Rental Property Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2012 · 34 posts · 12 votes
Is anyone using the software YNAB (You Need a Budget) to operate their rental business? We currently use Quickbooks, but it lacks the budgeting portion that I am finding more and more critical to mapping out our cashflow and expenditures. I already use YNAB for my personal finances and love it. However, I really don't want to do double entry to both QB and YNAB in order to add these features, so I am thinking of making a clean break. Would love to hear from others that may be doing the same. How do you structure YNAB for your business?
Would anyone currently using YNAB for their Rental Property budget be willing to share their setup? Here's what I'm thinking but I'm just having some trouble setting up the whole thing.
We have 2 rental properties, so I set up a category group for each property, each with the same budget subcategories:
Legal & Professional Fees (Includes things like inspections and appraisals, as well as any wire transfer fees at closing) Advertising & Marketing Property Management Utilities Mortgage Payments Property Taxes Insurance Repairs & Maintenance Vacancy & Collections CAPEX Security Deposits (Tied to a separate savings account as required by state law)
Then I have a General Category group with the following subcategories: Travel Software Subscriptions (Includes things like YNAB any any management software I use) Printing & Office expenses (basically just printing, but I guess if I needed to buy supplies... Legal & Professional fees (Such as my tax accountant and any legal consulting I may need)
Am I missing anything that you can see? I'm not going to take a home office deduction (frankly I don't currently have a stationary home; we work from the road), but how do you handle things like your mobile phone bill, Internet expenses, etc. that you use for business. I don't have dedicated lines for these types of things.
Investor · West Jefferson, OH · Member since 2013 · 16 posts · 8 votes
11y
I am not very familiar with the YNAB software, however this link states several things that it does and does not do for a business. This seems to be a very informative article on how to structure the program to manage a business. Good luck on getting a new system set up!
Accountant · Richboro - Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2008 · 901 posts · 246 votes
11y
After reading that blog why would you want to use that specific software, when you have to use other programs to run your whole business?
You need a true accounting software where you can manage your properties all in one software. With recording money received, paid out, loans, reinvested interest, investors split, and more.
With QuickBooks you can:
-- budget each property
-- budget vs actual
-- budget your whole business
-- cash flow
-- write checks
-- and review and analyze in one software.
Ok so if one software that not do it all. All you can do is try to use 1-2 software to get all you need for KPI's
Rental Property Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2012 · 34 posts · 12 votes
11y
Thanks for the responses guys. Sounds like there isn't anyone actually using YNAB to run their rental property income and expenses through. I've gone ahead and taken a stab at setting up a company file. While I've had to figure out how to make a few things work, I think it just might do the trick. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a full accounting package, but after using Quickbooks for 3 years in Real Estate (and the 6 years prior in another business), I am realizing I don't need a lot of the features it offers. My motivating factor at this point comes down to 1 word: budgeting. Having this powerful, pro-active tool really overcomes a lot of other shortcomings and shows me where the money in my business is actually allocated. I'm going to try using it for this year and see how things go.
Investor · Shadow Hills, CA · Member since 2015 · 25 posts · 15 votes
10y
I use YNAB for our rental! Also use it for personal finances. 2 separate budgets. Love it. Everything is clean neat and organized, I have money in all my categories and have money saved up for all numerous expenses, monthly/yearly/savings/emergency funds/upgrades/repairs/deposits etc. Don't know a thing about QB, started using YNAB for our tripled because I used it for our family budget and just really liked it. We have one rental property & it makes all the recording and money saving/organizing/logging/tax season sorting etc a breeze. Love YNAB :)
Rental Property Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2012 · 34 posts · 12 votes
10y
@Keith S. Forgive my late reply! I wanted to post after I had gotten through tax season then lost track. I can honestly say that using YNAB was a big improvement in simplifying data entry over QB. It takes me much less time than QB used to. The phone app is a big plus in being able to enter expenses on the fly instead of the "pile and file" method I had going with QB. It does require a little creativity to initially setup since YNAB is really built for personal finances, but the principles of zero based accounting and giving every dollar a job (budgeting categories) make planning for expenses so much easier. No more looking at the bank balance to guess if I have enough money for an upgrade or large repair!
The interface is simple and clean. Reporting is pretty limited but adequate for basic needs. End of year tax report takes a little tweaking, but YNAB allows you to export to a CSV file for further editing before turning over to your tax accountant. Overall, I can see where YNAB would be a bit too simplistic for larger companies but it's working just dandy for my 6 units.
@Camille Joos-Visconti I love YNAB too! It's completely revamped our personal finances in a surprising kind of way. I've recommended it to half a dozen friends and most are having great success!
Investor · Saint Louis, MO · Member since 2016 · 36 posts · 7 votes
10y
Camille, you mentioned using YNAB for both personal and rental. How did you set up two budgets? I do not see an option for that. I love YNAB for my personal budget and would really like to try it with my rental property. Thank you!
Investor · Shadow Hills, CA · Member since 2015 · 25 posts · 15 votes
10y
Jean-Marie, yes... you can create multiple budgets. I am running the newest YNAB, version 5 web based. If you look at the blue column on the left of the screen, the very top there is the name of your budget and an arrow pointing down. Click on the name of your budget, and then "Create a new budget"..... There ya go! Sorry i just saw your message. I came back to this thread to see if anyone else was using this program- I'm curious as to how they set up their budgets with their property. Like what line items/envelopes people have.
Investor · Brookhaven, GA · Member since 2015 · 2 posts · 0 votes
10y
@Camille Joos-Visconti Any chance you'd be willing to share your category breakdown? I've been using YNAB for personal budget and because of the aforementioned simplicity am thinking about using it for my rentals as well. Thanks in advance!
Rental Property Investor · Ålesund, Norway · Member since 2017 · 48 posts · 24 votes
9y
Just wanted to say thanks for the discussion here. I just bought my first rental property, have already set up a separate bank account for it, and have been using YNAB for my private finances for years (and absolutely love it). So I'll stick with YNAB for now to keep track of my rental(s).
Investor · Temple, TX · Member since 2015 · 111 posts · 80 votes
9y
Following! I used to use YNAB in a previous life, and I'm about to jump back in for personal budgeting. Wondering about others possibly using it for rentals. I have three properties with seven units total, and I'm wondering if YNAB is better/more flexible than Quickbooks.
If anyone has any new information to share here, please do! And thank you for what you've shared here so far.
Fontana, CA · Member since 2017 · 16 posts · 8 votes
8y
I just discovered YNAB. I spent yesterday setting this up for my personal finances. Easy to do and user friendly. Love it!! It totally fits how i have written and managed my budget by paper and pencil. I have three rentals and going to set up a separate budget for each. I look forward to see how this works over the next few months. Excited about the iphone app so I can document my spending on the go.
Bend, OR · Member since 2017 · 63 posts · 15 votes
8y
Great idea using YNAB for the properties! I use YNAB for personal finances and absolutely love it.
How exactly would you use it for a rental property if you don't have a separate checking account? Seems like you would need a separate checking account to create a budget for the property. I suppose you could create a new category for the rental property and create sub categories for each line item. Anyone have suggestions or can they share how they do it?
Investor · Temple, TX · Member since 2015 · 111 posts · 80 votes
8y
Hi, @Denise M. Tschida! Just curious how the last six months have been using YNAB for your properties. I have three rentals, also, and I’m considering switching to YNAB for expense tracking. Have you also been able to use it for any bookkeeping? Thanks in advance for your input!
Jenkintown, PA · Member since 2018 · 4 posts · 0 votes
8y
Hi folks! I'm following with interest too - just setting up YNAB for both personal and rentals given people's recommendations. I have one question for @Denise M. Tschida, @Jessica H. or anyone else - the question is, how do you track incoming money using YNAB so that you have a nice looking income statement. Am I right that income has to be coded as "Inflow: to be budgeted" and the only way to have it organized and categorized is to be meticulous about what you put in the Payee field? Or is there a better way that I am missing? Thanks so much for your help!
Rental Property Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2008 · 29 posts · 5 votes
8y
@Claudia Lewis I code my Income as "Inflow: to be budgeted" and for the payee field I usually put the address and unit number (e.g. 123 Main St, Unit 1, 123 Main St, Unit 2)
Superior, WI · Member since 2016 · 45 posts · 30 votes
7y
@David Moore I'm glad i found this thread. I've been using YNAB since 2013 and it definitely changed the way i looked at and saved money. I can honestly say that if i hadn't started using YNAB i wouldn't have been able to save money enough in order to even start renting properties!
I bought my first rental in November(and second in February) and immediately set up a YNAB budget for it. I opened a separate checking account for all rental income and expenses in order to track that.
@Darius M. thanks for sharing what you use in the Payee field, I use cozy.co for all of my rentals and it comes over to YNAB a bit odd so i will also start inputting the address/tenant that paid.
Any residential redevelopers using YNAB for their business? I use Quickbooks Online for my property development business and I am trying to transition over to YNAB. QBO is quite robust, more expensive and has so many features I don't use or need. I LOVE the simplicity of YNAB. I wish an accountant would write a book on how to use YNAB for flipping houses/developing property
Rental Property Investor · Member since 2020 · 50 posts · 9 votes
5y
@David Moore are you still using YNAB? I realize this thread is very old but would love to hear how everyone is doing with the old QB vs YNAB debate. I'm new to YNAB and new to rental investing (closing on my first duplex in a few weeks) and trying to get everything settled before the whirlwind.
Brazoria County · Member since 2020 · 69 posts · 24 votes
5y
I use YNAB for my husband's small consulting business and it works fine. We don't have seperate bank accounts set up so I track it as section of main budget. Just did taxes and it was easy to pull report.