Real Estate Accounting Made Easy, 2nd Edition

Preface

My goal in writing this book is twofold: to share with you my knowledge of the theories and practice of real estate from an accounting and financial perspective, and to provide a resource for easier understanding of the real estate industry. This book is a must-read for professionals and scholars interested in the real estate industry, especially investors, analysts, accountants, auditors, and students.

To make the subject easy to understand, the book starts at an introductory level. Subsequent chapters build on the first few chapters.

The first two chapters introduce real estate terms and products and discuss basic real estate accounting. These chapters are fundamental to understanding the industry and gaining the most out of this book. They cover common terms used in the real estate industry as well as basic financial information common to the industry. Chapter 2 also covers basic accounting aspects of real estate transactions.

Readers are introduced to the different forms of entities in which real estate assets are held in Chapter 3. The discussion goes from the simplest form of real estate ownership – sole ownership – to partnerships, joint ventures, and real estate investment trusts (REITs). The basic characteristics, as well as advantages and disadvantages of these forms of entities, are discussed in detail.

Later chapters discuss the various aspects of real estate. Chapters 4 to 7 focus on accounting for revenues, expenses, capital improvements and inducements, ...