Real Estate Accounting in St. Louis
St. Louis has one of the largest inventories of historic building stock in the country being actively converted to rental use, and Missouri runs a state historic preservation tax credit alongside the federal one. That makes rehabilitation accounting a first-class concern here rather than an occasional project.
Proud AppFolio Stack™ Partners, working directly inside your AppFolio instance.
Missouri rules that apply here
- Deposit return deadline
- 30 calendar days
- Statute
- RSMo 535.300
Why Missouri Real Estate Professionals Choose REA
AppFolio Expertise, Applied to St. Louis
Experts in AppFolio Bookkeeping
Historic rehabilitation credits turn cost coding into a compliance exercise. Credits are calculated on qualified rehabilitation expenditures, and not every dollar spent on a historic building qualifies: work on the building structure generally does, while acquisition cost, most site work and certain enlargements generally do not. That split has to be captured as the invoices arrive, coded against the project rather than the operating property, because assembling it retroactively from a general ledger that lumped everything into repairs is close to impossible.
Assigned, Responsive Team
The credit also affects basis, which affects depreciation for the entire life of the asset. Getting the qualified expenditure figure wrong does not just misstate one year, it propagates through every return afterwards. This is the single highest-consequence accounting decision in a St. Louis rehab portfolio and it is routinely handled by whoever was doing the monthly bookkeeping.
Accurate Monthly Bookkeeping
Once a rehabilitated building is placed in service and leased, ordinary Missouri rules resume: the two-month deposit cap and the 30-day itemisation deadline under RSMo 535.300, with double damages exposure for missing it. The transition point between project accounting and operating accounting is where these portfolios most often lose the thread, because the entity that held the construction is frequently the entity that now holds the operations.
Deposit Compliance for St. Louis Portfolios
RSMo 535.300
Missouri RSMo 535.300 caps the deposit at two months' rent and requires the balance, or a written itemised statement of deductions with any remaining balance, within 30 days of the tenancy ending. A tenant may recover up to twice the deposit if that is missed, and the statute is enforced strictly enough that a short delay is not treated as harmless.
Missouri is specific about custody as well as timing: deposits must be held for the tenant in a bank, credit union or depository institution insured by an agency of the federal government. That is a testable condition, so the account itself forms part of compliance rather than only the per-tenant ledger behind it.
All Missouri requirementsHow we keep you inside it
- Deposit liabilities tracked per tenant in AppFolio, so a 30 calendar days deadline is answerable from the ledger
- Trust accounts reconciled three ways every month
- Deduction documentation recorded against the correct ledger
- Aging deposits flagged before the statutory window closes
Appfolio Bookkeeping Services from REA
Available to St. Louis Operators
Trust Bookkeeping
Leverage Appfolio's powerful bookkeeping capabilities with REA's tailored service.
See how it worksCorporate Bookkeeping
REA's skilled team, in combination with Appfolio's comprehensive toolset, addresses the complexity of your corporate financial activities.
See how it worksBank Reconciliations
Employing Appfolio's state-of-the-art system, REA offers bank reconciliation services that brings meticulous accuracy to your finances.
See how it worksFinancial Diagnostic Cleanup
REA utilizes Appfolio's advanced diagnostic tools to swiftly and effectively troubleshoot financial anomalies.
See how it worksTrust Compliance
REA pairs its accounting prowess with Appfolio's detailed reporting to deliver comprehensive Trust Compliance Verification services.
See how it worksAppFolio Accounting & Bookkeeping Services
For St. Louis Portfolios
- Process Review & Set Up
- Bank Reconciliations
- AP / AR
- Accurate NOI, Balance Sheets
- Recording HUD's & Accruals
- Owner Distributions
- Monthly Statements & Reports
- Management Fees
- Corporate Bookkeeping
- Tenant Chargebacks
Take the Whole Close, or One Function
St. Louis operators use REA for the full monthly close or for the single function that has become a bottleneck. Each one is performed inside your AppFolio instance.
Trust Accounting
Compliant, audit-ready trust funds
Learn moreBank Reconciliation Services
Three-way reconciliation, every account
Learn moreAccounts Payable & Receivable
Bills paid, rent collected, owners paid
Learn moreBookkeeping Cleanup & Catch-Up
Back books fixed and current
Learn moreCAM Reconciliation
Annual commercial true-ups
Learn moreExperts In All Property Types
- Single-Family
- Multifamily
- Student Housing
- Affordable Housing
- Community Associations
- Commercial
Experts In All Property Types
Residential, commercial and everything in between. The asset class changes what the books have to prove, and our teams are staffed accordingly.
- Single-Family
- Multifamily
- Student Housing
- Affordable Housing
- Community AssociationsSee the page
- CommercialSee the page
Check Out What Our Clients Have To Say About Us
Property Managers, Investors & Owner Operators
I highly recommend Real Estate Accounting (REA) services from this group. They truly are great and have helped us tremendously at a time we needed it the most. I felt very comfortable giving up all my accounting responsibilities to this team and I'm still glad I made the decision to work with this group. Nothing less than an amazing experience!
REA and team have been nothing but excellent helping our firm with its day to day financial needs. Their expertise, professionalism, and timeliness have made our lives so much easier. We foresee a long relationship with REA and team.
Real Estate Accounting truly is a special company. They helped as if they were a part of our company, with the concern and caution as an employee would have, but even more. They quickly ascertained our needs and developed an effective team to help with our accounting needs. They were extremely responsive and always accurate. I would recommend their services to anyone who needs help with their property management accounting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you handle historic rehabilitation tax credit accounting?
Yes. The work is in capturing qualified rehabilitation expenditures correctly as costs are incurred, coded to the project rather than to operating expense, because reconstructing that split later from a general ledger is not realistic and the figure drives both the credit and the depreciable basis.
Why does it matter if rehab costs are coded wrong?
Because the qualified expenditure figure determines both the credit and the basis, and basis drives depreciation for the entire life of the asset. An error there is not a one-year problem, it propagates through every subsequent return.
What changes once the building is leased up?
You move from project accounting to operating accounting, and Missouri's ordinary rules apply: a two-month deposit cap and a 30-day itemisation deadline under RSMo 535.300. The handover between the two is where we most often find the books lose continuity.
More in Missouri
Other Missouri markets, the platforms we work in, and the functions available on their own.
AppFolio Bookkeeping for St. Louis
Schedule a call and we will review your AppFolio setup, your Missouri deposit handling, and what it takes to close clean every month.