For Portfolio Investors, Flippers, Rental Owners, Short-Term Rental Operators and more
REAL ESTATE INVESTOR BACK OFFICE
Your Real Estate Portfolio Is a Business. It's Time to Run It Like One.
The Reliant Real Estate Investor Back Office combines tax preparation, bookkeeping, property-level reporting, and planning with something most accounting firms can't offer: firsthand real estate ownership experience. We serve rental owners, growing portfolio investors, short-term rental operators, flippers, and investors who've outgrown basic bookkeeping — across Ohio and virtually nationwide.
Built by an Investor
Reliant wasn't a general accounting firm that later decided to add real estate clients.
Our Background
Scott T. Moffitt founded the firm in part to give his own investment clients — and his own real estate operations — stronger tax and accounting support than a generalist practice could provide. Scott owns a successful financial planning firm and is an experienced real estate investor himself, which means Reliant understands how tax, financing, ownership structure, cash flow, and long-term investment decisions actually work together.
Our Sister Company
Reliant's affiliated real estate company owns and manages a substantial, diversified portfolio — residential rentals, college housing, commercial property, vacation rentals, and renovation projects — with decades of combined operating experience behind it. Scott sets the strategic direction for the real estate program; Shane Dodd manages the accounting firm and leads day-to-day service delivery, including entity, depreciation, and 1031 strategy work.
Where Real Estate Investors Commonly Lose Clarity, Time, and Tax Opportunities
Most investors who come to us aren't in bad shape because they weren't trying — they're working with an accountant who doesn't regularly work with real estate, or managing it themselves with a system that wasn't built for it.
These are the patterns we see most often:
- Mixing personal and rental expenses in the same accounts, making every property hard to audit cleanly
- Tracking all properties together instead of property by property, so it's unclear which doors are actually performing
- Misclassifying repairs as improvements (or the reverse), which can create depreciation errors
- Depreciation schedules that haven't been reviewed in years, potentially leaving deductions on the table
- Waiting until tax season to think about tax strategy, after the window to act has closed
- 1031 exchange timelines that get missed because planning didn't start early enough
- Running multiple properties through one bank account
- Assuming an LLC automatically reduces taxes, without evaluating how the entity structure actually interacts with the investor's full tax situation
Not every one of these is a mistake in every case — some are simply opportunities worth a closer look with someone who works in this space regularly.
What We Offer
Accounting and Reporting
- Monthly bookkeeping
- QuickBooks setup or cleanup
- Property-by-property income and expense reporting
- Balance-sheet accuracy
- Cash-flow visibility
What We Offer
Tax Preparation & Planning
- Federal and state returns
- Depreciation schedules
- Estimated tax planning
- Year-round strategy
- Sale or refinance tax analysis
What We Offer
Entity & Transaction Coordination
- Ownership-structure review
- Coordination with attorneys and lenders
- 1031 exchange timing
- Cost-segregation coordination
- Documentation support
Know the Numbers on Every Door
One of the most common things we hear from new clients is that they have a general sense of whether their portfolio is performing, but can't tell you which specific properties are carrying the others. That's a reporting problem, and it's solvable.
Our property-by-property financial reporting gives you a clear picture for each property: income and expenses, net operating income, repair and capital-improvement tracking, loan balances, and portfolio-level summaries. That information supports better hold, refinance, improve, or sell decisions — though the decision itself depends on more than the numbers alone, and we're one part of the team you'll want weighing in.
Clean, property-level books also make lender conversations easier, tax preparation faster, and portfolio planning clearer.
Who This Program Is Built For
- New investors who need their first property (or first few) set up correctly from the start
- Growing investors with 5–25 doors who need consistent systems and real bookkeeping infrastructure
- Established investors with larger portfolios who need entity coordination and advanced planning
- Flippers and wholesalers — their accounting, inventory tracking, income recognition, and self-employment tax issues are materially different from long-term rental investors, and we treat them as their own category rather than folding them in
- Short-term rental investors navigating STR tax treatment
- Real estate agents and property managers who need to separate professional income from investment activity
We serve clients in-person from our Middletown and Loveland offices and virtually for investors anywhere in the country.
Why "My Accountant Doesn't Really Understand Real Estate" Is Such a Common Problem
Real estate investing has its own tax code within the tax code — passive activity rules, real estate professional status (REPS), depreciation recapture, cost segregation mechanics, 1031 exchange timelines, short-term rental classification. These aren't topics most general practitioners deal with regularly enough to advise on with full confidence. When an investor asks a generalist about cost segregation or REPS, the answer can be incomplete — not wrong, just not built from regular, hands-on experience with these issues.
We built a dedicated program because real estate investors deserve an accountant who works in this space every day. And because our affiliated real estate company actively owns and operates its own portfolio, the conversations we have with clients are grounded in the same decisions and tradeoffs they're navigating themselves.
Common Questions About Real Estate Investor Accounting
What's the difference between a general accountant and a real estate investor accountant?
Both can file your taxes and keep your books. A real estate investor accountant focuses specifically on the layer of tax law and reporting real estate involves — property-level systems, depreciation strategy, entity coordination, and year-round planning built around how investors actually operate.
Do I need an LLC for my rental properties?
An LLC can provide liability separation, but it doesn't automatically reduce your taxes — the tax treatment depends on how the LLC is structured and how it fits your overall entity picture. Whether an LLC makes sense depends on your portfolio size, financing strategy, and goals. This is exactly what we work through with clients during a review.
How does cost segregation work, and does it make sense for my properties?
Cost segregation is an engineering-based tax study that reclassifies components of a property — appliances, flooring, landscaping, certain fixtures — into shorter depreciation categories, allowing you to accelerate deductions rather than spreading them over 27.5 or 39 years. Whether it makes sense depends on your specific property and situation. We coordinate cost segregation studies with specialized engineers and handle the tax integration on your return.
How can short-term rental activity be treated for tax purposes?
Under certain conditions — when the average rental period is seven days or fewer and you materially participate in the property — short-term rentals may not be treated as passive under IRS rules, which can allow losses to offset non-passive income. Whether this applies to you depends on your specific facts, and the rules require careful documentation. We can evaluate your situation directly.
Can you help me catch up on multiple years of messy or unfiled real estate returns?
Yes. We first assess your books and prior returns, then determine what needs to be corrected, amended, or filed. We offer multi-year tax catch-up and bookkeeping cleanup for investors who have fallen behind or inherited a disorganized set of records from a previous accountant.
Can you work with my attorney, lender, financial advisor, and property manager?
Yes. Coordination among the professionals on your team is a key part of this program — we regularly work alongside attorneys, lenders, financial advisors, and property managers so your tax and accounting strategy stays aligned with everything else happening in your portfolio.
Can you help me evaluate whether to hold, refinance, or sell a property?
We can provide the tax-impact analysis and financial reporting that inform that decision. The decision itself is yours, made together with your broader advisory team.
Do you work with investors who own properties in multiple states?
Yes. We coordinate multi-state tax filings for investors with properties across state lines. The scope of that work depends on which states are involved and how your properties are structured.
What information do you need to review my portfolio?
Typically: prior tax returns, entity documents, depreciation schedules, current books, a list of your properties, loan information, and recent closing statements. We'll let you know if anything else would help once we see where things stand.
Do you work with real estate investors outside of Ohio?
We do. While we have offices in Middletown and Loveland for in-person clients, we serve investors nationwide through our secure client portal, video meetings, and phone and email.
The Reliant Way to Property Ownership
Successful property ownership requires more than buying the right property and filing an accurate tax return. Decisions involving ownership structure, bookkeeping, depreciation, financing, property performance, and eventual disposition should be evaluated throughout the life of the investment.
In this practical guide, Scott T. Moffitt shares seven important conversations every property owner should be having throughout the year. The playbook combines firsthand real estate ownership experience with The Reliant Group’s tax and accounting perspective to help investors make more intentional, informed decisions.
Ready to Build a Real Back Office for Your Portfolio?
Get Started Today
The Reliant Real Estate Investor Back Office combines tax preparation, bookkeeping, property-level reporting, and year-round planning for investors who want to operate their portfolio like a business. The program is led by Shane Dodd, CPA, and shaped by founder Scott T. Moffitt’s firsthand experience as a financial-services business owner and real estate investor. Through Reliant’s affiliated real estate company, the team understands the practical decisions investors face because those same decisions are part of its own day-to-day operations.
