Accounting Software?

Question

I use quickbooks now for my other businesses.......I don't really like it that much.

Does anyone have suggestion about a good accounting program for investors?

Clayton Norris · Answer

@Brenda Ast I'm with you here, been using Excel spreadsheets since 2017 and no software has had everything I wanted, which never felt like much. Tried QuickBooks and didn't like the Customer/Vendor aspect for properties and tenants. I use Buildium for tracking rent, fees, leases, and collecting online payments, but I don't use their reports for much, as I end up copying my online banking each year into spreadsheets.

I've been using Rental Hero for the last hour and already impressed with it. I'm currently adding all of my numbers for a 20-unit apartment building in for a test, and then I'll bring my other 90+ units. It's not just the taxes, but being able to at-a-glance look at expenses by the month and year, profit and loss calculating automatically, and even cash flow by property and total portfolio by month and year.

Thanks for suggesting it! For late 2024, it seems to be just what I needed. FYI, it has a free 30-day trial that has all features and doesn't require a payment or card to start using.

https://www.rentalhero.io/

Brenda Ast · Answer

I gave Rental Hero a spin this year before going to do my taxes. It's a breeze, I logged a whole year and printed off reports for my tax accountant in about two hours. I'm hooked, already into this year. You can take pictures of receipts and log in to the app or work on the desktop. I love Rental Hero, not expensive, and has no learning curve.

Brandon W. · Answer

I have used Rentalhero for 5+ years and love it.  Very simple to use and customer service is quick to reply when I've needed them.

Clayton Norris · Answer

With the ability to add and modify categories in both income and expenses, I think it could work for both commercial and residential rentals. I don't have any commercial rentals to put into it, unless commercial includes apartment buildings with more than 4 units. I have added a 20-unit apartment building and can track income and expenses across the entire building or subdivide down to each unit. With a 30-day free trial, I think it's worth trying out.

Nicole He · Answer

Can rental hero be used for both commercial and residential rentals?

Max Emory · Answer

Hey @Joshua Houchins, we use QuickBooks Online exclusively for all of our REI Clients. I use it for my personal portfolio as well. We've found it has superior reporting features, integration features, and is overall more efficient to work within than other REI-specific software.

The downside is QBO is not set up for REI so you'll need to do that or work with an expert to ensure it is set up for your business appropriately. That's the key component that is usually missing when I hear other entrepreneurs/investors say they don't like QBO.

Something else to keep in mind is your entity structure and how your entities file tax returns. As a general rule, each entity that files a separate tax return (partnership, s-corp, c-corp, etc) will need its own QBO subscription. If entities are disregarded, you can keep up with more than 1 in a single QBO account using the location/business feature to keep track of them separately. This will save you on subscription costs.

If you want to discuss any of this further, I'm happy to answer questions and help walk you through it.

Best of luck!

Roy N. · Answer

The Canadian Edition of Quickbooks really only differed from its U.S.A. cousin by having an awkward implementation of GST/HST (our VAT) and GIFI.  It still had poor locale support and was not much more International than the U.S.A. version.

Gita Faust · Answer

@Kevin Wood: For those temporary and permanent differences accounts, move them to Other Income and/or Other Expenses and see if you the reports works for you.

Andrew Syrios · Answer

Our property management software is Rentmanager and it has a great accounting module. It's not cheap though, but if you have a lot of properties, it would be something worth looking into.

Accounting Software?

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