Business bookeeping for real estate investing

[Emily R.]

I want to organize my business books better to be able to quickly apply for loans, LOC, share with an accountant, file taxes, etc. I have 1 property in my LLC and I'm about to buy 1 more within it. Both will be managed by my PM who uses Buildium. I want to be able to pull statements quickly for my LLC that looks similar to the one I get from Buildium for my business that includes my mortgage, insurance, repairs to property (that happen before I hand them off to the PM), rental license fees, general business expenses like for my virtual mailbox & registered agent, etc. I essentially want to be able to marry the data easily from Buildium to quickly so I get a full financial view of my business. Would QuickBooks be my best bet or is there something else that would fit my needs better?

[Jake Baker]

@Emily R.

I use QuickBooks Online (QBO) for my flipping business, rental businesses, and bookkeeping clients. Many on the forums will advise against QBO. It can feel like feature overload. The main reason is that it is not initially set up for a Real Estate business like other “real estate-specific” accounting software. It takes a certain level of QB knowledge to set it up correctly. 

My Recommendation: Spreadsheets are usually fine for your first 1-3 properties. 3+ properties, you should use software. If you plan to scale at all, I recommend QBO. If you do not like bookkeeping/accounting/technology, hire a bookkeeper specializing in real estate investors.