Tracking income/ expenses as a landlord / renovator

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Tracking income/ expenses as a landlord / renovator

Jacob Stephen
New York, NY 路 Member since 2017 路 36 posts 路 1 vote
What software do you guys use to track rental income and renovation costs. The options I can think of are Quicken or Quickbooks. Any know the pros/cons of these or other software packages? Thx
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Patrick M.
Rental Property Investor 路 Red Bank, NJ 路 Member since 2017 路 1k+ posts 路 1k+ votes
8y

I spent an awful amount of time and money on QuickBooks. I was sold on it by a number of successful business people who use it and I also purchased Nancy Neville's book as well.

But man I just kept making a mess of things- I could not coordinate my two multi-families in a coherent way and I found it to be extraordinarily inflexible! I am computer savvy, I use MS Word, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, Lightroom, Powerpoint and Excel etc. So I would like to think I am no dummy- but I was not at all comfortable with quickbooks and it was very unforgiving of mistakes.

So enter excel- I found this and I used it as a template- a little editing here and there. Then I grabbed some for keeping track of my mortgages etc.

I even created one which I am really proud of- To determine property tax increase- It lists each property and each apartment. Every year when I get the Property Tax figure I simply plug it in and it automatically generates the increase per month-per apartment based on square footage. Love it!

But if you are going to go with QuickBooks I highly recommend you go with the book by Nancy Neville to get you started!

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  • Eugene Kemp
    Ormond Beach , FL 路 Member since 2015 路 345 posts 路 223 votes
    8y

    Excel..... I like simple! 馃榾

    1Reply
  • Pat HeidingsfelderBusiness Member
    Real Estate Broker 路 Biloxi, MS 路 Member since 2016 路 169 posts 路 92 votes
    8y
    I'm also looking into this for my first rental. Seems like Quickbooks is the gold standard. I've started with YNAB since my wife and I use it for our personal finances. Seems to be okay, but not the solution.
    [email protected]228-364-1818
    MS Coast Rentals4.880 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    1Reply
  • Michael Noto
    Real Estate Agent 路 Southington, CT 路 Member since 2008 路 5k+ posts 路 3k+ votes
    8y

    Excel or quickbooks will work fine when you are small. As you scale I recommend looking into buildium. We have had good experience with them. Customer service is top notch. 

    1Reply
  • Jacob Stephen
    OP
    New York, NY 路 Member since 2017 路 36 posts 路 1 vote
    8y
    I鈥檓 going to try quickbooks. Seems like other more full service options are Appfolio and TrueRent. They offer more than just bookkeeping.
    0Reply
  • Patrick M.
    Rental Property Investor 路 Red Bank, NJ 路 Member since 2017 路 1k+ posts 路 1k+ votes
    8y

    I spent an awful amount of time and money on QuickBooks. I was sold on it by a number of successful business people who use it and I also purchased Nancy Neville's book as well.

    But man I just kept making a mess of things- I could not coordinate my two multi-families in a coherent way and I found it to be extraordinarily inflexible! I am computer savvy, I use MS Word, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, Lightroom, Powerpoint and Excel etc. So I would like to think I am no dummy- but I was not at all comfortable with quickbooks and it was very unforgiving of mistakes.

    So enter excel- I found this and I used it as a template- a little editing here and there. Then I grabbed some for keeping track of my mortgages etc.

    I even created one which I am really proud of- To determine property tax increase- It lists each property and each apartment. Every year when I get the Property Tax figure I simply plug it in and it automatically generates the increase per month-per apartment based on square footage. Love it!

    But if you are going to go with QuickBooks I highly recommend you go with the book by Nancy Neville to get you started!

    2Reply
  • Al Williamson
    Rental Property Investor 路 Sacramento, CA 路 Member since 2011 路 2k+ posts 路 1k+ votes
    8y

    Cozy.co now tracks expenses!

    0Reply
  • Kevin Phu
    Rental Property Investor 路 San Diego, CA 路 Member since 2016 路 507 posts 路 171 votes
    8y
    I use 123Landlord to track rent for my SFR house hack. Free for up to 2 tenants and has online payment portal. Haven't set up the payment portal yet.
    0Reply
  • Jordan MoorheadBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent 路 Austin, TX 路 Member since 2015 路 5k+ posts 路 3k+ votes
    8y
    Google Sheets so I can access it anywhere
    [email protected]512-888-9122
    The Moorhead Team5140 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    0Reply
  • Bettina F.
    Investor 路 Post Falls, ID 路 Member since 2016 路 606 posts 路 699 votes
    8y

    Take some time to learn Quickbooks.  Either buy a video tutor(Amazon), that you load on your computer, or take the $10 Udemy course.  Buy Nancy's book.  You need to set Quickbooks up correctly from the get go in order to get meaningful management information out of the system.   Since the demo companies on the tutorials are construction companies, it will be easy to see how to set this up to track renovation expenses.

    0Reply
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