Bookkeeping for long term hold rentals

[Trenton Pelloquin]

Looking for recommendations for bookkeeping software to help manage my rental portfolio. 

My partner and I buy and rehab properties, then refi and hold long term (BRRRR). We also manage 2 other companies together that require accounting systems. We currently use QuickBooks but are transitioning to Sage. We pay for this software already and were considering using them instead of tracking on excel sheets. Some remodels can be >100K in work and it's a lot to track on sheets.

Is there any real estate specific software that would be better than sage or quickbooks?

Thank you!

[Clayton Silva]

I have been doing everything on Turbotenant and loving it there.  I also use Baselane for banking and accounting because you can mark each transaction with a tag.  Plus Baselane pays like 2-4% interest on the checking account which is nuts!

Turbotenant is super easy to use and cannot recommend them enough.  

[Simon W.]

Quote from @Trenton Pelloquin:

Looking for recommendations for bookkeeping software to help manage my rental portfolio. 

My partner and I buy and rehab properties, then refi and hold long term (BRRRR). We also manage 2 other companies together that require accounting systems. We currently use QuickBooks but are transitioning to Sage. We pay for this software already and were considering using them instead of tracking on excel sheets. Some remodels can be >100K in work and it's a lot to track on sheets.

Is there any real estate specific software that would be better than sage or quickbooks?

Thank you!

 why are you transitioning to sage? are you doing construction? you are better off sticking with QB.

if you plan to go big, go with a PM software that has accounting module. There are literally hundreds of threads asking the same question you are asking. Just do a search.

As much as I love saving money, stick with one of those real PM software if instead of these "banks" offering add-on accounting for free. It's free for a reason. Time and time again, these free ones becomes "we have too many users now and our server can't handle it so we are charging for these features that you used to use" example is Stessa. Lendio shut down it's accounting product "Sunrise". 

[Trenton Pelloquin]

Yes we do construction. That’s why we are going to sage. 

[Landon Mizuguchi]

We use Digb, they also support us with tax filing. 

[Max Emory]

Hey @Trenton Pelloquin, we use QuickBooks Online exclusively for all of our REI Clients (including buy-and-hold Clients). I use it for my personal portfolio as well. We've found it has superior reporting features, integration features, and is overall more efficient to work within than other REI-specific software.

The downside is QBO is not set up for REI so you'll need to do that or work with an expert to ensure it is set up for your business appropriately.

Something else to keep in mind is your entity structure and how your entities file tax returns. As a general rule, each entity that files a separate tax return (partnership, s-corp, c-corp, etc) will need its own QBO subscription. If entities are disregarded, you can keep up with more than 1 in a single QBO account using the location/business feature to keep track of them separately. This will save you on subscription costs.

Regarding how to track properties & entities using QBO (Plus), there are different ways of skinning this but I'll tell you what works for our Clients. We track properties using the customer feature. So, "Rental Properties" as the customer, then each property address is a sub-customer, and each unit within the property is a sub-sub-customer.

We use the Location/Business feature to track multiple disregarded entities within 1 QBO. Entities that are not "disregarded" need their own QBO to ensure their balance sheets remain 100% accurate.

We do run into an issue every now and then with some transactions that don't allow us to designate the customer/property but we've found ways to get around this and still have the transaction reflect the appropriate customer/property.

This allows us to pull all the financial reports our Clients and their tax pros need to see.

I'm in no way saying our way is the end-all-be-all but it works for us and our Clients' tax filers/advisors.

There's a FB group called, "Bookkeepers for Real Estate Investors". You or your bookkeeper may want to check it out.

If you want to discuss any of this further, I'm happy to answer questions and help walk you through it.

Best of luck!

[Hussain Harun]

I"m a big fan of Xero as an alternative QuickBooks for rentals mainly due to much lower cost and still having a robust accounting software. In my opinion, anything that's not QuickBooks or Xero is just a watered down accounting software.

I made a video about this on my YouTube channel, BP isn't letting me share it but PM me and I can send you the link

[Kevin Polite]

Quote from @Hussain Harun:

I"m a big fan of Xero as an alternative QuickBooks for rentals mainly due to much lower cost and still having a robust accounting software. In my opinion, anything that's not QuickBooks or Xero is just a watered down accounting software.

I made a video about this on my YouTube channel, BP isn't letting me share it but PM me and I can send you the link

I'll PM you. QBO pricing keeps increasing and now they no longer allow downloads from Home Depot which mean you have to manually upload them. I do like most of the features of QBO and at the end of the year my Accountant can get everything he needs very quickly, but have been curious about Xero. 

[Cory Vitale]

Quote from @Trenton Pelloquin:

Looking for recommendations for bookkeeping software to help manage my rental portfolio. 

My partner and I buy and rehab properties, then refi and hold long term (BRRRR). We also manage 2 other companies together that require accounting systems. We currently use QuickBooks but are transitioning to Sage. We pay for this software already and were considering using them instead of tracking on excel sheets. Some remodels can be >100K in work and it's a lot to track on sheets.

Is there any real estate specific software that would be better than sage or quickbooks?

Thank you!

 @Trenton Pelloquin There are certainly benefits to QBO, including the fact that many in the industry players are using it, which could facilitate delegation of bookkeeping activities and tax preparation. 

I also personally think that Buildium is underrated and affordable for financial reporting property-by-property, especially if you have a desire to continue owning long-term rentals after your BRRRR.

Buildium would help with the expense tracking but also enable PM tasks such as lease renewals, maintenance requests, rent collection, etc. Net net, I think it offers a product that is 80% as good as the best accounting software and 80% as good as the best property management software, but all combined into one. I pay anywhere from $50-$70 per month depending on the ancillary features I utilize. Good luck with the transition!