How we think about real estate investors
Coquitlam has grown upward. The City's development activity snapshots show applications clustered in the Burquitlam-Lougheed neighbourhood and City Centre, the two areas the Evergreen Line runs through, and the result is a skyline of new strata towers near Burquitlam and Lafarge Lake–Douglas stations. Many investors here hold a completed condo or two that are rented out, plus a presale in a building that won't finish for a while.
That combination shapes the books. Rented units produce income and costs every month. Presale contracts produce nothing for years except deposits, documents and dates, and those dates can matter a great deal later.
Our job is the records, not the tax answer. Whether a sale or an assignment is income, a capital gain or something else is for your CPA. We make sure every number and date they'll need is already in the file when they ask.
What makes the books different
- Each unit has its own line. Rent, strata fees, special levies, property tax, insurance, mortgage interest and repairs are coded to the unit they belong to. Owners who hold rentals personally report them on the T776 Statement of Real Estate Rentals, and a per-unit ledger turns that form into copy work.
- Presale deposits are assets with a paper trail. Each deposit is booked to the entity that signed the contract, with the purchase agreement, receipts, amendments and the expected completion date attached. Nothing is expensed and nothing gets lost in a personal account.
- Short holds are tracked to the day. BC's home flipping tax, in force since January 1, 2025, looks at whether a property, including a presale contract or an assignment, was held for less than 730 days (gov.bc.ca). We don't decide whether it applies. We keep acquisition dates, assignment dates and amounts in one place so the CPA can.
- Repairs and improvements are flagged, not guessed. CRA treats work that extends a property's life or improves it beyond its original condition as usually capital (current or capital expenses). Larger invoices get a note for the CPA rather than a quiet expense entry.
What a monthly close looks like for you
- Rent deposits are matched to the lease, or to the owner statement if a property manager collects for you.
- Strata fees, levies and property tax are posted to each unit, and each mortgage payment is split between principal and interest from the lender's statement.
- Balances between you, your spouse and any holding company are reconciled, so a HoldCo that paid a personal unit's strata fee shows it as owing.
- The presale register is reviewed: deposits paid to date, the next deposit due, and any completion window coming up in the next few months.
- By the 10th you see a one-page summary by unit (income, costs, cash after mortgage) alongside the company statements.
Coquitlam is also a taxable area for BC's speculation and vacancy tax, which comes with an annual owner declaration. Tenancy agreements and rent records already sit in the file, which makes that declaration easier to support.
More on the monthly side is in our guide to rental property bookkeeping in Coquitlam, and on presales in the records BC investors need for presales and assignments.
Tools we commonly use for real estate investor clients
- QuickBooks Online (a class for each unit) or Xero (a tracking category for each unit), with a separate file for each company.
- A presale register: contract date, deposit schedule, amounts paid, expected completion, and assignment status if one is under way.
- Dext for strata notices, trade invoices and insurance renewals.
- Owner statements from property managers, reconciled as a whole rather than re-keyed line by line.
If the books are a year or two behind, we start with catch-up bookkeeping and bring each unit current before monthly work begins.
Partners we work with
Always by type, never by name:
- CPA firms that handle rental income, real estate dispositions and GST on new housing
- Real estate lawyers and notaries who manage completions and assignment agreements
- Mortgage brokers arranging financing at completion
- Property managers who send monthly owner statements
At year-end we hand the CPA a closed file through year-end preparation and answer their questions directly.
A good fit if
- You own rental condos or townhomes in the Tri-Cities, personally, jointly or through a company
- You hold one or more presale contracts, or have assigned one and need the records in order
- You want to see each unit's result every month and give your CPA dates they don't have to reconstruct