QuickBooks Plan for Managing Rental Properties
Member since 2021 · 33 posts · 11 votes
QuickBooks Plan for Managing Rental Properties
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Rental Property Investor · SC · Member since 2017 · 14 posts · 13 votes
1yHi Tyler! I use QBO to keep track of my properties and do this for my bookkeeping clients also. If you have multiple LLCs, best practice would be having a Plus subscription. As you said, this allows you to track LLCs (locations) and properties (classes and/or customers).
If you only have one LLC and don't need entity tracking, you could get a lower subscription and categorize your properties as ‘customers', then units and tenants would be sub-customers.
Simple Start would allow you to invoice your tenants (if desired through QBO) and produce basic reports. You can always start with the Simple Start subscription and upgrade if you find that it isn’t meeting your needs.
5 Replies
- Rental Property Investor · SC · Member since 2017 · 14 posts · 13 votes1y
Hi Tyler! I use QBO to keep track of my properties and do this for my bookkeeping clients also. If you have multiple LLCs, best practice would be having a Plus subscription. As you said, this allows you to track LLCs (locations) and properties (classes and/or customers).
If you only have one LLC and don't need entity tracking, you could get a lower subscription and categorize your properties as ‘customers', then units and tenants would be sub-customers.Simple Start would allow you to invoice your tenants (if desired through QBO) and produce basic reports. You can always start with the Simple Start subscription and upgrade if you find that it isn’t meeting your needs.
- 1yJake BakerBusiness MemberFlipper/Rehabber · San Diego, CA · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 695 votes
Using Locations in QuickBooks can get tricky, especially when managing multiple properties. The biggest issue is that forgetting to assign a location or choosing the wrong one can mess up your balance sheet, leading to inaccuracies. Additionally, not all transaction types support Locations, meaning you'll have to create journal entries to correct them—requiring a solid understanding of debits and credits, which can be time-consuming and error-prone.
Instead, I recommend biting the bullet and upgrading to QuickBooks Online Plus for each entity. With Plus, you can use Classes to separate properties and accurately track income and expenses by unit. You can also track by customer and subcustomer if you bill tenants through QBO. It’s a cleaner, more reliable solution, and while the higher subscription cost can feel like a drawback, it’ll save you a lot of headaches and time in the long run.
BookkeepingRE - Bookkeeping for Real Estate & Service-Based Businesses58 Reviews - Accountant · 100% Remote · Member since 2019 · 495 posts · 216 votes1y
Hey @Tyler Davis, I'll echo what @Angie Keefe and @Jake Baker have said. There are many ways to skin it but I would go ahead and upgrade to QBO Plus. We use QBO Plus for most of our clients. We track multiple disregarded entities using the location feature and multiple properties using the customer feature (units can be tracked as sub-customers). You can absolutely use classes in place of customers but classes are limited to 40 with QBO Plus. So, we avoid this by using the customer feature. The customer feature also links to the project feature if you want to make use of that eventually.
This structure works great for our clients and their tax pros. There is no "perfect" structure out there but I've tried a lot of different ones within QBO over the years and this is by far the best I've found.
I use this structure for my own portfolio as well.
Hope that helps!
- Denver · Member since 2026 · 5 posts · 4 votes7mo
I've looked at a lot of landlord bookkeeping setups while working on a project in this space, and I'll say something maybe unpopular: Google Sheets scales further than people think. The issue usually isn't the tool. It's the structure.
If your spreadsheet has a clean schema (one row per transaction, columns for date, property, category, amount, vendor, notes) you can filter and pivot your way to any report you need. I've seen setups that auto generate Schedule E summaries per property. Takes 20 minutes a month to update at 17 units.
If you're set on QuickBooks, the customer/sub-customer workaround on Simple Start is legit. Each property as a customer, each unit as a sub-customer. Run profit and loss by customer and you get the per unit breakdown without paying for Classes. Not elegant but it works.
The real question is what's actually broken about your Sheets setup. If it's just "it doesn't feel professional enough," that's not a strong reason to add a monthly cost and a learning curve. If you're genuinely losing track of transactions or making errors, then QuickBooks makes sense. But from what I've seen, a well structured spreadsheet beats a poorly configured QuickBooks every time.
- Accountant · Houston, TX · Member since 2021 · 54 posts · 35 votes7mo
Just agreeing with @Angie Keefe @Jake Baker @Max Emory from above. QBO Plus would be your best bet, and unfortunately, I don't believe you can track expenses by customer in Simple Start. I could be wrong about this, but I believe you need QBO Plus. Since you already have 17 units I would use customers, not classes, like @Max Emory mentioned above.
Yes, you can use Excel sheets, but there is so much more room for error. I think using an Excel sheet for financial purposes when you are below 10 units can make sense. Once you get over that, I do think using software with less human error would be advised. Setting up the COA would be one of the most important things you do when moving to QBO.
If you plan to keep doing the bookkeeping yourself, then make sure you do your business justice by doing a lot of research about setting it up correctly. There is no point in moving it over to the software and paying the prices if you can't use it to your benefit. You don't want to add more stress to your plate; the move over to that software is supposed to make it easier. :) Good Luck!
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