. |
| Owner draws | Equity | Money you take out for yourself, and personal charges paid with business money. | It is not a cost of the business, so it never makes profit look smaller. |
| Retained earnings | Equity | Profit from past years, carried forward when each year is closed. | Each new year’s profit starts from zero. |
| Business overhead, by category | Expense | Costs that belong to no property, one account each: advertising and marketing, bank and card fees, vehicle and fuel, travel, meals, office and software, virtual assistants, legal and professional fees, dues and licenses, business insurance, office rent. | Kept apart from the properties, so no deal carries a cost that is not its own. |
| Money owed to you | Asset | Money due to you that has not arrived yet: an escrow refund after a payoff, a deposit coming back, rent not yet paid. | Each one is followed until it arrives, so nothing owed to you is forgotten. |
| To be reviewed | Asset | A transaction that cannot be placed yet, while you find out what it was. | It keeps the month closing on time. It should be empty after each close, and never hold anything at year end. |
| Clearing: closings and transfers | Asset | Money passing through on its way somewhere: a sale’s proceeds before they are split, money between your own accounts, card payments. | Each one should come back to zero. One that does not shows a step that was missed. |
| Store credit not yet used | Asset | Credit a store gives you for a return, before you spend it. | It is money you can still spend, so it stays on the books until it is used. |
| Equipment, one per item | Asset | Tools, machines and vehicles above the dollar line your CPA sets. | They are used for years, so they are recorded as assets. Depreciation is for your CPA. |
| Bills you owe | Liability | Bills you have received but not paid yet, such as a contractor’s invoice. | It shows what you owe today, so the bank balance is not mistaken for spare cash. |
| Loans from the owner | Liability | Money you lend the company that it is meant to pay back to you. | It is a loan, not a contribution, so it is tracked apart from owner money. How it is documented is for your CPA and attorney. |
| Payroll taxes owed | Liability | Payroll taxes withheld or due that have not been paid yet. | They are a debt until they are paid. |
| Opening balances | Equity | The balance of every account on the day the books start. | It lets the first month start from what the statements say. It is set once. |
| Commission and referral income | Income | Agent commissions and referral fees you earn on deals you do not own. | It is a different kind of income from a sale, so it is kept apart. |
| Interest and other income | Income | Bank interest, a cost refunded from an earlier year, the sale of used items. | Small amounts, but they belong in the books and on the return. |
| Card rewards and cash back | Income or reduction of cost | Cash back, points used as cash, and store reward certificates. | The books keep them in one place. Whether they reduce your costs or count as income is for your CPA. |
| Wages and payroll taxes | Expense | Wages paid, including any salary the owner takes, and the employer’s payroll taxes. | Whether the owner takes a salary is for your CPA. |
| Interest not tied to a property | Expense | Interest on credit cards, a business line of credit or a vehicle loan. | Interest on a flip’s own loan is a holding cost of that flip. Every other interest charge stays here. |
| Loan fees and penalties | Expense | Late fees, payoff penalties and other lender charges. | Kept apart from interest, so the interest matches the lender’s yearly statement. |
| Small tools and equipment | Expense | Tools and equipment you keep, below the dollar line your CPA sets. | They are cheap enough to count as a cost when bought. Above the line, they go to Equipment. |
| Job supplies not tied to one property | Expense | Supplies used up across many jobs that cannot be traced to one property: blades, tape, trash bags. | Supplies for one property go to that property’s rehab instead. |
| Penalties and fines | Expense | Late-filing penalties, fines and similar charges. | Kept apart because they are often treated differently on the return. Your CPA decides. |
On Jul 8, 2026, Demo Flips LLC sent $40,000 to Demo Rentals LLC for the rehab on Property 2. Demo Flips LLC posted it to Due from Demo Rentals LLC. Demo Rentals LLC posted it to Due to Demo Flips LLC. Both show $40,000, so the 2 sets of books agree.
What does a flip need that nothing else does?
Accounts for the property itself while it is unsold, the rehab categories, holding costs and selling costs, each tracked per property rather than pooled. A flip's purchase and rehab costs sit on the balance sheet until it sells.
Every amount in these accounts also carries the property it belongs to. That is what lets each flip close out on its own. In QuickBooks Online, that per-deal tag is a project or a class, set up in QuickBooks for house flippers. Whether holding costs are added to the property or deducted as paid is a tax position. The records support either, and your CPA decides.
| Account | Type | What posts to it | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flip property: purchase cost, one per property | Asset | The purchase price and the closing costs paid when buying (escrow, owner’s title, recording the deed, inspection), from the purchase closing statement. | You own the property until it sells. It is not a cost of the month you bought it. |
| Flip property: rehab, by category | Asset | Every rehab invoice and payment, per property: roofing, framing and demo, electrical, plumbing, drywall and paint, flooring, materials. | Each property’s rehab builds up beside its budget, so an overrun shows while the work is still running. |
| Loan costs: points and lender fees, per property | Asset or expense | Points, origination and other lender fees on the closing papers, the lender’s title insurance and the recording of its deed of trust, and any loan extension fee, per property. | They are what the money cost, kept apart from the property and from holding costs, and they still count in the deal. Your CPA decides the tax treatment. |
| Holding costs: loan interest | Asset or expense | Each month’s interest on the property’s loan, per property. | The records support adding it to the property’s cost or deducting it as paid. Your CPA decides which. |
| Holding costs: property tax, insurance, utilities, HOA dues | Asset or expense | Every bill while you own the property, per property. | They are what the flip cost to carry, so the per-deal report counts them in that deal. Your CPA decides the tax treatment. |
| Interest reserve, one per loan | Asset | Interest the lender held back from the loan at closing, drawn down as each payment comes due. | It exists only to be reconciled. Its balance should match the lender’s statement. You need it only if your lender holds one. |
| Flip sales, one per property | Income | The full sale price from the sale closing statement. | The whole price is recorded, and each cost on the closing statement goes to its own account. |
| Selling costs, by category | Expense | Agent commission, sale escrow and title, transfer tax, staging and cleaning, per property. | They exist only because that property sold, so they belong to that deal. |
| Cost of flips sold | Expense | The purchase cost and rehab of a property, plus any loan and holding costs kept with it, moved off the balance sheet on the day it sells. | The flip’s profit lands in the month it sells, with its own costs beside it. |
| Earnest money deposits on purchases, one per property | Asset | The deposit paid when a purchase contract is signed. | It is still your money until the closing, when it is applied to the price on the closing statement. |
| Rehab holdback held by the lender, one per loan | Asset | Rehab money the lender holds back and releases as draws, when the loan statement counts it as already lent. | You need it only if your lender books the full loan at closing. Its balance should match the lender’s statement. |
| Shared materials and labor to allocate | Asset | Materials or crew time bought for more than one property, before it is split. | It is moved to each property’s rehab as it is used. It should empty out, so no flip misses a cost. |
| Flip property: permits, plans and inspections, one per property | Asset | Permit fees, drawings and inspection fees for one property. | They are part of what the flip cost, like any other rehab line. |
| Selling costs: buyer credits and concessions | Expense | Credits given to the buyer at closing, including a rate buydown. | They lower what the sale brought in, so they belong to that deal. |
| Selling costs: home warranty and disclosure reports | Expense | A home warranty paid for the buyer, and the reports the sale required. | They exist only because that property sold. |
| Costs of a cancelled sale | Expense | Costs you agreed to repay when a sale fell through, such as the buyer’s inspection. | They belong to the property, but to no sale, so they are kept apart. |
Project 8 for Demo Flips LLC, 1500 Sample Pl, Folsom, on Sep 30, 2026. Still in rehab.
| Project 8, still unsold | Amount |
|---|---|
| Flip property: purchase cost | $442,700 |
| Flip property: rehab so far | $42,240 |
| Loan costs: points, lender's title and recording | $9,770 |
| Holding costs so far | $17,118 |
| Spent so far | $511,828 |
None of the purchase price or rehab on Project 8 is in any month's profit yet. Project 5, 4321 Mock Blvd, Roseville, shows the other side, also with invented data. It sold on May 15, 2026 for $360,000. That day its $255,000 purchase price and $43,800 rehab moved to cost of flips sold, and its $22,061 of selling costs posted to the same deal.
Keeping every property on its own books, from purchase to sale, is what bookkeeping for house flippers does every month. For the method, read the house flipping bookkeeping guide.
What does a wholesaler need?
Assignment fee revenue, deposits held, marketing by campaign, and transactional funding if you double close. There is no property on a wholesaler's books, which changes the whole shape.
The revenue is a fee, the biggest asset is often a deposit, and marketing is a cost of each deal. A double close buys and sells the property on the same day, so it never stays on the books.
| Account | Type | What posts to it | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assignment fees | Income | The full assignment fee on each deal, from the settlement statement. | Recorded at the full fee, so title charges show as costs instead of disappearing. |
| Earnest money deposits held, one per deal | Asset | Each deposit paid, until it is applied at closing, refunded or forfeited. | It exists only to be reconciled. A deposit is still your money while it is out. |
| Forfeited deposits | Expense | A deposit lost when a deal is cancelled, on that deal. | The loss stays with the deal it came from. Your CPA decides the tax treatment. |
| Deal closing costs | Expense | Title and escrow charges on each deal, including any title withholds from the fee. | They are part of what the deal cost, even when they never pass through your bank. |
| Marketing, by campaign | Expense | Each campaign’s spend: mail, cold calling, PPC, driving for dollars. | Matched to the deals each campaign produced, so you can see what a closed deal cost to find. |
| Double close sales | Income | The sale price from the second settlement statement of a double close. | Each settlement statement is recorded on its own. |
| Double close purchases | Expense | The purchase price from the first settlement statement of a double close. | The property is bought and sold the same day, so it never sits on the books overnight. |
| Transactional funding | Liability | The same-day loan that pays for the purchase, and its repayment from the sale. | It comes in and goes out on the same day, so its balance returns to zero. |
| Transactional funding fees | Expense | The funding lender’s fee on each double close. | A cost of that deal, not of the business. |
| Partner and referral fees paid, one per deal | Expense | The share of a fee paid to a partner, or a fee to whoever brought the deal. | It is a cost of that deal, so the deal shows what it really earned. |
Deal 1 for Demo Wholesale LLC, 1807 Example Dr, Woodland, closed on Jul 14, 2026. Assignment fees got the full $15,000. Deal closing costs got the $750 title withheld, so the net fee wired to the bank was $14,250. Title returned the $1,000 deposit in a separate wire, which cleared Earnest money deposits held. Deal 3, 3120 Mock Ln, Marysville, was cancelled on Aug 12, 2026, and its $1,500 deposit moved to Forfeited deposits.
Recording every fee, deposit and campaign against its deal is what our real estate wholesaler bookkeeping does every month. To see how a wholesale deal record is built step by step, read the wholesaling bookkeeping guide.
What does a rental need?
Rent and other income, operating costs by category, the mortgage split into principal, interest and escrow, security deposits held as a liability, and the property's own basis accounts.
A rental stays on the books for years, so its accounts track the property, its loan and its tenants over time. Every amount also carries the property it belongs to.
| Account | Type | What posts to it | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rental property: land, building and improvements, one set per property | Asset | The purchase price, purchase closing costs and later improvements. | These are the property’s basis accounts. How the price splits between land and building is a tax position, and your CPA decides it. |
| Accumulated depreciation, one per property | Asset (a negative one) | Depreciation, at the amounts your CPA sets. | It lowers the property’s value on the books over time without touching cash. |
| Loan costs, one per loan | Asset | Costs of getting a mortgage or a refinance. | Recorded as an asset, not as a cost of that month. How they are written off is for your CPA. |
| Escrow held by the lender, one per loan | Asset | The escrow part of each mortgage payment. | It is your money, held for property tax and insurance. When the lender pays them, that payment becomes a cost of the property. |
| Security deposits held | Liability | Each tenant’s security deposit. | It is owed back to the tenant, so it is never income. |
| Rent and other rental income | Income | Rent, late fees and other tenant charges, per property and per unit. | Kept per unit, so a missing payment stands out. |
| Operating costs, by category | Expense | Repairs, property management, insurance, property tax, utilities, HOA dues, per property. | Each property gets its own statement. Whether a cost is a repair or an improvement is a tax position, and your CPA decides it. |
| Mortgage interest | Expense | The interest part of each mortgage payment, per property. | Only the interest is a cost. The principal part lowers the loan in the core set. |
| Furniture and appliances, one set per property | Asset | Furniture, appliances and furnishings bought for a rental. | They last for years, so they are recorded as assets. Depreciation is for your CPA. |
| Short-term rental income | Income | Nightly stays booked through hosting platforms, and cleaning fees guests pay. | Kept apart from long-term rent, because the two are often reported differently. |
| Hosting platform fees | Expense | The fees hosting platforms keep from each booking. | The payout is smaller than the booking. Recording the full booking and the fee shows both. |
| Property management fees | Expense | Fees a property manager charges, per property. | They are a cost of running that property. |
| Amortization of loan costs, one per loan | Expense | The part of a loan’s costs counted each year over the life of the loan. | It moves the loan costs into the years they cover. How fast is for your CPA. |
The October 2026 mortgage payment on Property 1 for Demo Rentals LLC, 275 Demo St, Davis.
| Part of the payment | Amount | Account |
|---|---|---|
| Principal | $236.40 | The loan, in the core set |
| Interest | $1,214.60 | Mortgage interest |
| Escrow | $623.00 | Escrow held by the lender |
| Total payment | $2,074.00 |
A refinance uses the same accounts. On Property 2, 1640 Test Way, Vacaville, the new $240,000 loan went on, the old $180,000 loan came off, and $4,800 went to Loan costs. The $55,200 cash out is borrowed money, so it never touches income.
Each property keeping its own statement is what our rental property bookkeeping services deliver every month. We lay out rental books kept in these accounts property by property, then rolled up into one portfolio view, in the rental property bookkeeping guide.
Which accounts cause investors the most trouble?
Four: one pooled account for all rehab costs, owner draws mixed with expenses, transfers recorded as income or expense, and deposits recorded as expenses. Each one makes per-deal profit impossible to recover later.
- One pooled account for all rehab costs. Symptom: the books show a year of rehab, but no flip can be closed out on its own.
- Owner draws mixed with expenses. Symptom: costs look higher and profit looks lower than they really were.
- Transfers recorded as income or expense. Symptom: income looks bigger than any sale, or a card payment counts as a cost on top of the charges it paid.
- Deposits recorded as expenses. Symptom: a deal shows a cost before it closes, and the money coming back has nowhere to go.
The first is an account that should not exist at all. A single "Materials" account shared by every property is how per-deal profit becomes impossible. Keeping each cost on its property instead is job cost accounting for house flips.
Demo Flips LLC found 4 personal charges on its business card, $1,203.70 in all, and moved them to Owner draws. In September 2026, $255,468.05 of loan money reached its checking account, and all of it posted to its loans, not income.
How does this connect to the reports you get?
The accounts decide what the report can show. The chart here is the one behind the per-deal report, so every line in the statement traces to accounts you can see on your own books.
These accounts produce that statement. See it in full in our real estate bookkeeping report example, explained line by line. Here is where each column of the per-deal report comes from.
| Report column | Accounts behind it | Project 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase cost | Flip property: purchase cost | $256,590 |
| Rehab | Flip property: rehab, by category | $43,800 |
| Loan costs | Loan costs: points and lender fees | $5,566 |
| Holding costs | Holding costs: loan interest; property tax, insurance, utilities, HOA dues | $14,894 |
| Selling costs | Selling costs, by category | $22,061 |
| Net profit | Flip sales, less the purchase cost, rehab, loan costs, holding costs and selling costs | $17,089 |
| Return on cash | Net profit divided by the down payment plus closing, loan and holding costs | 28.4% |
Project 5 sold for $360,000 after a $255,000 purchase with $1,590 of closing costs. Its down payment was $38,200, so its own cash in the deal was $60,250.
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.