Quickbooks for Rental properties - need help with setup

[Or Y.]

Howdy,

I've searched both here, on google and youtube - but I'm seeing so many different takes and just getting more and more confused. This website and the users here are often the best resource in the industry so I figured I should ask (and if you have a link to a recent thread here that already covered the topic - please share).

Long story short: I'm tired of trying (and failing) to control my accounting using google spreadsheets, I tried using Stessa last year but they were not reliable, and with my recent TX real estate license I figured I should just get my entire accounting in order and use a proper tool. Everyone were recommending Quickbooks Plus so I opened an account.

From past experience, I know that it's better to set it up properly from the get-go instead of doing OJT, hence this thread.

Generally speaking: my household got multiple businesses - I got a real estate transactions income, the wife got interior design income, and both of us got rental properties. I'm planning to differentiate between the three using the locations feature on QB.

I think I got a good grasp of how to manage our businesses, but the rentals are giving me a harder time. 

My current plan is to define a class per rental property, and assign my tenants as customers (when they pay rent). But I'm not sure how to go about creating a proper Chart of Accounts.

I'd like to have IRS Schedule E form as the type of expenses, but I'm not sure what is the Account Type and the Detail Type I should utilize.

And generally speaking, I'd love to learn from those who use this tool - how do you use it? Any best-practices I should get familiar with?

Thanks,
Or

[Todd Lennig]

Ideally you should be using a different QuickBooks account for each business.  If I read your thread correctly it sounds like you are running three businesses, at the very least one bank account for each business.   

Chart of accounts can be tricky. Feel free to send me a dm with specific questions and I will do my best to help you out.