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Updated over 2 years ago, 04/21/2022
Accounting Software Solutions
I own a handful of rental properties, some on my own and some with partners, and keeping my books in order has become way more painful than I think it should be. I usually have one property in active management with the bulk of my properties handled by a PM, so I don't have THAT many transactions every month. I learned Quickbooks early on, but when they moved to a subscription model, it got very expensive very fast. I used Quicken for Property Management for a while, but (while it was great for taxes) the Single-Entry Accounting didn't really track enough for me.
I feel like my needs are simple:
1) Set up a chart of accounts for double-entry accounting
2) Ability to look at whole company or break things down by groups like city, property, or unit. (In Quickbooks, I used classes for this.)
3) Quick, painless entry of data
4) Good reports, charts, and graphs
5) Easy to send data to my Accountant in a format they can use for taxes
Some things I DON'T need:
1) Billing and Invoicing.
2) Tracking vendors
3) Tracking payroll
I work in software, so I can't help but wonder if there is a need in the market for a simple, low-cost, easy-to-use bookkeeping tool?
What tools have other people used? Would YOU be excited to see something designed specifically for REI that lacked all the bells and whistles, but made data entry fast and easy?