How Property Management Bookkeeping Is Priced

Property owners, real estate investors, and property management companies all need accurate books. The work is specialized, and the pricing should be easy to understand. This article explains how Integrity Property Management prices property management bookkeeping, what the ongoing fee includes, and when cleanup work is billed separately.

A clear pricing structure

Integrity prices this work in two parts.

Ongoing bookkeeping is 1.5% of monthly rent collected. That is the rate for steady, month-to-month accounting support for rental properties.

Cleanup and catch-up is $45 per hour. That is the rate for organizing, reconciling, and bringing existing books up to date before — or alongside — a reliable ongoing process.

The 1.5% fee is the price for ongoing bookkeeping. Cleanup and catch-up is billed separately at $45 per hour.

What "1.5% of monthly rent collected" means

The ongoing fee is based on monthly rent collected. It moves with actual collections and with the size of the portfolio behind those collections, rather than sitting as a flat retainer that ignores the work involved.

This rate is for Accounting Only: bookkeeping, reconciliations, and monthly financial reporting. It does not include rent collection or bill pay. Those services are part of Integrity's 3.5% back-office offers, which are described later in this article.

If you only need the books kept accurately and reported clearly each month, 1.5% of monthly rent collected is the rate to use.

What ongoing bookkeeping covers

Professional property management bookkeeping and accounting is more than entering transactions into a spreadsheet. Rental records have to be accurate at the property and owner level. Tenant charges, income, expenses, and bank activity need to tie out. Reports should be clear enough to use for decisions, owner communication, and tax preparation with your accountant.

At Integrity, ongoing bookkeeping support is built around bookkeeping, bank reconciliations, monthly financial reporting, and owner and property accounting. The aim is a consistent monthly close and reports you can rely on, without hiring an in-house bookkeeper and without paying for full-service property management you may not need.

Need help with one accounting task? Integrity can handle it. Need ongoing bookkeeping? Integrity can do that too. If your portfolio or management company is growing, the work can scale with you.

Cleanup and catch-up at $45/hour

Not every set of books is ready for a clean monthly process. If accounts have not been reconciled, transactions were entered twice or coded incorrectly, historical periods are incomplete, or records are missing, those issues should be resolved first.

Integrity's cleanup and catch-up service is $45 per hour. The work can include unreconciled accounts, duplicate or incorrectly recorded transactions, historical accounting issues, missing information, and other problems that need to be resolved before a reliable ongoing bookkeeping process is in place.

Cleanup is billed for the time the work takes. Once the books are in order, ongoing bookkeeping can continue at 1.5% of monthly rent collected.

Who this is for

This offering is built for two audiences, on equal terms.

Private owners and real estate investors who self-manage can use professional bookkeeping without taking on an in-house hire or a full-service management contract. You can use Integrity for ongoing bookkeeping, for cleanup, or for the accounting support you need.

Property management companies can add accounting capacity, outsource bookkeeping, or get help with specific accounting functions. Integrity can work alongside your existing staff or handle the bookkeeping process for you. You keep your owners, your properties, and your management relationships. Integrity does not compete for your clients.

In both cases, the pricing is the same: 1.5% of monthly rent collected for ongoing bookkeeping, and $45 per hour for cleanup and catch-up.

Your funds can stay in your accounts

Outsourcing the books does not have to mean handing over control of the money. Your money can remain under your control. Depending on your banking and accounting setup, rental income and other funds can be deposited directly into accounts controlled by you while Integrity handles the bookkeeping and accounting work. That allows you to outsource the accounting without necessarily handing control of your funds to a third party.

Built for property management, with CPA professionals on the team

Integrity is a property management company, not a general bookkeeping firm that happens to see a rental property now and then. The team understands property-level accounting, owner statements, tenant transactions, vendors, reconciliations, management fees, and property management software.

The team includes CPA professionals. That combination is especially useful for reconciliations, accounting corrections, historical cleanup, and more complex financial questions.

Integrity recommends AppFolio for property management and accounting. It provides a platform for managing properties, tenants, accounting, maintenance, reporting, and owner communication in one place. If you already use other software, say so when you inquire. We will talk through your current setup rather than assume a change is required.

When you need more than bookkeeping

Some owners and companies want help beyond the books.

Self-managing and active owners who want to keep maintenance and their local team, while handing off rent collection, bill pay, lease administration, and reporting, can use Back Office Tools. That offer is 3.5% of rent roll.

Other property management companies that want a fuller operating back office — including rent collection and AR, bill pay and AP, maintenance coordination, and leasing administration, in addition to accounting — can use Full Back-Office for property management companies. That offer is 3.5% of monthly rent collected. Integrity still works behind the scenes. The other company keeps the owners, the properties, and the management fees.

Those offers are separate from Accounting Only. If you only need the books, 1.5% of monthly rent collected is the rate. If you need rent collection or bill pay included, the 3.5% offers are the right place to look.

The Integrity guarantee

If you are not completely satisfied within the first 60 days of retaining our company, there is no obligation to continue.

How to get started

To review the bookkeeping offer in more detail, visit our property management bookkeeping and accounting page.

Property owners and investors can request remote bookkeeping, cleanup, or Back Office Tools through Integrity's national owner form. You can also call (845) 512-7368 or email christopher@integritypropertymgt.com.

Property management companies can learn more on our back office for property management companies page and reach us through the back-office form.