Jonathan welcomes Max Emory, founder of Time Capital Bookkeeping & CFO Solutions, a bookkeeping educator and active investor. Together, they explore why clean books form the foundation of every real estate business and how accurate categorization impacts both taxes and lending. Max explains what decision-ready financials allow investors to do, including timing acquisitions, managing cash flow, and avoiding costly tax surprises. He also shares why onboarding with a professional bookkeeper is intensive but worthwhile, how your bookkeeper, CPA, and attorney should collaborate, and the most common financial pitfalls he corrects for flippers, wholesalers, and landlords.
Max shares his path from serving in the Marine Corps to purchasing his first duplex in Columbia, South Carolina, and scaling through clustered small multifamily properties using the BRRRR strategy. He discusses early challenges such as hiring and firing property managers, building a technology-driven team, and using neighborhood comps and appraisals to improve accuracy. He explains how commingling funds can disrupt operations and increase bookkeeping costs, how simple categorization mistakes can inflate taxable income by thousands, and how to adjust profit and loss reporting to support specific goals, whether maximizing lendability or minimizing taxes.
Listeners will leave with a clear checklist for preparing to hire a professional bookkeeper, an understanding of which financial metrics matter most, and the confidence to treat bookkeeping as a strategic advantage rather than a yearly obligation.
If you want to learn more about Zen and the Art of Real Estate Investing Podcast, check out https://zenandtheartofrealestateinvesting.com/podcast/290/.