Quicken vs. Quickbooks

[Tom Henderson]

Hi,
I'm relatively new to Real Estate-- purchased my first duplex in South Minneapolis 1 year ago.

I'm looking for a tool that integrates with my bank account, and helps manage my financials.

There's a few posts on Quickbooks. I'm interested if anyone has compared the two software packages, and selected/used one for certain reasons.

Thanks in advance!
Tom Henderson

[Jonathan Wolter]

Part of the best solution for you rests in your longer term goals. Two years from now, do you only want the one duplex, or do you hope to expand your business?

Both options will integrate with your bank account.

For those that only will have one property, Quicken isn't so bad. Or Quicken Rental Property Manager.

But, after you decide to grow a business, you need to both learn new skill, and use business specific software. QuickBooks allows you to (mostly painlessly) learn double entry accounting, and think in terms of P&L, Balance Sheets, and Cash Flow Statements. You think like a real business owner.

I think the 'changing how you think' benefits are much more than just using one software over another. Thus, I recommend QuickBooks! Getting it set up correctly is very important, but overall you can find tips in these forums and through google.

Another tangible benefit of QuickBooks is it can handle transactions in an elegant way that are much more complicated in Quicken.

hope this helps,
Jonathan