## Built to Work Podcast

**Host: Colin Detit**

Welcome to Built to Work, the podcast that gets its hands dirty, dives into the grit, and uncovers the heart of what makes the blue-collar world tick. I’m Colin, your host, and I’m sitting down with the people who keep our world running. From those tackling the tough jobs no one else dares to do to the HR professionals working overtime to find the labor force we desperately need. Whether you’re in the trenches or behind the scenes, this podcast is for anyone who values hard work, determination, and stories that build the backbone of our workforce. So, grab your gloves, your coffee, or your clipboard. It’s time to get to work. Welcome to Built to Work.

**Guest: Mark Kaplan**

Colin: Today, I am here with Mark Kaplan. Mark, thank you so much for joining me.

Mark: Pleasure to be here, Colin.

Colin: So, Mark, this isn’t just a random interview. Our history goes back, I’d say at least four years now, probably.

Mark: Yep.

Colin: For those of you who don’t know Mark, first off, he is a rock star in the world of real estate accounting. So much so that he and his partner named his company Real Estate Accounting. That’s how we got to know him based upon our previous experience owning a property management company. So, Mark, great to catch up with you. It’s been a couple of years since we sold off. Tell us what’s been changing in your world. What’s going on? Where are you guys at with your process and your growth?

Mark: Yeah, sure. You know, when we met you guys, and it does seem like four or five years ago now, which is pretty wild. We were a whole lot smaller back then, a lot scrappier. My business partner and I founded the company back in 2019. In the early days, it was just us. He was doing sales, and I was doing accounting. Fast forward to today, we’ve got about 165 people now, probably just as many clients. Still, 100% focused on real estate bookkeeping. That’s our niche, like you said. We bought the URL rea.co to try to simplify things a couple of years ago. But yeah, look, business is growing. There’s a ton of demand. We got into this business at a pretty good time, starting in 2019, right when COVID hit, and there was this realization that people didn’t necessarily need accountants in their office right next to them. People fired a bunch of staff, kind of a knee-jerk reaction when the economy contracted, but then quickly realized, especially in property management, they still had to get owner distributions out. They still got to get the 1099s done. There’s just a bunch of stuff in accounting that still has to get done whether you can fire the people or not. And so quickly, we just started getting phone calls. Maybe it’s some unfortunate circumstances that that’s how some of the industry growth has been, but it did really get us going.

Colin: That’s great. When we started our property management company, that was our first real big entrepreneurial venture. I’d been buying real estate and then started managing it. I was surviving doing the books on my own, but then somewhere along the way, I realized we have way outpaced what our internal team was able to do, and we needed professionals. Your experience impressed me and made me a proponent of outsourcing non-core competencies. In property management, like you, I was good at selling, scaled a company quickly, and my partner was good at operations. But neither of us were accountants by trade, and we started looking for help. We were in a bad spot, our books were a wreck, and we were not capturing every expense to pass through to the owners. This was a huge learning experience for us. Mark, your team was instrumental in saving our company and getting us financially right where we could operate, be profitable, and then have a successful exit down the road. So, thank you so much for your team coming in and helping us out of that mess.

Mark: You’re welcome! I do specifically remember when we brought you guys on as clients, you were super stressed. It was a perfect example of a non-core task for you. Your property management company didn’t handle property management accounting, and we did, so let us help you out. It worked really well, and I’m grateful for that.

Colin: What have you guys seen that makes your customers successful?

Mark: We have two types of customers. You were a third-party management company making management fees by managing others’ properties. For those clients, it’s about consistency – distributions and statements on time every month, clean statements that people can understand, which reduces the number of questions. It comes down to consistency. Our third-party clients that run the most efficiently have a great system, they distribute on the same time every month, and are close to their numbers, reducing the questions owners have. For clients that own and manage real estate, it’s about producing great financials they can give to investors and lenders, ensuring on-time K1s at the end of the year. I explain to my team that our customer isn’t just the customer paying our bill; it’s their customers as well. If those end clients are happy, then our client’s business is running smoothly.

Colin: How do you maintain those long-term partnerships with your clients?

Mark: It’s a people business, absolutely. Our longest-term clients love the people on our team working on their accounts. Having a reliable relationship is everything. When something comes up, they can text or call our team member and know they’ll get a response. It’s about relationships and doing our job so well that the end clients are happy, which translates to our clients being happy.

Colin: What did you do before starting REA?

Mark: Great question. I’m a CPA, and early in my career, I was at Ernst & Young and PWC. Before REA, I was at a tech company. But the interesting story starts in 2013 when my wife and I, both accountants, decided to start flipping houses. We stumbled into real estate, and after buying and flipping a house, our real estate accounting fell behind. We outsourced that accounting and realized there’s a real need for specialized real estate accountants. Even as a CPA, it was complicated, so we found this need, couldn’t find anyone doing it online, and that was the genesis for starting REA.

Colin: That’s a great story. Are you looking to continue growing REA? What are your long-term goals?

Mark: Yes, we continue to grow, and our service improves with growth. The quality of our bookkeeping service gets better with experience. We’re focusing on tax now because it’s very complimentary. Many own and manage clients have tax needs like partnership returns, K1s, etc. We want to launch a tax business, possibly by acquiring one to handle those needs, which we think would add value to our client set.

Colin: Thank you so much, Mark, for joining us today. It was great catching up with you. You guys have been instrumental in helping businesses and providing top-notch Real Estate Accounting services. If I ever get back into property management, I’ll definitely start with you guys from day one.

Mark: We appreciate that. It was great working with you and having me on the podcast. Thank you!