All Forum Posts by: Michael David Pagan

I would love to know if anyone in Cedar Rapids would like to get together for a small meetup.   Basic meet and greet to discuss goals and areas of interest.  Who is in?

Originally posted by @Lani Archer:

@Michael David Pagan, Thanks for your feedback on Wave. I am thinking I will go with QuickBooks but was wondering if just getting the desktop version will be okay for my first year of owning a rental property? Do you know if I will still be able to share files easily with a CPA and/or accountant?

 Hi Lani!  If you go with QuickBooks Desktop you can share an Accountant's Copy so that they can work on your books at the same time as you.  You can also let them remote onto your computer if needed like GoTo My PC, Team Viewer Etc.  I prefer to work in QB Online because you can share your account with any person by giving them a login or access to your company account.

You should be fine with either choice.

- Michael

Originally posted by @Gary Sowell:

Looking for recommendations for either accounting software rental management software to tract my expenses and use for taxes. I looked at quicken rental manager might work since I’m the manager for my own apartment buildings.

 Hi Gary,  I would go with QuickBooks online.  Anything cloud based at that so you can track your income and expenses anywhere.  I've been using QBO for a while now, and I love that I can see my P&L updated at any moment.

- Michael

Originally posted by @Lani Archer:

Has anyone tried Wave?

https://www.waveapps.com/accounting/?utm_source=Go...

Looks good and says it is free.

 I have tried wave.  It's a great option if you are tight on budget but it's limited in function.  I would go QuickBooks Online if you can.

Originally posted by @Angie B.:

Okay, I played around with it a bit, and decided to set up one business for our LLC overall, and then each property as their own business. I think it will work best for us that way. I connect our business bank account with our main LLC business acct, and then when I go to assign transactions, I can just choose to move it to whatever "business" aka property I want and then it prompts me to select the proper category to file it under.

 Another option is that you can set specific classes to properties.  I'm not sure if this can be done in Wave but it can be done in QBO.  I set each property as a class, and I can run P&L's on specific classes, and also the company as a whole.

@Brad Wood

Hi Brad!  I would go with a cloud based solution such as QuickBooks Online or Xero.  As @Gabe Meikle mentioned above you can also do this manually just keeping tracking of your expenses on a spreadsheet.  For years I converted my bank statements into excel to do my taxes at year end before I started working in accounting.  It's a good down and dirty solution if you don't have any experience in managing an accounting system.

Best of luck!

- Michael

I haven't used Buildum, but I would just try to analyze what you are trying to achieve.  Buildum is your property management tool, and there is promise of having it solve some accounting functions (which could be a major plus).  If you have some experience in the back end, bookkeeping, reconciliations, depreciation, etc this could be a good option.  Just make sure you are able to stomach any problems if they do arise.

QuickBooks Online, Xero, and the likes of products are specific for accounting functions so it's easy to rely on them for keeping your accounting in good order.  If you need to hire a pro to do this it will be a breeze as far as finding people capable (choosing them is another story).

My biggest concern with placing all of your accounting functions in a fairly unknown software to Accounting and Tax professionals, is getting someone that will be able to assist in the process if you do have problems with your books in the future.  QuickBooks and Xero are almost universal and it's fairly easy to find a pro that can assist with the tool.  Of course using Buildum and QBO will require more work, but it might save time in the long run.

If you soley rely on Buildum, you just might have to pay a pro down the road to migrate the data into QBO or the like.

- Michael

Hi Daniel!

I would start with some basic accounting software.  Quickbooks Online is pretty popular, but a free option is Wave Apps.  You want to make sure that you have all of your expenses and income accounted for, list of your properties, and work out depreciation based on whatever Canada's depreciation formula applies.  It's all country and probably province specific so I would try to find someone who is an accounting professional in your area.

Another suggestion is to have a bank account dedicated to that specific property or your real estate activity.  You want to make it as easy as possible to measure expenses, and income.

Hope that gives you a start.

- Michael

I don't have any experience with the area, But I've been incredibly interested in Puerto Rico. Short term rental like Airbnb or VRBO might be a good fit? Also more dense areas like San Juan if you are looking for a traditional rental property. Do you have anyone to network with out there?

@Scott B., I am interested as well.  It may be sometime before we see appreciation but the upside potential is tremendous.

@Juan Bravo - Best of luck on your vacation rental.  What area are you looking into.  I have taken a good look at Ponce, and Aguadilla.