Commission income that arrives in lumps, properties that each need their own books, owner funds that can't get tangled with your own — real estate money has its own shape. We keep it organized month after month for agents, landlords, flippers, and property managers across the Flathead Valley and Montana.
Real estate isn't one business — it's several. An agent living on commissions, a landlord juggling four rentals, a flipper mid-renovation, and a property manager sending owner statements all need very different books. AJM Consulting sets up each one the right way and keeps it current every month.
The market around Kalispell, Whitefish, and Flathead Lake stays busy — homes changing hands, long-term rentals in demand, renovations underway, and out-of-state owners relying on local managers. That activity is good for business, but it also means transactions pile up fast. When the books fall behind, agents lose track of deductions, investors can't tell which property is carrying the others, and tax season turns into archaeology. Our job is to make sure that never happens: we handle the monthly bookkeeping so your numbers are always current, reconciled, and ready to use.
Commission income is feast or famine — three closings one month, none the next. We record each commission as it lands, track your brokerage splits and desk fees, and categorize the business expenses that pile up between closings: marketing and signage, mileage, MLS dues, licensing and continuing education, photography, client gifts. Because none of it is withheld like a paycheck, setting money aside for quarterly estimated taxes is on you — we keep the books organized so you and your CPA can see exactly what you've earned and what's deductible (your CPA advises the amounts; we make sure the numbers underneath are right). The payoff is simple: you know your true take-home per closing, not just the gross number on the settlement statement.
One rental is easy to eyeball. Three or four, and the picture blurs — which roof repair went with which house, and is the fourplex actually outperforming the duplex? We build your books in QuickBooks Online with a class for each property, so rent rolls, repairs, insurance, utilities, and management fees all land against the right address. We break your mortgage payments into principal, interest, and escrow so the books reflect what's really happening instead of one lump payment. We also keep repairs and improvements categorized separately at the bookkeeping level — your CPA determines the tax treatment, but they'll be working from books that already make the distinction. When Schedule E season arrives, your accountant gets per-property numbers that are ready to use, and you get a real answer to the question every investor asks: which of these properties is making me money?
Flippers get something extra. Our founder spent years running construction and roofing crews before becoming a bookkeeper, so tracking renovation costs by project — materials, subcontractors, permits, holding costs — is familiar territory, not a foreign language. You'll know what each flip cost and what it returned, while the project is running and after it sells.
If you own short-term or vacation rentals, we handle those too — see our dedicated vacation rental bookkeeping page for how we manage platform payouts and lodging taxes.
Managing other people's properties means managing other people's money, and the books have to reflect that. We keep owner funds and security deposits clearly separated from your management company's operating income in the books, track your management fee revenue, and organize expenses so each owner's activity is easy to pull. Every month you get clean reporting per owner — so when statements go out, the numbers behind them are reconciled and defensible, not assembled in a scramble on the last day of the month.
Every closing recorded, splits and desk fees tracked, and deductible expenses categorized through the year.
QuickBooks Online classes for each property, with rent, repairs, and mortgage breakdowns landing against the right address.
Project-level cost tracking for flippers, backed by our founder's hands-on construction background.
Monthly per-owner reporting for property managers, with owner funds and deposits kept clearly separated in the books.
Every account reconciled monthly so the books match the bank — no mystery balances, no surprises.
P&L, balance sheet, and per-property reports explained in plain language you can act on.
Plenty of real estate professionals come to us mid-year with a backlog — commissions uncategorized, properties mixed together in one account, a season of renovation receipts in a folder. That's fine. We'll do a catch-up cleanup first: reconcile the accounts, sort the history into the right properties and categories, and then put a simple monthly process in place so it stays clean from here on.
The Flathead Valley real estate market has its own character — an active mix of primary homes, investment properties, and out-of-state buyers around Kalispell, Whitefish, and Flathead Lake. A generic bookkeeping app doesn't know the difference between a commission check and a rent deposit, and a distant 1-800 service has never seen a renovation budget. We're local, we work with real estate money every month, and when you call you get a person who knows your business — not a ticket number.
One thing we're clear about: we're bookkeepers, not CPAs or attorneys. We keep your books accurate, organized, and ready — and we work alongside your CPA on tax questions rather than pretending to answer them ourselves. That division of labor is exactly why your tax preparer will like working with our books.
Real estate is one of several industries we know well. Based in Kalispell, serving the Flathead Valley in person and all of Montana remotely.
Free 30-minute consultation. No pressure, no commitment — just a real conversation about your commissions, your properties, and how to get the books working for you.