All Forum Posts by: Ragan Manning

@Elena Scott I agree with @Charles Carillo on needing to let go. You’ll never scale if your attention is going to areas your not the master at. If you focus your energy on what your good at (aka finding deals) then find others to help with the rest. Slowly start hiring out and using the time you would have spent doing that and focus on more deals. 

I'm a bookkeeper for REI and it really depends on your portfolio if you need QBO. If you are under 5 properties you could get away with a different software or QBO simple start. You can run your properties under customer instead of classes. Anything over 10 properties I would recommend QBO plus to run your properties under classes. Now I have heard of other people use customers with a lot more properties but I personally have never done this.

Hey @Britney Omlor,

I haven’t ever used it but most softwares overlap so I doubt it will be hard to learn. You can message me on here and I can give you my email so I can try to help with any questions you have 🤗

@Nicholas Joseph congrats on your new investment! In regards to software, I use QBO and I'm a REI bookkeeper. I think it works very well and I personally don't have many problems with it. I'm not a huge fan of buildium because the accounting side (to me) is lacking. I've heard appfolio but I haven't had the chance to work in it yet. For QBO, you would need the QBO plus at minimum and your COA set up correctly. If you're doing LTR, after that's set up correctly, it's pretty straight forward.

@Wes Mccullar Is there a reason you want a local accountant instead of a virtual one? If you're looking for tax help, it's more beneficial to find someone who niches in your industry than it is to find someone local. 

@Rex Geissler What are you needing a CPA for in reference to REI? I'm not a CPA but I am a bookkeeper for REI so maybe I can help with some questions

@Rojelio Raymond Ayala (this comment is based on information gathered BUT I am not a legal guru so this is just something to think about) As mentioned above the LLC is for your protection. If you purchased the property and have a mortgage on it, it would be best to put the property in an LLC before beginning the development because of the due-on-sale clause. If it were to happen, the property would be a lot less before development would begin. I came across this post and I thought that it might help clarify things. I thought what Nathan Click had to say was very helpful. He may be a good resource to ask as well :)
With an LLC do you use commercial lending? (biggerpockets.com)

@Pandu Chimata This is great! Setting it up to match the tax statement is perfect!

@Pandu Chimata This is cool and thank you for replying! :) I love people who are excited about finances since that's the backbone of every business! Since you do flips, do you ever have an issue with expenses vs capital improvements or your COGS for your AirBnB? Is it easy for you to keep up with your depreciation on your excel sheet?

I'm curious to know what your biggest struggle is when it comes to bookkeeping and/or finances. Do you find it hard to keep track of receipts, understand accounting platforms to DIY your books, stay consistent with your bookkeeping, find time to do your bookkeeping, or maybe you even have a bookkeeper but you don't understand your reports... Is it something completely different? I'm interested in understanding what your biggest problems are.