Tax season just reminded me how disorganized I am. Spent days digging through receipts and spreadsheets trying to compile expense reports for my accountant.
How do you all track:
• Appliances and items in each unit (fridge serial numbers, HVAC install dates, etc.)
• Maintenance records and costs (what was fixed when, how much)
• Which contractor did what work
• Purchase dates/receipts for depreciation schedules
Currently using Excel but it's a mess across 5 properties. Lost track of when the water heater was replaced in one unit and ended up paying for the same repair twice.
What's working for you? Any tools you swear by or avoid?
Specifically interested in:
1. How you organize it (app, spreadsheet, paper, memory?)
2. How long it takes you to pull reports for tax time
3. Whether you've found anything that actually saves time vs creates more work
I use a combination of a small notebook (each year is a different page and each page has the properties across the top and expenses as a different line with repairs at the bottom-so I can add them as they come in). I keep my current tax year receipts/bills/anything tax related in a folder-each property's receipts are kept together. Once I do my taxes for the year, those move into another folder where I sort them by property rather. For longer term things (eg purchase price, sales price, replacement of fridges, hot water tanks, etc), I keep track of those in a spreadsheet on my computer. Not sure why I don't add that to a page in my notebook, but ...
I don't do deprecation on my taxes and I have my receipts to keep track of which contractor did what work.
Investor · Milwaukee - Mequon, WI · Member since 2010 · 5k+ posts · 7k+ votes
8mo
I was a spreadsheet guy up until 15 or 20 units, then I hired a bookkeeper.
Sorry to hear you replaced the same water heater twice, but I doubt better records would have prevented that. I am not tracking 90% of the things you list. Use a dedicated bank account for repairs connected to a dedicated credit card, don't comingle funds, that solves most of the record-keeping issues.
Rental Property Investor · Washington, DC · Member since 2018 · 198 posts · 169 votes
8mo
I use Buildium for my property management and it's absolutely fantastic for tracking everything you have described. It's worth every penny and I use Stessa for my financial reporting which makes it nice and easy for my accountant each year to file taxes and to see what my LTD, YTD return on investment is etc.
At 5 properties, if you intend to purchase more, I would highly recommend investing in legitimate software and getting things in place that way when you do scale up, you aren't wasting time trying to fumble and understand the mechanics of how everything works etc.
Stessa is free, and Buildium fees vary depending on your unit count but given your situation, it should be under $100 per month even with EFT transaction fees etc.