Tracking Expenses on numerous rental houses

[Carson E.]

We have close to 30 rental houses and trying to run the books on them gets beyond tedious.  We use the Wave app to take pics of our receipts and then process them at a later time.  Now our CPA wants items broken out between capital improvements (appliances, carpet, tile, etc) and regular operating and maintenance expenses for each unit.  Wave does not allow us to do this and I am not sure of the best way to move forward... Last year we were able to estimate percentages based on what we spent on each house, which was much easier, however this year we have to do specific breakdowns.  From our research, it seems like quickbooks or other popular accounting programs do not allow this.

So for example - in 2019, we rehabbed (ourselves) approximately 6 houses, which additional upgrades/fixes to several other units as they came open and before they were rented.  When I go to a Home Depot or similar building supply center, I go probably 3-12 times weekly and source supplies for several houses that were currently being worked on.  One receipt is not just for one home, but may include 3, 4 or even 5 different houses.  We literally have thousands of receipts that is hard to imagine how we begin going through them.

Do other people have trouble finding a logical way to pull out capital expenses and track them for several properties and with multiple houses on the same receipt? How are you tracking these items efficiently?