All Forum Posts by: Renee Fulcer

I like to scan important stuff and store it in Dropbox.  Leases, contracts etc.   I file monthly expenses, bank statements, etc using standard business storage methods - https://www.accountingdepartment.com/blog/how-long...

Question #1 - I like Quickbooks.   Every property is a separate Class. Track Expenses by Class, Tenants are customers.   My accountant gets reports at the end of the year and it's all quite painless.  

#2 Some properties are in my name, some in my husbands name.   One business checking account takes in the money and pays the bills.  I have security deposits on some of my houses (I think we will transition to move in fees...) and those deposits are in a separate savings account.

#3 I would leave everything in one personal name or another, never both and not in a business name until/unless you have to. Going "commercial" has different rules. Loans can get more complicated, insurance gets more expensive, and in my case in IL, some things must be handled by an attorney once you go Commercial/LLC (like evictions).

#4 Bookeepers are a personal choice. If balancing a personal checkbook is something you are good at, doing your own Books for rental property isn't that much different. Most of my bills are mortgages, utilities, property management expenses, taxes. I probably spend 3 hours a week on books and I have 13 SFH + 1 11 unit. For me that's easy to handle but Books are what I've done for the last 20 years and I have 3 hours a week to spend on it.

I use Quickbooks for books and accounting and Buildium for everything else.  If I ever found something that does both equally well I'm sure I would switch, but I've used Quickbooks for 20+ years for other people's businesses - using it for mine was a no-brainer.  My home office is in a rural area,  my internet can be dicey - cloud based software is not always my friend, so there's that - my QB is on the Desktop and not online for the same reason.

I do it a little different than Shane, each property is a class, each tenant is a customer.  Just bought an 11 unit last week so there is  1 class for the building, 1 sub-class for the common area, and  1 sub-class for each unit, so there is some flexibility in how you set it up.  

Good Luck!

I'm going to try this again.  I will be there with Lloyd.  

BP Froze my account for duplicate posts so I had to change the words :-)

@Lloyd Fulcer and I will be there!

@Lloyd Fulcer and I will be there!

Can't make this one.

We'll be there!

Congratulations!

@Lloyd Fulcer and I will be there!