Is Quickbooks good for bookkeeping in real estate?

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Is Quickbooks good for bookkeeping in real estate?

Jeff Harding
Member since 2023 · 2 posts · 2 votes

I'm a partner in a small intermediate level real estate company.  We own just a single family home and condo for long term rentals and a four-plex for mid-term rentals.   Although we are looking to begin scaling aggressively and growing.   We started working with Stessa but the automatic bank sync always has errors and we have to call support for the bank and Stessa to get it to work again, or we have to enter transactions manually.   We are also growing to a level where we don't want to do our own taxes any more and want to hire a CPA.  It seems all CPAs are trained in Quickbooks making tax filing easy.   Although I am reading that Quickbooks requires some work arounds for real estate since it is not specifically designed for it.   Does anyone have any feedback on Quickbooks that uses it for their books?   Does it work well or would you recommend something else to replace Stessa?   We use Rent Redi as our property management software and are happy with that. 

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Aaron ZimmermanBusiness Member
Accountant · Chicago, IL · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
4mo

It can Be. I'd say the majority of my clients use quickbooks and seems to work well

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  • Greg ScottPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · SE Michigan · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 6k+ votes
    4mo

    I've used Quickbooks for years, both for SFRs and for our management company.  I've not seen anything I could not manage.  What "workarounds" are you referring to?

    My biggest complaint with QB is that they eliminated the desktop version.  I never needed any of their online capabilities.  At one point I was using QB for six separate holding companies.  Under their subscription model that would have been $120 per month, which was stupid expensive compared to a $99 one-time charge.

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  • Aaron ZimmermanBusiness Member
    Accountant · Chicago, IL · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    4mo

    It can Be. I'd say the majority of my clients use quickbooks and seems to work well

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  • Jake BakerBusiness Member
    Flipper/Rehabber · San Diego, CA · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 695 votes
    4mo

    @Jeff Harding

    I use QuickBooks Online (QBO) for my flipping business, rental businesses, and bookkeeping clients. QBO has every feature you need to run a business, excellent reporting features, and integration with other software. It is the most popular software in the industry, and most Tax Preparers are familiar with it, which makes tax season easier.

    You can separate properties by class. You can manage your tenants as customers. You can create property-specific profit and loss statements. Many on the forums will advise against QBO. It can feel like feature overload sometimes. 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.

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  • Brandon M. Townsend
    Member since 2026 · 28 posts · 22 votes
    4mo

    One thing I've noticed with growing real estate portfolios is that the accounting software itself is rarely the bottleneck—the reporting structure and processes usually are.

    As your portfolio grows, lenders, investors, CPAs, and partners all start asking for information in different ways. At that point, consistency becomes more important than convenience.

    I've worked with a number of developers and operators who started with real estate-specific platforms because they were easy to use, but eventually migrated to QuickBooks simply because every CPA, lender, bookkeeper, and financial professional already knew how to work with it.

    If you're planning to scale aggressively, I'd evaluate the software based on:

    • CPA compatibility
    • Reporting flexibility
    • Entity-level tracking
    • Capital expenditure tracking
    • Project and renovation accounting
    • Ease of lender reporting

    The platform that saves 30 minutes a month today may not be the platform that supports 50 units, multiple entities, renovations, or future development projects.

    Personally, I'd be less concerned about whether QuickBooks requires a few real estate workarounds and more concerned about whether your future CPA, lenders, and partners can easily work within the system.

    Curious to hear from larger operators—at what portfolio size did you decide it was time to move beyond Stessa?

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  • Basit SiddiqiBusiness Member
    Accountant · New York, NY · Member since 2015 · 8k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    4mo

    Stessa has gone downhill from what a lot of clients have been telling me.
    I think it was purchased by a private equity firm a few years ago and the quality has gone downhill.

    Furthermore, Stessa normally does not generate a balance sheet with the free version. Balance sheets(Complete financials) are normally required when you have an entity.

    I would recommend either REIHUB or Quickbooks.

    Best of luck!

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  • Daren Viray
    Member since 2026 · 2 posts · 0 votes
    4mo

    Bookkeeper here — QBO is still widely used in the REI space and it'll make your CPA's life much easier.

    The workarounds people mention are real but not a big deal once you’re set up correctly. You use Classes to track each property separately, and having your Chart of Accounts properly set up early will help you a lot down the road.

    One thing worth knowing — multiple entities can technically be handled under one QBO setup using the Location (Business) feature, though that’s not what Intuit recommends since they’d prefer each entity has its own account. But it is costly, and a bit cumbersome since you need to login and logout to manage each entity. Something to keep in mind as you scale.

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  • Jeff Harding
    OP
    Member since 2023 · 2 posts · 2 votes
    4mo

    thanks for all the input everyone.   Based on the feedback it seems that because it is not real estate specific that you need to set it up properly from the beginning.   Any bookkeepers out there that would be willing to just help us with the setup, and then we can manage it ongoing?   We are in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and prefer to work with someone local but are open to others as well.  If interested, please respond and we can set up a meeting. 

    Also, I didn't mention in my original post that we also own a LLC that is part of a self directed IRA for offering private money lending and also owning/managing rental properties. this has certain tax nuances so it would be great if we can work someone that is familiar with these nuances.

    Thanks!

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    • Andrew SeverinoBusiness Member
      Broker / Owner / Real Estate Investor · Fairhope, AL · Member since 2017 · 36 posts · 14 votes
      1mo
      Quote from @Jeff Harding:

      thanks for all the input everyone.   Based on the feedback it seems that because it is not real estate specific that you need to set it up properly from the beginning.   Any bookkeepers out there that would be willing to just help us with the setup, and then we can manage it ongoing?   We are in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and prefer to work with someone local but are open to others as well.  If interested, please respond and we can set up a meeting. 

      Also, I didn't mention in my original post that we also own a LLC that is part of a self directed IRA for offering private money lending and also owning/managing rental properties. this has certain tax nuances so it would be great if we can work someone that is familiar with these nuances.

      Thanks!


       I can help you if you still need it. I am a Quickbooks ProAdvisor and have been managing my own properties since 1996. I figured out how to use Quickbooks for property management many years ago before online platforms were available - I got no help from anybody and it took about two years of the full cycle of monthly reconciliations and tax prep too figured it out. But it is very easy when set up properly with some explanation. Quickbooks sales reps actually used to tell landlords to contact me directly to help them set up their Quickbooks for property management around 2012-2013. For small portfolios use Quickbooks with classes, you need atleats the QBO plus subscription to use classes, Elite also has classes (unlimited) but you probably don't need Elite. I currently use Quickbooks Online for my smaller portfolio that just has a few vacation rentals, and I use Appfolio of other portfolios that include a 48 unit apartment complex and multiple smaller multifamily properties across a couple of partnerships. Appfolio is awesome, but I would take Quickbooks over Appfolio for short term rentals, and the expense and power of Appfolio is not warranted unless you have at least 20+ units (in my humble option). If you plan on growing and don't mind the cost of Appfolio and want to jump right in you can, but Quickbooks really does work well for smaller rental portfolios. You just have to think about it differently than your typical Quickbooks user (selling products and services, doing inventory, having some payroll etc. - stores and service companies). 

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  • Jason MalabuteBusiness Member
    Accountant · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 901 votes
    4mo

    From the accounting side, I'd second moving off Stessa. A lot of investors have noticed it slipping since it changed hands, and its free version won't generate a balance sheet, which you'll really want once you're operating through an entity. QuickBooks is a solid choice, and since most CPAs already work in it, tax season gets a lot smoother. Just plan to set it up with each property tracked separately from the start so you can pull a profit-and-loss per property. If you'd rather have something built specifically for rentals, REI Hub is another one worth a look. The best fit really depends on how you're structured and where you're headed, so it's worth talking through with whoever ends up handling your books.

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  • Account Closed
    Lender · TX · Member since 2026 · 164 posts · 67 votes
    3mo

    From what I’ve seen, QuickBooks is very common among real estate investors, especially once they reach the point of working with a CPA or bookkeeper. One of its biggest advantages is that nearly every accounting professional is familiar with it, which can make tax preparation and financial reporting much smoother.

    That said, you’re correct that QuickBooks isn’t specifically built for real estate. Investors often have to use classes, locations, or a customized chart of accounts to track properties separately and generate property-level reports.

    For a portfolio your size, QuickBooks could work well, particularly if your goal is to scale and eventually hand bookkeeping off to a professional. The tradeoff is that you may lose some of the real estate-specific features that platforms like Stessa provide out of the box.

    I’m curious what other investors are using as they grow beyond a handful of units:

    • Has anyone successfully transitioned from Stessa to QuickBooks?
    • Are there any real estate-specific bookkeeping platforms that integrate well with property management software?
    • For those with larger portfolios, do you still use QuickBooks, or have you moved to something else?

    It seems like the ideal solution would combine real estate-specific reporting with CPA-friendly accounting and reliable bank integrations.

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  • Gregory Kraft
    Accountant · Fillmore, CA · Member since 2023 · 1 post · 0 votes
    3mo

    We use Quickbooks Online for all of our clients and it works well, as long as you set it up correctly. Using the "Class" option helps track each expense and income transaction to it's appropriate job or project. Quickbooks Online can be a little more pricey than other bookkeeping softwares, but it is by far the best in my opinion. 

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  • Gita FaustBusiness Member
    Accountant · Richboro - Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2008 · 901 posts · 246 votes
    3mo

    QuickBooks can work very well for real estate, but only if it is set up correctly. The biggest mistake I see is using a generic chart of accounts and then wondering why the reports do not make sense.

    Since you are happy with RentRedi, I would keep it as your property management system and use QuickBooks for your accounting/tax reporting. RentRedi can manage the tenant side, while QuickBooks can handle the books, property-level reporting, loans, expenses, owner contributions, and CPA handoff.

    The “workarounds” people talk about usually come from the fact that QuickBooks is not property management software. But for accounting, it can be a strong tool when the structure is built around real estate from day one.

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  • Eric Nguyen
    Edgewater, NJ · Member since 2013 · 29 posts · 2 votes
    3mo

    We use quickbooks for 90% of our clients

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  • Rachid AbadliBusiness Member
    Investor · Sacramento, CA · Member since 2024 · 129 posts · 36 votes
    2mo

    QuickBooks works, but it wasn't built for rental properties — you end up doing a lot of custom setup to make it fit.

    The pain points I hit using QuickBooks for my rentals in Sacramento:

    • No concept of a "property" as an entity. You create classes or locations to separate income and expenses, but it gets messy fast with multiple units across multiple properties.
    • Rent tracking is manual. QuickBooks doesn't know that Unit 2B owes $1,800 on the 1st. You're using invoices and hoping you reconcile correctly.
    • No maintenance cost tracking by unit. At tax time, figuring out which repair belongs to which property means digging through receipts.
    • No compliance awareness. In California, if you raise rent above the AB 1482 cap, QuickBooks won't warn you. That's a potentially expensive mistake.

    QuickBooks is great for general business bookkeeping. For rental-specific workflows — rent collection, lease tracking, maintenance, and compliance — purpose-built property management software saves hours every month and catches things QuickBooks never will.

    That said, if you're at one or two properties and just need clean books for your CPA, QuickBooks can absolutely get the job done. The pain starts around four or five units.

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  • Fatimazahra NA
    Accountant · usa · Member since 2026 · 5 posts · 0 votes
    2mo

    Yes, QuickBooks Online (QBO) is the absolute industry standard if you want to scale aggressively. While platforms like Stessa are okay for starting out, they quickly fail with automated bank syncs.

    Since you are happy with RentRedi, the best setup is to keep it for property management and let QuickBooks handle your core financial accounting.

    Here is how we easily adapt QBO for your business:

    • Property-by-Property Tracking: We set up each property as a Class (your condo, your four-plex, etc.) so you can run a clean Profit & Loss statement per door with one click.
    • Clean Chart of Accounts: We create a dedicated liability account for Tenant Security Deposits so they never mix with your operational cash, and we properly split your mortgage payments between Principal and Interest.

    If you are growing fast, doing this yourself will quickly become a time-sinking bottleneck.

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  • Aaron WeikleBusiness Member
    Member since 2026 · 76 posts · 23 votes
    2mo

    I have to say no.  Quickbooks is an accounting platform for accountants not real estate investors.  The platform provides functions and features that are never used by our industry and unless you are building 100M portfolio and looking to sell to a Private Equity you don't need a full blow General Ledger and all of the extra fluff and stuff that comes with Quickbooks.

    In addition, if you are managing your liability like you are supposed to in real estate investing then you have multiple LLC's and those each have to have their own account. You also have to export reports and leverage XLS to aggregate your data to even see if your Portfolio is profitable or not.

    There are other purpose built solutions out there that make real estate accounting and tax preparation 1000x easier without all of the excessive logic that isn't necessary when running real estate investing at our stage of the game.
     

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  • Ed BaronePro Member
    Saratoga Springs, NY · Member since 2018 · 109 posts · 56 votes
    2mo

    Jeff

    First, thanks for using RentRedi. Glad to hear it’s working well for you!

    One thing you may not have seen is that we recently added Accounting directly into RentRedi, including bank connections, transaction categorization, and reporting by property.

    That said, QuickBooks can definitely work well for rental properties, especially if you’re comfortable using two separate systems. One of its biggest advantages is exactly what you mentioned: most CPAs are very familiar with it, which can make working with an accountant and tax preparation easier.

    One thing to keep in mind as you grow is that you’ll want to track income and expenses separately by property so you can generate a P&L and Schedule E for each one. In QuickBooks, once you get beyond a single property, you’ll generally need a plan that supports classes and make sure it’s set up correctly from the beginning.

    Either approach can work. I’d talk to the CPA you plan to use and understand how they prefer to receive your financials and how much ongoing bookkeeping work you want to handle yourself. That will likely tell you which setup is the better fit.

    Be sure to stop by and say hello at BPCON in Orlando!

    Ed

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  • Dan V.
    Real Estate Consultant · Norfolk, VA · Member since 2017 · 345 posts · 201 votes
    2mo

    I'd recommend QuickBooks Online. It's what I use for my own real estate businesses and for my real estate clients. I've been using it for years with wholesalers, flippers, landlords, property managers, brokers, and developers.

    You're right that QBO isn't built specifically for real estate, but that's not necessarily a disadvantage. The key is setting it up correctly based on your business model. A properly designed chart of accounts, property/unit tracking, classes or locations (when appropriate), and consistent workflows will give you meaningful financial reports for lenders, partners, and your CPA.

    Since you're already using RentRedi for property management, I'd continue using it for rent collection, leases, and maintenance requests, and let QuickBooks handle the accounting and financial reporting. In my experience, property management software and accounting software each have their strengths, and using both together gives you the best results.

    Also, if you're planning to scale aggressively and eventually work with a CPA, moving to QuickBooks now makes sense. Most CPAs and bookkeepers are already familiar with it, so you'll have far more flexibility when it's time to outsource your bookkeeping or tax preparation.

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  • Drew SygitBusiness Member
    Property Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
    2mo
    Quote from @Jeff Harding:

    I'm a partner in a small intermediate level real estate company.  We own just a single family home and condo for long term rentals and a four-plex for mid-term rentals.   Although we are looking to begin scaling aggressively and growing.   We started working with Stessa but the automatic bank sync always has errors and we have to call support for the bank and Stessa to get it to work again, or we have to enter transactions manually.   We are also growing to a level where we don't want to do our own taxes any more and want to hire a CPA.  It seems all CPAs are trained in Quickbooks making tax filing easy.   Although I am reading that Quickbooks requires some work arounds for real estate since it is not specifically designed for it.   Does anyone have any feedback on Quickbooks that uses it for their books?   Does it work well or would you recommend something else to replace Stessa?   We use Rent Redi as our property management software and are happy with that. 


    EVERYONE likes what they are familiar with.

    So, tax professionals like QuickBooks, as well as a few other programs.

    Most of them though, will work with a spreadsheet that's in the proper tax format.

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  • Ashish AcharyaBusiness Member
    CPA, CFP®, PFS · FL · Member since 2017 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    2mo

    @Jeff Harding, 

    QuickBooks can work, but it's not built for real estate out of the box, chart of accounts needs to be set up property by property from day one, otherwise you're stuck untangling a mess later. That setup work matters more than which software you pick.

    The bigger flag here from a tax side is the self-directed IRA LLC doing private lending and holding rentals, that's a completely different lane. Prohibited transaction rules are strict, and if that LLC is using any leverage on the rentals, UBIT/UDFI can apply and trigger a 990-T filing, something a lot of general real estate CPAs miss since self-directed IRA structures are a narrower niche. That entity needs its own dedicated attention, not the same treatment as your regular portfolio.

    Worth finding someone, bookkeeper for setup, CPA for filing, who's actually dealt with self-directed IRA structures specifically, ask that directly when vetting people rather than assuming general real estate experience covers it. Happy to connect!

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  • Simon W.Business Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Lehigh Valley PA & New York City · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 665 votes
    2mo

    QBO works well for real estate once you set it up correctly, the key is your Chart of Accounts structure. Most CPAs default to a generic setup which is why people say it "doesn't work" for real estate. When you build it around your properties as Classes or Locations, it becomes very powerful for tracking NOI per unit, separating long-term vs mid-term rental income, and making tax time seamless.

    The Stessa sync issues are common — it's a great free tool to start but once you're scaling, you really need a proper double-entry accounting system that a CPA can work directly in.

    For your setup, SFH, condo, and a fourplex with mid-term rentals, QBO with the right COA and a CPA who actually understands real estate (not just generic bookkeeping) will be a game changer. The workarounds people mention are usually just a sign of a bad initial setup.

    I work in real estate accounting and help investors structure their books properly for scaling. Happy to point you in the right direction if you have questions.

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