All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Dan:  To Customize the fields on a Tenant Invoice, Security Deposit, Etc., YOU CREATE THE FORM via the Define Fields, and then when you enter in the Tenants information you will just fill out the form according to the information you said you wanted to see. 

This form will show up on every tenant you have, you just have to fill in THEIR Information in the form, in that field,  and once you do that you never have to fill in that form again for them. 

I use QuickBooks Pro Desktop Version. That's all we need as Landlords.  We don't need QuickBooks Premier as that is more for industries that uses Inventory.  The Higher you go in QuickBooks (Versions) depends on how much data you need to enter.  If you have hundreds of properties you want to use a higher version of QuickBooks.  But QuickBooks Pro will handlea ton of data. I forget how much right now, but you would have to go big time to run out of room in your software program. 

When I had the Accountants Version of QuickBooks it had a Fixed Asset Manager.  But I haven't used that for awhile, and Quickbooks Premier might have a Fixed Asset Manager.

But all we need is the Fixed Asset Items list and we can customize it to our liking.  

Nancy Neville

Here are some screen shots of how I CUSTOMIZED QuickBooks that worked for me.  Double click on the screen shot to see it in a larger form. 

Also do a CTRL plus the + key to expand it even larger.

The Above is the Tenant Ledger.  To the Left is the list of properties and the Tenants who live there.  To the Right is the information regarding the Tenant's History.  Payments, Security Deposits, Late Fees, Bounced Checks, whatever involves this tenant will show up on the right hand side.  You have a contacts tab, To Do Tab, Notes Tab, and A correspondence Tab.  All at your fingertips.  Quickly accessible. 

The Screen shot below is in your Fixed Asset Items List:  This is where you can customize QuickBooks to show you everything you want to know about this property.  

We can see the Address, the Purchase Price, Land Description, Etc. 

In the screen shot below you will see where I further Customized this form to show me the 

*Year it was built

*Square Feet

* When the new furnace was installed

*When a New Water Heater was installed

*New Carpeting

(All these screenshots are demo files not my real files)

Now we get to Customize our Templates.  Invoices we send our tenants, When we receive a Security Deposit, Pet Deposit, Late Fees, Etc. 

We can add a photo, a logo, color, anything you want you can add it to this form.  You can make the entire form Blue, or any color you wish.  The world is yours when it comes to QuickBooks. 

Notice on these forms that I CUSTOMIZED IT TO ALWAYS show their 

*Move In Date

*Security Deposit

*Current Rent

*Lease Expiration Date

The Same thing with the Pet Deposit Receipt

Security Deposit

TENANT BILLING INVOICE   

This is just a little bit of what QuickBooks can do for you.  

It just doesn't get any better than that.

Nancy Neville

Joe:  I was a landlord in the  City of Detroit for 13 years (husband 30 years) and I handled my own cases and I never lost a case ever.  

When I refer to QuickBooks being the best, it is because it provided professional data, Tenant History that impressed the Judges no matter what court I was in.  My evidence and documents printed out in such a neat an organized manner, impressed them to where they looked favorable on me as a business woman who knew what she was doing. 

Excel is good for the home, but what business, big business uses Excel for their data entry?   Excel has it's purpose and it's place, but not in what we do.   

Real Estate Brokers even use QuickBooks. 

And I'm talking about OUR INDUSTRY.  The Landlord Industry.  Where WE CAN CUSTOMIZE QuickBooks to fit our own Industry.  There is none better than QuickBooks for Customizing. 

I agree that any thing is junk if we don't use it properly.  That is a given.  I'm talking about Landlords who think just because they only have one property or two, don't need to have a software that will give them the data that they so desperately need.

How many times have you tried to find something in your file cabinet that you needed right away, because you are on a phone call regarding a matter, and you just can't seem to find the physical document?

Of course Excel is not Junk, but it is junk if we depend on an Excel program to provide us the data that we need that will please a Judge.  It's a baby compared to what we need. 

We invest tens of thousands of dollars into our business.  We need to be a little bit smarter than just using Excel.  

I've been a landlord a very long time, I know what I'm talking about.  Whether anyone believes me doesn't matter.  I'm just giving my advice based on 13 years as a Landlord and an additional 10 years in Real Estate.  And I've been using QuickBooks since 1998.  

I'm not an employee of QuickBooks.  I am a retired landlord and a believer in QuickBooks who wants to help others on here know what will work for them and why.  That's all I can do.  And that's all I'm trying to do now. 

Nancy Neville

Okay, all this talk has triggered my buttons.  

Whether you own one house or 100 houses you are a "Business".  The IRS will see you as a "Business".  You should have an accountant and they will view you as a "Business".  

If you don't recognize yourself as being a "Professional Business Person" then don't expect your tenants to view you as a "Professional Business" as well.  You will be just some person that's renting your home.  

Whether you own one house or 100 houses, you want to keep track of your finances with a software program that will grow with you as you grow.   You will want a software program that will give your "hard money lender" a look as how professional you really are, and that is done through organization, with a good and detail record keeping.  

Sure you can buy cheap junk software that will keep track like an Excel Spread Sheet or online programs, but when it comes down to protecting yourself with documentations in regards to an eviction, nothing will compare to QuickBooks when it comes down to evidence that you will need in a court of law.  

Whether you have one property or 100 properties, you should always present yourself as a "business person" who has it all together, right down to the penny.  Who can provide data to anyone who asked, whether a court, an inspector, a tenant, a money lender, or whatever,  you will have it ready for them in seconds and it will be organized, and it will be perfect, and they will look at you as someone who they will listen too and take seriously.

If you think being a Landlord is a Hobby whether you have one property or 100, you better think twice about that.

YOU are responsible for the neighborhood, (depreciation of it, it's safety) and you are responsible for the people who live there, in your home, to have a safe and comfortable experience while they rent from you.

YOU have more responsibility than most other Industries.  Whether you have one property or 100 properties, people will look at you as either a good landlord or a bum.  

This is a SERIOUS BUSINESS, and you deserve to have the best software program out there for OUR INDUSTRY, that will protect you and give you the evidence and documentation that you need and when you need it. 

I was a landlord for many years in a very tough city, if I hadn't have had Quickbooks to help document everything that went on in my business we wouldn't have lasted 30 years in the business.

I highly recommend QuickBooks Pro Desktop !!!

Nancy Neville

1. Customized Features – The QuickBooks Desktop version has several features that are not available in the online version. This includes the ability to prepare 1099s, budget and track mileage and expenses. In general, the desktop version allows more freedom to customize forms than QuickBooks Online.

2.  The Desktop version has a Fixed Asset Items List which allows you to enter in additional information about your houses, customize it to say square feet, year it was built, land descriptions, etc. 

3.  Buy the Desktop Version and it can last you for years before you need to upgrade.   Whereas with the Online version you are paying a huge monthly fee .

It produces perfect and professional Profit and Loss Reports. 

Nancy Neville

Josiah, once again we must remember that time is of the essence.  When you have other "hands-in-the-pot-(so-called "Perks") handled by other entities, then the tenant has an excuse to tell the landlord the reason their rent is late or has not been received is due to the party handling collecting their rent payments.  That, the Collection Agency lost their payment.  Therefore, they are not responsible for their rent being late.  And they would be absolutely correct.  Which means you must wait for the collection agency to find their error, which could take days or weeks before YOU receive credit for the rent the tenant paid. This means that if you had to evict this tenant for non-payment of rent, you cannot do it until proof has been given to you that the Tenant DID NOT PAY THEIR RENT.  

 If a tenant pays YOU directly via mail and the rent gets lost in the mail, then it is up to THE TENANT to research what happened to their rent by going to the bank and having a search placed on the money order or check.  But this doesn't relieve them of the duty of their rent being due now!  They must pay you for the rent that is due while they wait for the bank to research what happened to their check or money order.   

The difference, of course, is that the tenant still owes you the rent for this month and is due now, because it is just a "he said, "She said" type scenario.  They could have canceled the check and kept the receipt and therefore the receipt is a lie.  They didn't send you the rent at all.  It is a Stall Tactic that is used by some tenants to stall the eviction process. Therefore, you tell them they still need to pay their rent that is due now, and they will be reimbursed by the bank once the research is done.  (This has happened quite a bit when a tenant starts having financial problems)

 If the Collection Agency lost the rent, then YOU have to wait for the people YOU HIRED to find the error and therefore the Tenant is not responsible for the rent that was lost, as they will have a receipt written to them from YOUR COLLECTION AGENCY, and therefore you know that the Collection Agency did in fact accept their rent) Therefore the Tenants will not have to pay their current rent now, because the receipt shows they did and they paid it to YOUR COLLECTION AGENCY.

Now, I want you to repeat everything I said, three times real fast, as it is quite a tongue twister.  LOL Whew!

Nancy Neville

QuickBooks grows as you grow.  My husband and I owned 40 rental properties which ranged from apartments to single-family homes.  I have been using QuickBooks Pro since 1998. 

As you grow in your company, and I mean you have to get huge to outgrow QuickBooks Pro, you would then want to move up to QuickBooks Enterprise Solution.  The BIG DADDY of QuickBooks that we don't talk about much on here, because you have to be a BIG DADDY in order to want it.    I believe QuickBooks Enterprise Solution is about $5,000, not sure anymore at the price. 

I have been involved with Real Estate Companies, big Real Estate Brokers who use QuickBooks Pro or Premier.  If they can use it with all their properties, you can use it for just what you plan to purchase.  

As Kevin above states, you can track all your properties via the Class Feature.  It gives you a break down of income for that property, less expenses for that property, giving you your bottom line for that property. It just doesn't get any better or simpler than that. 

Foot Note:  

Just my opinion.  Do you know what the best rent collection system is on the market?  It's called an Envelope and a Stamp paid for by your tenants.  

Why pay extra money to collect rents from tenants who are supposedly adults and who you CHOSE because they paid their bills on time.  (Or you should have chosen those types of tenants, and they always should be COLLECTIBLE.  If not always get a CO-SIGNER who is also COLLECTIBLE)

In today's society, we take away the responsibility of others by making their life simpler but adding extra burdens to our own industry and ourselves.   It cost money to pay someone to collect rents when it's the tenants' responsibility to pay their rent on time. 

Time is of the essence when it comes to our industry.  Banks, rent collection agencies are closed on holidays, and weekends or and sometimes, they make mistakes.  Why do you think our Mortgage Lenders don't send someone to us to collect our mortgage payments? Or hire a business to collect the mortgage payments for them from us?  Because it would cost them to do so, and because we SIGNED A CONTRACT, that had a due date, and because we QUALIFIED for the money as ADULTS which makes it OUR RESPONSIBILITY to make sure we get our payments to them on time or pay a late fee.  Life is really simple if we just trust in the system of people being responsible for their own actions.   Don't treat your tenants like children.  

Landlords have invested tens of thousands of dollars in their homes and yet we treat out tenants like children under the guise that we are just making it easier for them to pay their rent.  Competing with the competition, by offering them such a service since everyone seems to be doing it.   

Let me tell you.  If you have good rentals, having a collection agency or another way for them to pay their rent will not make them rent from you if you have a dump just because you have an easier way for them to pay their rent. 

Just my opinion.

Nancy Neville

That is good news Michael.  

Make it an OFFICE EXPENSE:  Equipment: Lawnmower (if it is a cheap lawnmower)   Or, make it a Fix Asset Account which you can depreciate each year if it's a riding lawnmower.  

Nancy Neville

Is Landlording a business or a hobby?  There are several reasons landlords need a robust software program, and one of them is to see where we stand financially.  If we are making money or not.  But what most landlords don't seem to understand, is that a professional Financial Software Program, can mean everything in winning a case when it comes to an eviction or not,  and provide evidence, when a tenant says that you never took care of those repairs.  Or that they paid their rent and you didn't give them credit for it.  Or that their Security Deposit was $1000.00 when it really was only $550.00.  An Excell Spreadsheet is just a summary of things, but it isn't a true documentation of the facts. 

When I would go to court I printed out the Tenant Ledger Sheet (History of their payments and what they were billed for, whether it was for damages they did, late rent, whatever it may be,) and I printed out their History from QuickBooks along with phone messages, left on my machine, letters I wrote them, their lease agreement and everything that transpired from the day they filled out an application to the day I had to go to court. 

When the Judges saw how prepared I was, the evidence I provided, they knew that I was a professional and they respected that.  The tenant's had better now prove their case and provide their evidence, which they couldn't do because they didn't have an excuse, they didn't have any evidence to counterclaim my evidence.  

So, having a Software Program like QuickBooks, can really save you a lot of money.

Try giving a Judge a print out of an Excel Spreadsheet.  See how far that goes.  The Judge's eyes only want to focus on the tenant in his or her courtroom and not have to look at everybody's stuff stuck together on a spreadsheet.  

In the 13 years I was a landlord I did my own evictions and I never lost a case.  Why?  Because QuickBooks was my very best friend.  Plus I had Vonage Phone and I had Stamps.com.  All these things provided me with evidence that won my cases for me in court.  I very rarely had to say much of anything.  All I had to do was to hand my evidence to the Judge and he or she took it from there. 

I took on DTE Energy and won.  I won my case because I had QuickBooks.  I had proof that the Tenant was still staying in my home and the light bill belonged to her.  It was all documented in Quickbooks. 

I took on the City of Detroit over a Trash Case, and I won despite the fact that the prosecuting attorney told me if I couldn't prove my case I'd get 90 days in jail.  I did win the case.  When the Judge took the stand and they called my name, the prosecuting attorney, told the Judge that the case was dismissed. 

I'm not a lawyer, but I have common sense.  I document everything under the sun.  I make sure I have backup to win my cases and that was QuickBooks, Vonage Phone and Stamps.com, and of course the Lease Agreement, letters written to the tenant and anything they wrote or said to you. 

So, you may start out with one house and think a spreadsheet is fine.  But you can be sued whether you have one house or 100 houses.  You better be prepared.

Nancy Neville