Best Rental business accounting software?

Question

For those of us who are new to rental ownership ( 3 units) what is best and easiest to use software for accounting that may allow managing another different business at same time?

James Wise · Answer

I'd go with RentecDirect, it's what we use in our business. You can get a less robust free version if you have under a certain amount of units. Your portfolio should qualify.

Daniel Dietz · Answer

I would second what @James Wise says with Rentec Direct. We use it for 30 units, that happen to be under 7 different ownership entities, so we use the PM version. It does everything we want for accounting. We have our tax guy take care of balance sheet, depreciation and stuff like that - It might do that too, I have just never looked.

It also has great PM features, such as one click listings, late notices, text or email blasts, maintenance database, etc....

Soh Tanaka · Answer

I use both QuickBooks and Buildium. I use the desktop version of QuickBooks, as if you want the online version with the class function, it'll get insanely expensive. Many of us do bookkeeping at home/office, so I don't see a need to use the online version anyway. Desktop version, you can use it for years with no extra cost.

My suggestion is to keep using QuickBook and not to move to Buildium. Buildium's accounting function is limited, compare to QuickBooks, especially when it comes to recording assets and depreciation. Buildium might look like a "shiny object" from outside, but it's actually a pretty basic software.

Ronald Derby · Answer

I have recently got a client who owns a sizable apartment complex. I was also looking for a good business rental software and ended up with using .  I needed to be able to track leases, tenant info, deposits, generate late notices, all that fun stuff. It works fine for those needs.

Soh Tanaka · Answer

@Wayne LeClair - Appfolio is for those who manages other people's properties. You have to be managing minimum of 50 units to sign up with them. Xero is much affordable than QuickBooks online. I used it and personally didn't like it. There are so many resources (youtube, books, etc.) out there when it comes to using QuickBooks for rental properties.

Wayne LeClair · Answer

Thanks to all for your ideas! I have two totally different businesses and just want simple (low learning curve) accounting software. Some reviews speak highly of Appfolio, Xero, and Avail. Feedback on these?

Stephen Dee · Answer

@Soh Tanaka - Thanks for the input!

Stephen Dee · Answer

@Soh Tanaka - I Agree with Calvin, I've used Quickbooks for many years and while it was a little complicated for me to learn, my overall experience has been great. The two issues I have had are first having transactions recorded incorrectly causing issues with reconciliation or account balances differences. Most of this I would chalk up to user error. The other issue, I just ran into was the need to have two subscriptions because I purchased another property and put it in a separate LLC. Two companies require two subscriptions which is starting to get expensive. They also recently changed up the ACH fee for collecting online payments. This is by far my most favorite function of the software. One of my companies still has the old fee structure which is 50 cents per payment. The new company is paying 1% of the rent collected up to 10 dollars per payment. Most of my rents are around the $1,000 mark so it makes this far more expensive than with the old system. In fact because of the cost, I am no looking at Buildium.

@Calvin Ozanick I've grown my portfolio and the cost of quickbooks has increased to a level that Buildium looks pretty attractive. How have you found the accounting part of buildium? Does it work well? Any push back from your accountant? And one last question, I don't have any plans to manage others, but I do have my properties split into two separate companies. The team at Buildium has assured me that their system will work for my needs, but I wanted to get a user's perspective to see if you think there would be any issues with my structure? Any insights or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Calvin Ozanick · Answer

I would agree that QB is the way to do it. If you plan on growing quite a bit more, Buildium has been great for our company. Buildium allows so much functionality within one site, I cannot see us going any other way.

Soh Tanaka · Answer

QuickBooks sounds like the option here.

Best Rental business accounting software?

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