Looking for a Strategic Real Estate Accountant and Bookkeeper

[Will F.]

Does anyone have recommendations on local Los Angeles/ Orange County accountant that can both help with books

Property management S Corp.

Sole proprietor and some partnerships on different properties

I use Buildium software for management. I'd like someone who could help with these books

I'm looking for someone savvy who can aggressively help expand my real estate business

Also what do you think of Virtual accountants like on Upwork for doing the books?

Thanks!

[Ben Day]

While I can't help with the LA accountant search, I do think it's worth talking about Buildium and virtual accountants. 

Buildium sells itself as a property management software, and it does a very good job at the management side of real estate. However, it falls flat when it comes to bookkeeping/accounting. Based on my experience, it doesn't have a good way to handle transactions that aren't property related, it has no Balance Sheet to speak of, and still requires a lot of manual entry. 

Virtual accountants and bookkeepers can help expedite the "manual entry" part of the Buildium "problem," but I think you'll find that most accountants and CPA's are much more familiar with dedicated accounting softwares like Quickbooks or Xero, both of which solve the first two issues with Buildium. Where virtual bookkeepers can fail is in not understanding real estate. Being an investor has a lot of tax issues, organizational complications, and atypical business activities that a standard bookkeeper won't be familiar with. Your best bet is to find a bookkeeper that specializes in real estate investing activities. 

Hope this helps!