Property businesses hold money that is not theirs and earn income at unpredictable intervals. Both need to be unmistakable in the books.
Revenue
Commission income — on sales or lettings. Management fee income — recurring, per property. Leasing and tenant placement fees. Maintenance markup where the business coordinates repairs.
Management fees are the recurring base and commission is the lumpy part. Separating them shows how much of the business is predictable — see revenue consistency, which is what decides whether the business can carry fixed costs through a slow quarter.
Money held for others is not revenue
Rent collected for a landlord, deposits, and funds held pending completion are not income and not the business's money. They pass through.
Mixing them with operating cash is the most serious error available in this trade — it overstates the bank balance, it is frequently a regulatory breach, and it is how businesses spend money they were holding.
Keep them in separate accounts and separate ledgers. The related idea in general accounting is deferred revenue: cash in hand that belongs to somebody else until an obligation is met.
Cost of delivery
Agent commissions paid out, referral fees, and direct costs of listing — photography, staging, advertising a specific property.
Agent commission is a variable cost that moves exactly with revenue, which makes the business more resilient than its revenue volatility suggests.
Overhead
Premises, property management software, insurance, general marketing, admin wages, licensing.
What this setup gives you
Recurring management income separated from commission, and a clean line between the business's money and everybody else's.