Bookkeeping while having a manager

Investor · Member since 2023 · 1 post · 4 votes

My partner and I have acquired 10 units across 4 properties the last few months. Independently I also own 20 additional units. I have a property manager who sends statements every month.

I’ve been using Stessa to manually transcribe my expenses from these PDF statements but to be honest, it’s getting tedious and not scalable.

I’m debating if I should hire a bookkeeper that’s over seas to transcribe this stuff or if you guys have another program that’s easier to use.

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Josh L.

USA · Member since 2023 · 145 posts · 84 votes

Quote from @Max Emory:

Hey @Jonathan Khalily, we usually manually translate the monthly PM statements into QuickBooks Online for our clients so their property-specific data and all other financial transactions that happened outside of their PM are compiled in 1 place.

We have an operations management software that has an AI feature to help us not have to code each line manually, but it's new and still not 100% accurate. We still have to do some manual work for now.

With you having a total of 30 units between your partnership and your personal portfolio, as long as your cash flow is decent, I'd say it's time to hire an REI-savvy Bookkeeping Professional.

If you're good with how you're currently doing your bookkeeping, you can hire a cheap bookkeeper and train them to take over what you're currently doing.

Or, if you think there is room for improvement, you can hire a specialized bookkeeper who will bring you into their processes.

Happy to discuss further. Hope that helps!

- Time Capital Bookkeeping (REI since 2019)

I’d agree with the above, especially the bolded section. Typically, if you need aggregate data from the property manager along with additional expenses outside of the PM, you’ll enter the PM info into QuickBooks on a one-month lag (since the PM company needs time to close their books). For example, as you’re closing September’s books in QuickBooks, you would layer in August’s statement from the property manager. That way, you’re always on a continuous one-month lag for bookkeeping. That's one approach at least.

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Michael SmytheBusiness Member
Real Estate Agent · Metro Detroit · Member since 2023 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes
1y
Why are you inputting expenses into another software program?
What format is your PMC sending your data in?
They should be able to send in format that easily corresponds to Schedule E of your tax return.
For our clients (we're a PMC), we send them a 1099 and Annual Owner Statement which they can just hand to their tax professional.
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Cliff BennerBusiness Member
Accountant · Denver, CO · Member since 2020 · 394 posts · 183 votes
1y
Hi Jonathan!
I have all my clients on QBO to track with different Classes for each property and use the Statements to confirm balances, which is usually copying prior month transactions and adjusting them if needed, then having the bank accounts sync in other transactions too.
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Basit SiddiqiBusiness Member
Accountant · New York, NY · Member since 2015 · 8k+ posts · 3k+ votes
1y
Do you need to have your bookkeeping done on a monthly basis?

Have you considered scaling back and doing it every 3 months to save you on time?

If you have a PM Company doing most of the work, they likely give you a year end statement which you can just populate into Stessa instead of doing it monthly.

Best of luck!
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Peter MckernanBusiness Member
Residential Real Estate Agent · Irvine, CA · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
1y
This should be something that you can do less regularly, and a bookkeeper do for you if the money is coming into one account with the units you hold in your name/LLC. You can get all that done by a bookkeeper/VA.
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Max Emory
Accountant · 100% Remote · Member since 2019 · 497 posts · 216 votes
1y
Hey @Jonathan Khalily, we usually manually translate the monthly PM statements into QuickBooks Online for our clients so their property-specific data and all other financial transactions that happened outside of their PM are compiled in 1 place.
We have an operations management software that has an AI feature to help us not have to code each line manually, but it's new and still not 100% accurate. We still have to do some manual work for now.
With you having a total of 30 units between your partnership and your personal portfolio, as long as your cash flow is decent, I'd say it's time to hire an REI-savvy Bookkeeping Professional.
If you're good with how you're currently doing your bookkeeping, you can hire a cheap bookkeeper and train them to take over what you're currently doing.
Or, if you think there is room for improvement, you can hire a specialized bookkeeper who will bring you into their processes.
Happy to discuss further. Hope that helps!
- Time Capital Bookkeeping (REI since 2019)
1 Reply
- Josh L.
  USA · Member since 2023 · 145 posts · 84 votes
  1y
  Quote from @Max Emory:
  
  Hey @Jonathan Khalily, we usually manually translate the monthly PM statements into QuickBooks Online for our clients so their property-specific data and all other financial transactions that happened outside of their PM are compiled in 1 place.
  We have an operations management software that has an AI feature to help us not have to code each line manually, but it's new and still not 100% accurate. We still have to do some manual work for now.
  With you having a total of 30 units between your partnership and your personal portfolio, as long as your cash flow is decent, I'd say it's time to hire an REI-savvy Bookkeeping Professional.
  If you're good with how you're currently doing your bookkeeping, you can hire a cheap bookkeeper and train them to take over what you're currently doing.
  Or, if you think there is room for improvement, you can hire a specialized bookkeeper who will bring you into their processes.
  Happy to discuss further. Hope that helps!
  - Time Capital Bookkeeping (REI since 2019)
  
  I’d agree with the above, especially the bolded section. Typically, if you need aggregate data from the property manager along with additional expenses outside of the PM, you’ll enter the PM info into QuickBooks on a one-month lag (since the PM company needs time to close their books). For example, as you’re closing September’s books in QuickBooks, you would layer in August’s statement from the property manager. That way, you’re always on a continuous one-month lag for bookkeeping. That's one approach at least.
  1 Reply
- Max Emory
  Accountant · 100% Remote · Member since 2019 · 497 posts · 216 votes
  1y
  Quote from @Josh L.:
  
  Quote from @Max Emory:
  
  Hey @Jonathan Khalily, we usually manually translate the monthly PM statements into QuickBooks Online for our clients so their property-specific data and all other financial transactions that happened outside of their PM are compiled in 1 place.
  We have an operations management software that has an AI feature to help us not have to code each line manually, but it's new and still not 100% accurate. We still have to do some manual work for now.
  With you having a total of 30 units between your partnership and your personal portfolio, as long as your cash flow is decent, I'd say it's time to hire an REI-savvy Bookkeeping Professional.
  If you're good with how you're currently doing your bookkeeping, you can hire a cheap bookkeeper and train them to take over what you're currently doing.
  Or, if you think there is room for improvement, you can hire a specialized bookkeeper who will bring you into their processes.
  Happy to discuss further. Hope that helps!
  - Time Capital Bookkeeping (REI since 2019)
  
  I’d agree with the above, especially the bolded section. Typically, if you need aggregate data from the property manager along with additional expenses outside of the PM, you’ll enter the PM info into QuickBooks on a one-month lag (since the PM company needs time to close their books). For example, as you’re closing September’s books in QuickBooks, you would layer in August’s statement from the property manager. That way, you’re always on a continuous one-month lag for bookkeeping. That's one approach at least.
  
  Nice to see you're based out of North Carolina as well, @Josh L.!
  1 Reply
Jason MalabuteBusiness Member
Accountant · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 914 votes
1y
Just curious — if you’re not a CPA, accountant, or bookkeeper yourself, how will you know whether the overseas bookkeeper is doing things correctly? I’ve seen a lot of investors outsource bookkeeping only to find out later that the books were done wrong, which can cause big issues at tax time or when you’re trying to analyze performance of the property which ends up costing more money in the long run
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Aaron ZimmermanBusiness Member
Accountant · Chicago, IL · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
1y
I'd recommend outsourcing the bookkeeping if you don't want to to do it . However, you should still look to review every few months and there will be some involvement on a week to week basis but would be less than you doing the actual bookkeeping. Always hard to know when to outsource vs remain in house, but if the time savings you have will allow you to buy more properties, it's probably worth it to outsource.
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Fulton Abraham Sanchez
CPA| New Clients Welcome| 50 States · Member since 2016 · 440 posts · 97 votes
1y
@Jonathan Khalily, hi. Congrats on the scale, manual PDF typing won’t keep up at 30 units. Fix the data pipeline, not the labor:

-Have your PM send GL detail + vendor ledger in CSV (AppFolio/Buildium/RentManager can export).

-Connect bank/CC feeds to QuickBooks Online (Locations = properties) or keep Stessa + CSV import.

-Set bank rules + vendor mapping and use Dext/Hubdoc for bills/receipts.

Output: click-to-post, per-property P&Ls, ~1 hr/month close, no transcription.

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Jake BakerBusiness Member
Flipper/Rehabber · San Diego, CA · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 696 votes
7mo
@Jonathan Khalily
To address the scalability issue, ask your PM for a monthly CSV export of the General Ledger instead of a PDF, so you can bulk import the data directly into Stessa or QuickBooks.
Hiring a specialized real estate bookkeeping firm is often more effective than managing a solo VA because they provide built-in quality control and already understand complex property management statements. I think you're at a property level to have someone handle this all for you to ensure you capture everything correctly.
[email protected]
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Richard F.
Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
7mo
In over 30 years as a PM, I've never had a Client that was less than perfectly happy with the Standard reports we provided monthly and the year end docs. Sounds like "investors" don't take the time for (among many other things) properly setting up their books to begin with. Reports are pretty standardized, with monthly and YTD income and expense breakdowns (with copies of paid invoices for the period), delinquency reports, rent roll, deposit records, all for each Owner Client, all provided by middle of month following the reporting month. Journal Ledgers, individual Tenant Ledgers, Receivables and Payables reports per property, and other reports were available on request, instantly available. I've worked with Yardi, Libra, Spectrum, and others RE dedicated programs. If you aren't able to get those reports, and review them as soon as you do receive them (while activity is still pretty fresh in your mind and the PM's), you should make a change. Also, it is generally not a wise idea to have the same person able to sign checks that approves expenditures and contracts.
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Eduard Friesen
Property Manager · Cyprus · Member since 2026 · 12 posts · 4 votes
1mo
Hey Jonathan, I am curious, how did you decide in the end? DId you hire a bookkeeper, do you still use Stessa and transcribe manually?
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Igor Ganapolsky
Coral Springs, FL · Member since 2018 · 496 posts · 118 votes
1mo
honestly before you hire anyone i'd ask yourself what you're actually using the books for. if it's just for tax time your pm's year-end statement is probably enough and you're doing way more work than you need to. i've seen guys spend hours every month on bookkeeping their accountant doesn't even look at until january. but if you're trying to track which property is actually cash flowing and which one is bleeding money then yeah you need something more systematic. the csv export thing people mentioned is the move though. my pm uses appfolio and i can pull a general ledger export in like two clicks. takes the manual typing out of it completely. i'd try that before hiring someone overseas because like jason said up there if you don't know bookkeeping yourself how are you gonna catch their mistakes
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Simon W.Business Member
Real Estate Consultant · Lehigh Valley PA & New York City · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 691 votes
1mo
a property manager’s monthly statement is not the same thing as finished bookkeeping. it’s a source document.
i’d stop manually transcribing PDFs if possible and create a consistent process:
1. get the manager’s statement and transaction detail
2. import or enter the activity into the books
3. tag every transaction to the property and entity
4. separate rent, PM fees, repairs, utilities, reserves, owner draws, and capex
5. reconcile the operating account and reserve account
6. tie the ending cash balance back to the manager statement
then review the balance sheet for deposits, loans, payables, and owner activity. a P&L can look reasonable while the balance sheet is completely wrong.
for a portfolio spread across multiple entities, i’d use one consistent chart of accounts with property/entity dimensions instead of inventing a separate accounting universe for every building. that makes portfolio reporting and CPA handoff much cleaner.
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