How much is bookeeping usually?

How much is bookeeping usually?

New to Real Estate · NY · Member since 2023 · 127 posts · 58 votes

For those of who have/use a bookeeper, how much are you paying? If you could indicate how many doors you have and how much you pay that would be awesome and very much appreciated. I'm looking to get a range from the responses. Thank you. 

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Rental Property Investor · Perry Hall, MD · Member since 2016 · 591 posts · 606 votes
2y

Flat rate of $800/month to a bookkeeper that specializes in real estate. I have 19 long term rentals and do some wholesaling/flips as well.

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  • Abel CurielBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Queens, NY · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    2y
    Quote from @Carlo D.:

    For those of who have/use a bookeeper, how much are you paying? If you could indicate how many doors you have and how much you pay that would be awesome and very much appreciated. I'm looking to get a range from the responses. Thank you. 


     Hello Carlo,

    I've used Quickbooks virtual bookkeeping services to manage 4 bank accounts for 2 companies.

    My stuff is pretty straight forward, not too complicated.

    I pay $300/month + an additional $65 for using the software.

    All the best!

    Abel

    REbuild Team - eXp Realty5239 Reviews
  • Rental Property Investor · Perry Hall, MD · Member since 2016 · 591 posts · 606 votes
    2y

    Flat rate of $800/month to a bookkeeper that specializes in real estate. I have 19 long term rentals and do some wholesaling/flips as well.

  • New to Real Estate · NY · Member since 2023 · 127 posts · 58 votes
    2y
    Quote from @Jon K.:

    Flat rate of $800/month to a bookkeeper that specializes in real estate. I have 19 long term rentals and do some wholesaling/flips as well.

    Thank you for the info 
  • New to Real Estate · NY · Member since 2023 · 127 posts · 58 votes
    2y
    Quote from @Abel Curiel:
    Quote from @Carlo D.:

    For those of who have/use a bookeeper, how much are you paying? If you could indicate how many doors you have and how much you pay that would be awesome and very much appreciated. I'm looking to get a range from the responses. Thank you. 


     Hello Carlo,

    I've used Quickbooks virtual bookkeeping services to manage 4 bank accounts for 2 companies.

    My stuff is pretty straight forward, not too complicated.

    I pay $300/month + an additional $65 for using the software.

    All the best!

    Abel


     Thank you Abel

  • Cliff BennerBusiness Member
    Accountant · Denver, CO · Member since 2020 · 394 posts · 183 votes
    2y

    I charge around $70/hour, I set my clients up on a flat amount per month though. So I take what you have and what you expect, estimate the time it would take in a whole year of work and create my flat rate.

    I notice short term rentals are about 1 hour a month of work per property, since we need to track each property's Profit & Loss for Tax time, this is also tracking a mortgage and depreciation as well for that property. LTR are about 40minutes a month each for the same tracking. 

    Fix and Flips are different, you are running more of a product based business and needs to be tracked a different way, that one is more of 2 hours a month/flip to make sure we are classifying it correctly and tracking it as a project. 

    Abel is correct that you will pay about $65/month for the software as well, assuming you have more than one property. With just a quick estimation Jon K's bookkeeping is under what I would estimate with only the info he gave me, seeing a bank statement and asking more questions would give me a better idea. 

    I am more than happy to hop on a call with you and see how I could help and give any opinions. 

    Benner Stride52 Reviews
  • Accountant · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2019 · 247 posts · 135 votes
    2y

    It depends there are a lot of factors that were left out. Are there mortgages? Short term or long term? Are there other loans? How many bank/credit cards? For example if you have 10 different bank accounts with 6 different loans than it would cost more than a business with 4 bank accounts and no loans. We start at $250 per month. That's for a straightforward real estate business. 

  • Bonnie LowPro Member
    Lender · Asheville, NC · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    2y
    Quote from @Carlo D.:

    For those of who have/use a bookeeper, how much are you paying? If you could indicate how many doors you have and how much you pay that would be awesome and very much appreciated. I'm looking to get a range from the responses. Thank you. 


     We were paying our bookkeeper $450/mo plus I was spending another $90/mo on our Quickbooks subscription. We have 5 doors. To me, it was way too much so I decided to take on bookkeeping myself. Unfortunately, I learned very quickly that QB was too complicated for me to use. I looked at several different bookkeeping platforms and ended up choosing Baselane. It's easy enough for me to use myself and has a lot of other features that help me manage my rental portfolio and take more of the day-to-day management in house, like vetting tenants, collecting security deposits and rents and its other banking features. At this point, I wouldn't go back to paying a bookkeeper. The other benefit of doing it myself is that it's forced me to be much more involved and to better understand the finances of my investing business. It's led to better accountability. 

  • Rental Property Investor · Perry Hall, MD · Member since 2016 · 591 posts · 606 votes
    2y
    Quote from @Cliff Benner:

    I charge around $70/hour, I set my clients up on a flat amount per month though. So I take what you have and what you expect, estimate the time it would take in a whole year of work and create my flat rate.

    I notice short term rentals are about 1 hour a month of work per property, since we need to track each property's Profit & Loss for Tax time, this is also tracking a mortgage and depreciation as well for that property. LTR are about 40minutes a month each for the same tracking. 

    Fix and Flips are different, you are running more of a product based business and needs to be tracked a different way, that one is more of 2 hours a month/flip to make sure we are classifying it correctly and tracking it as a project. 

    Abel is correct that you will pay about $65/month for the software as well, assuming you have more than one property. With just a quick estimation Jon K's bookkeeping is under what I would estimate with only the info he gave me, seeing a bank statement and asking more questions would give me a better idea. 

    I am more than happy to hop on a call with you and see how I could help and give any opinions. 


    My last bookkeeper cost a lot more per month and did a much worse job. I feel pretty fortunate with my current arrangement.

  • Cliff BennerBusiness Member
    Accountant · Denver, CO · Member since 2020 · 394 posts · 183 votes
    2y
    Quote from @Jon K.:
    Quote from @Cliff Benner:

    I charge around $70/hour, I set my clients up on a flat amount per month though. So I take what you have and what you expect, estimate the time it would take in a whole year of work and create my flat rate.

    I notice short term rentals are about 1 hour a month of work per property, since we need to track each property's Profit & Loss for Tax time, this is also tracking a mortgage and depreciation as well for that property. LTR are about 40minutes a month each for the same tracking. 

    Fix and Flips are different, you are running more of a product based business and needs to be tracked a different way, that one is more of 2 hours a month/flip to make sure we are classifying it correctly and tracking it as a project. 

    Abel is correct that you will pay about $65/month for the software as well, assuming you have more than one property. With just a quick estimation Jon K's bookkeeping is under what I would estimate with only the info he gave me, seeing a bank statement and asking more questions would give me a better idea. 

    I am more than happy to hop on a call with you and see how I could help and give any opinions. 


    My last bookkeeper cost a lot more per month and did a much worse job. I feel pretty fortunate with my current arrangement.


     That is a great point as well, I have noticed there are a lot of Accountants/Bookkeepers out there that have no idea what they are doing with Real Estate and they think it is like other types of business, they charge based off those businesses and find out they have to do more work and Real Estate needs more details and separate reporting and they do the bare minimum which ends with an investor having to pay someone like me to clean up everything and get them back on track. I have seen some of these "Bookkeepers" who have a set price and then get VAs to do a lot of the work and they send pretty Excel financials over to make it look like they are great but they don't actually know the concepts and how it all flows together. Those type of bookkeepers are the reason i will always be able to make revenue. 

    Glad you found someone Jon, I really hate seeing Business Owners struggle or go under because of low quality Bookkeepers that don't make accurate financials for the Owners to make better decisions. 

    Benner Stride52 Reviews
  • Alecia LovelessPro Member
    Member since 2019 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    2y

    @Carlo D. I’m in a rather rural area so my rates may be a little lower than average.

    I have just started with a bookkeeper to do my 2023 book and going forward. She is $50/hour and has spent a considerable amount of time getting my books straightened out to utilize Quickbooks.

    I have sent two $500 payments and everything is just about set up.

    I believe with her discounted rate I will be charged $26/month for my Quickbooks account.

    I currently have 7 buildings with 25 units for reference.

    We are only dealing with 8 checking accounts related to my buildings. Each building has its own checking account. (I sold one building but the bookkeeping still has to be done on it for 2023).

  • New to Real Estate · NY · Member since 2023 · 127 posts · 58 votes
    2y
    Quote from @Alecia Loveless:

    @Carlo D. I’m in a rather rural area so my rates may be a little lower than average.

    I have just started with a bookkeeper to do my 2023 book and going forward. She is $50/hour and has spent a considerable amount of time getting my books straightened out to utilize Quickbooks.

    I have sent two $500 payments and everything is just about set up.

    I believe with her discounted rate I will be charged $26/month for my Quickbooks account.

    I currently have 7 buildings with 25 units for reference.

    We are only dealing with 8 checking accounts related to my buildings. Each building has its own checking account. (I sold one building but the bookkeeping still has to be done on it for 2023).

    Thank you @Alecia Loveless. So with 1 checking account per building, where do you set aside the funds for all the other variable expenses?

  • Basit SiddiqiBusiness Member
    Accountant · New York, NY · Member since 2015 · 8k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    2y

    I think a more appropriate question to get a better quote

    1) Instead of doors, it should be properties.
    If you are okay with tracking by the overall property.
    If you also want further tracking by unit, it would be more work and likely a larger bill.

    2) How many Accounts do you have(Bank Accounts, Credit Cards and mortgages)
    3) How many transactions do you have per account, 50 transactions will take more time/work than an 5 monthly transactions.

  • Simon W.Business Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Lehigh Valley PA & New York City · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 688 votes
    2y

    It really depends the type of work and the volume.

    This is why accountants/bookkeepers do not have a flat-rate that they charge to every client.

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  • Sarita ScherpereelBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Chicago, IL · Member since 2018 · 659 posts · 376 votes
    2y

    I use and hate quickbooks. I pay my accountant an addition 1200 or 1500 for the year to manage that end as well. 

  • Rental Property Investor · 100% Remote · Member since 2019 · 12 posts · 3 votes
    2y

    Hi @Carlo D.,

    The short answer is it depends. To give a ballpark: Aside from clean-up and set up fees, for CPA reviewed bookkeeping you can expect to pay $100+ per month (per property) for an LTR, probably 20-30% more for an MTR or STR. Depending on how many properties you have with a bookkeeper, those prices go down with economies of scale.

  • Jake BakerBusiness Member
    Flipper/Rehabber · San Diego, CA · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 696 votes
    7mo

    @Carlo D.

    Finding a reliable real estate bookkeeper usually costs between $300 and $800 per month, depending on your portfolio's complexity and the number of bank accounts involved. For a small portfolio of 5 to 10 doors, you can expect to pay on the lower end, while larger portfolios with 20+ units or active flips often command higher flat rates. Professional rates often hover around $50 to $100 per hour if they aren't on a fixed monthly retainer. 

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