I use excel and consolidate all income and expenses for each property (I add my mortgage payments and other landlord expenses) and make sure that my cash accounts reconcile for all my holdings (if there is a problem I call the manager and we try and figure things out).I use this excel for two things: Tracking my properties performance - mainly cash flow, cash balance, NOI and just to make sure the PM is on top of everything.I use this to input the data into QuickBooks (I do this manually). 

The play you didn't mention is consolidating units to get below 5 and off regulation.

Taking several properties and selling them with 1031 exchanges and using the proceeds to purchase one larger property is a common practice called a consolidation exchange.  

Consolidate expenses?

Whether you pay off debts, consolidate, etc. your monthly income is one of the most powerful tools for becoming financially independent.

If you own multiple buildings you can consolidate all insurnace into one master policy.

But, he also bought a small Apartment complex and some Trailer Parks to be able to consolidate his efforts in one location and save on Travel Time.

You also asked about possibly consolidating into one out of state Entity.

That just sounds like a lot of work to me :).... at that point you should just consolidate into a single multi-family project.The other aspect of crowdfunding is it lets you participate in deals you perhaps could never do yourself.

What would be your (the reader's) recommendation when it comes to consolidating and investing in real estate?