Accounting and Management tools for Landlords

[Errol Graham]

Hello Biggerpockets colleagues,

I am at a crossroad. As my real estate portfolio has grown over the years both in terms of the number, types and location of the properties, including across states, I have continued to use my own designed excel worksheets to track records and prepare reports, including for tax purposes.

However, my worksheets have now become cumbersome and more time consuming to manage. In my search for a more efficient and low-cost solution to my current system I have come across STESSA. From my perusal of what the software offers, it appears to be quite comprehensive both on the management and accounting side and the monthly cost is not excessive.

However, I wanted to check in with fellow investors on this platform to see if anyone is currently using or have used STESSA and what has been their experience, particularly on the security, functionality, user friendliness and stability of the online software system.

Many thanks in advance for your feedback. 

[Sarah Bratcher]

Hi Errol! I am a CPA who focuses on bookkeeping and financial accounting for real estate investors. Here are my considerations: Stessa is a great platform for tracking income and expenses for investors, it is really user friendly. The downfall to Stessa (and really what makes it so easy) is that it is a single entry system. This means there are no checks and balances to ensure all your transactions are entered correctly. A double entry system (like quickbooks) allows you to reconcile your bank statements ensuring there are no missing or duplicate transactions. I would recommend Stessa so much more if you could reconcile, and hopefully they will! Overall I think it’s a great solution for smaller portfolios that you can easily spot any discrepancies, but if you are a larger portfolio or planning on becoming larger in the next year or two, I would look for a double entry system that allows bank reconciliations!