Quickbooks if I have a property manager

[Lisa Arkowski]

My husband and I are both self-employed and have our rentals on the side. We recently got a property manager to deal with the aspects of rentals that we don't enjoy. We also recently got Quickbooks. Everything I read about quickbooks shows how to set it up from a property manager's perspective, not from a landlord that hires a property manager. I'd love it if someone would have some suggestions on how to set it up, or links that would help me out.

Thanks in advance!

[Zachary C.]

@Lisa Arkowski,

Do you have someone that does your taxes for you or do you do your own? If you have an accountant/CPA I would talk to them first about what they want to see in your records at the end of the year. After that you can fine tune it to what you want to see.

What I have done is make a common name for each property, so 1913 Long Drive I would put in as 1913L, but just be consistent in however you name them. 

Income: I make one Rental Income account and make a sub account under that for each, either through the menu or buy typing into the account box on the chart of accounts "Rental Income: 1913L" the first time it will give you the not an account menu and it will pop up with the add option, it should have Rental Income as the account with sub account marked and 1913L already pre-typed in. Now I can see my overall rental income or I can review the performance of a certain property.

Expenses: I make a main expense account for each property following the same name. Then, when I put in an expense I add the category the same way but reverse. "1913L: insurance" or "1913L: utilities" for example. Now I have the overall expenses segregated by property but within each property I can still look at the details of how the expenses break down and look for areas to work on if needed.

That's what I do, anyways. Feel free to message me anytime and good luck.