Help tracking expenses
Member since 2021 · 7 posts · 1 vote
Help tracking expenses
Most Popular Reply
Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
3yQuote from @Brooke Gaston:
Looking for suggestions on a software to track expenses on investment properties.
Software is a common question on BiggerPockets. Here are some things to consider:
- Most investors don't need software until they have 5-10 rentals. All you need is a single place to track tenant information, payment history, maintenance, and a few other things. You can easily do this on a spreadsheet and it will take less time to track than it would to find and learn a new software. If the software is not simplifying your life or making you more accurate, you shouldn't use it.
- Software does have extremely helpful features like online payments, marketing syndication (click a button and your property is advertised on multiple sites), electronic document review/signing, maintenance tracking, and owner reports. But do you really need that for your one rental?
- There's no perfect software out there. Every system you try will have flaws or you'll salivate over a feature that shows up in other software.
Some common names you'll see thrown around a lot: Stessa, Apartments.com, RentRedi, TenantCloud, Innago, RentManager, Avail, Rentec Direct, Doorloop, etc.
I recommend you search for each of those apps online and see what they offer, how much they charge, etc. Make a simple spreadsheet or written list with the features of each and see which ones appeal to you most. Try to narrow it down to your top 3-4. Once you have a short list, get an account with each one and run them through the wringer to see how they really function. Do one task at a time in each app so you can compare apples to apples.
- Load a property with pictures and details.
- Market that property.
- See what your marketing looks like from the public's perspective.
- Submit a fake application to see how easy the process is.
- Run a credit/screening report on yourself.
- Enter a maintenance request, assign a vendor, attach a fake invoice.
- Enter charges to the tenant's ledger.
- Enter recurring charges and automatic late fees.
- Sign documents electronically.
- Run owner reports.
After testing a few apps, one of them should stand out for you. Choose that one and use it. No system is perfect, so don't waste your time chasing after the next shiny object. You should only have to change when your current software has a flaw or lacking feature that is causing you to spend too much work on a work-around. Then you can consider researching and finding something that meets your needs better.
The DIY Landlord Book4.7248 Reviews
7 Replies
- 3yMelissa HartvigsenBusiness MemberReal Estate Agent · Beaverton, OR · Member since 2020 · 190 posts · 158 votes
Hello @Brooke Gaston,
I have five rentals and use apartments.com. I collect rent from my tenants there, and also track my expenses. It is user friendly and intuitive. The phone app lets you take photos of your receipts and is quick to enter expenses. At the end of the year, I download the income and expense report for each property for doing my taxes.
It has other features that help with managing my rentals like advertising, and credit/background checks.
If you have substantially more units you may want to look into a paid software like AppFolio or Buildium. (I used these for 300+ units when I was a property manager).
Cheers,
Melissa - Accountant · McKinney, TX · Member since 2023 · 393 posts · 580 votes3y
Most of my clients are on QuickBooks Online as their information can be shared and easily viewable from a accounting/tax perspective. There is also Azibo which is more of a startup company that I recently demoed and thought had some nice reporting features. @Melissa Hartvigsen also provided some good feedback and reputable options to consider. You just have to balance out your internal/external reporting needs.
- Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes3y
Quote from @Brooke Gaston:
Looking for suggestions on a software to track expenses on investment properties.
Software is a common question on BiggerPockets. Here are some things to consider:
- Most investors don't need software until they have 5-10 rentals. All you need is a single place to track tenant information, payment history, maintenance, and a few other things. You can easily do this on a spreadsheet and it will take less time to track than it would to find and learn a new software. If the software is not simplifying your life or making you more accurate, you shouldn't use it.
- Software does have extremely helpful features like online payments, marketing syndication (click a button and your property is advertised on multiple sites), electronic document review/signing, maintenance tracking, and owner reports. But do you really need that for your one rental?
- There's no perfect software out there. Every system you try will have flaws or you'll salivate over a feature that shows up in other software.
Some common names you'll see thrown around a lot: Stessa, Apartments.com, RentRedi, TenantCloud, Innago, RentManager, Avail, Rentec Direct, Doorloop, etc.
I recommend you search for each of those apps online and see what they offer, how much they charge, etc. Make a simple spreadsheet or written list with the features of each and see which ones appeal to you most. Try to narrow it down to your top 3-4. Once you have a short list, get an account with each one and run them through the wringer to see how they really function. Do one task at a time in each app so you can compare apples to apples.
- Load a property with pictures and details.
- Market that property.
- See what your marketing looks like from the public's perspective.
- Submit a fake application to see how easy the process is.
- Run a credit/screening report on yourself.
- Enter a maintenance request, assign a vendor, attach a fake invoice.
- Enter charges to the tenant's ledger.
- Enter recurring charges and automatic late fees.
- Sign documents electronically.
- Run owner reports.
After testing a few apps, one of them should stand out for you. Choose that one and use it. No system is perfect, so don't waste your time chasing after the next shiny object. You should only have to change when your current software has a flaw or lacking feature that is causing you to spend too much work on a work-around. Then you can consider researching and finding something that meets your needs better.
The DIY Landlord Book4.7248 Reviews - Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes3y
Quote from @Nathan Gesner:
Quote from @Brooke Gaston:
Looking for suggestions on a software to track expenses on investment properties.
Software is a common question on BiggerPockets. Here are some things to consider:
- Most investors don't need software until they have 5-10 rentals. All you need is a single place to track tenant information, payment history, maintenance, and a few other things. You can easily do this on a spreadsheet and it will take less time to track than it would to find and learn a new software. If the software is not simplifying your life or making you more accurate, you shouldn't use it.
- Software does have extremely helpful features like online payments, marketing syndication (click a button and your property is advertised on multiple sites), electronic document review/signing, maintenance tracking, and owner reports. But do you really need that for your one rental?
- There's no perfect software out there. Every system you try will have flaws or you'll salivate over a feature that shows up in other software.
Some common names you'll see thrown around a lot: Stessa, Apartments.com, RentRedi, TenantCloud, Innago, RentManager, Avail, Rentec Direct, Doorloop, etc.
I recommend you search for each of those apps online and see what they offer, how much they charge, etc. Make a simple spreadsheet or written list with the features of each and see which ones appeal to you most. Try to narrow it down to your top 3-4. Once you have a short list, get an account with each one and run them through the wringer to see how they really function. Do one task at a time in each app so you can compare apples to apples.
- Load a property with pictures and details.
- Market that property.
- See what your marketing looks like from the public's perspective.
- Submit a fake application to see how easy the process is.
- Run a credit/screening report on yourself.
- Enter a maintenance request, assign a vendor, attach a fake invoice.
- Enter charges to the tenant's ledger.
- Enter recurring charges and automatic late fees.
- Sign documents electronically.
- Run owner reports.
After testing a few apps, one of them should stand out for you. Choose that one and use it. No system is perfect, so don't waste your time chasing after the next shiny object. You should only have to change when your current software has a flaw or lacking feature that is causing you to spend too much work on a work-around. Then you can consider researching and finding something that meets your needs better.
Exactly. If you can't track expenses for a couple of units on a simple spreadsheet program like Excel, Sheets or Libre, you won't ever conquer the learning curve of software. I still use Excel & Google even though I have enough units and expenses to easily justify QuickBooks or similar.
Skyline Properties - Member since 2023 · 5 posts · 4 votes3y
You can use Notion for tracking expenses.
I don't with 2 databases:
1. Transactions (any single-time payments)
2. Recurring transactions (helps when you have 20+ bills and payments you need to overview).
- 3ySean O'KeefePro MemberCPA | Accepting new clients | 50 States · Member since 2022 · 1k+ posts · 870 votes
Quote from @Brooke Gaston:
Looking for suggestions on a software to track expenses on investment properties.
I love these two on this thread -> 5 stars for creativity: Notion, never mind software until > 5 :)
But seriously, if you want to keep it simple and organized and you don't know how to use Notion that well (me) and spreadsheets will get super messy if you're not organized I suggest 3 software applications for tracking income and expenses:
- Quickbooks Online ($85 per month). You’ll needs help setting it up to track multiple rentals. Looks like a lot of CPAs like this one, but they aren’t paying for it - you are.
- Stessa (Free, but eventually $20 a month, let’s be honest). Specifically, built for real estate investors to manage their portfolio. Not mentioned on this thread but a good option.
- Digb ($1 a month, but $19 a month if you have > 1 property). Built for real estate investors to track income and expenses and also has a lot of tax functionality to simplify planning/filing for you or CPA at the end of the year.
Hope this helps :) Happy tracking!
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