How do you do your accounting?

Question

Hello,

I am curious how you do your accounting. Do you have a separate Quickbooks online subscription for each property (that sounds expensive)? How do you handle buying software for multiple properties in an affordable way?

Thanks,

Curious Investor

Account Closed · Answer

At a certain point, it may make more sense for you to just have an accountant do it for you! The monthly cost of quick books online maybe similar to some accountants, so you wont be loosing out on a lot of money and getting a lot more of your time back. Just something to consider! transparently, we specialize in accounting and tax prep for real estate investors, so perhaps im a bit biased!

Kerry Baird · Answer

I worked to get over to Stessa last year.  It is like Mint but for properties.  I have 15 houses, both long term and short term rentals in Texas and Florida.  It took a bit of time to get set up but I think it is doing pretty well for me, as the mobile version is really easy to tap to assign transactions.

I understand Quickbooks has a miles tracker, which Stessa does not. I log miles in notes.

Bill B. · Answer

If you have less than 30 properties, quickbooks little brother quicken is $50/year and it’s overkill. With a dozen properties I spend about 30-40 minutes a month on bookkeeping. Then come tax time I simply print out reports per property.

It’s desktop and online, it auto enters credit card and bank transactions. You specify income and expenses by property and category and you’re set. You can generate a report for any time period, property or category.

Basit Siddiqi · Answer

If you use quickbooks online, you need the version of the software that allows you to be able to use the class function.
I think this is the 'plus' version and can get costly over the long haul as its about $85 a month

I personally like the desktop version of quickkbooks and it is about $300 - $400 that will last about 3-4 years.

I also often see people using Stessa or Xero.

Jake Baker · Answer

@Danielle M.

Quickbooks is phasing out Desktop. Stick with Quickbooks Online Plus so you can categorize by classes (properties).

Stessa is good for managing rentals and is free with a BP Pro Subscription.

digb is also great and worth looking at.

Nate Meeker · Answer

@Danielle M. If you only have a few properties I think that you can manage it yourself. One of the easiest ways I’ve found to do this is by creating a separate bank account for each rental. Run every transaction through that account and at the end of the year you can export everything to an excel document where you can further categorize, sort, and sum totals.

I would also consider Dig B instead of QuickBooks.

David C. · Answer

Using one account, you can use the class feature (Plus version) for individual properties as well as separate entities.

Chris Seveney · Answer

@Danielle M.

You need a separate QuickBooks account for each entity

If you buy in your name or a single LLC then need one account, you just have each asset as a separate class.

My recommendation is to outsource this task

Alecia Loveless · Answer

@Danielle M. Quickbooks desktop is no longer available. If you are able to buy it it is being phased out and will no longer be available in at most another year or two. Quickbooks online is the only version they are going to support going forward.

My accountant told me to get a bookkeeper this year because I was not proficient enough with QBO so that is what I have done. I’m sure once I get my year end statements that will have been the best decision ever. The accountant said my business (real estate)and the number of properties I have is just growing too fast to be handled in the fashion I was and to protect myself in the potential case of an audit I needed to take that step going forward.

For the record I have 7 properties and 25 doors.

David C. · Answer

@Danielle M.

Not sure I would go with Quickbooks Desktop, it seems to be dying a slow painful death.

To get the class function you need the QBO Plus version ($90/mo).  Some investors use the customer/job feature to manage multiple properties.  The less expensive versions, Simple Start ($30/mo), and Essentials ($60/mo) I believe support customer/job.  If you work with a bookkeeper you can get a discount.

How do you do your accounting?

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