All Forum Posts by: Simon W.

I've been in the real estate accounting field for almost 20 years, and in my experience, it's helpful to think of the software you use in two distinct levels:

1. Property Management (PM) Software: This handles the property-level operations.
2. Dedicated Accounting Software (like QuickBooks): This is used for corporate-level accounting.

Not all PM platforms come with robust accounting modules. For instance, while AppFolio is quite strong overall, its bank reconciliation module has some limitations. However, there are often workarounds to utilize PM software for tracking corporate-level financials, and AppFolio has introduced features to support this.

Regarding services like Monday.com, these are more suited for project tracking and team communication. While PM platforms do include modules for tracking work orders and other tasks, they often lack the comprehensive team communication capabilities found in dedicated project management tools.

I do use Buildium for some of my clients and it's a good software, but not the best. 

AppFolio is probably the best choice in PM software right now. Ultimately, it is up to the owners to figure out how they want to structure things. Everyone has different needs.

I look at things in an accounting and financial perspective so I might or might not like something but maybe the PM functions has features that is a must have.

Transitioning to any new platform will always be frustrating.

I had to help a client transition 50 properties over to Buildium and that took a long time to do so. 

Locations should be by Property

So let's say you have you 2 properties, 1 of them is managed by a PM and the other property is self-managed with 50 units.

PM Property - Location is the 1st Property and the classes you should have associated with it is the PM class and  Operating. This way when you run reports you can have them separated out and see what was spent by the PM and what was spent on the Operating side.

Self-Managed - Location is "Self-Managed", the classes will be all the units. Hence, no need to worry about sub-classes limitation because Advance offer unlimited classes and locations.

This whole multiple LLCs and subscriptions really depends the structure of it.

I have clients that have 1 subscription with multiple LLCs and some clients with subscription per LLC. It all depends, this is why I always review potential client's books what is the best course of action.

I personally do not like QBO for real estate (I make it clear in all my posts lol) I just renewed my certification just because most people can't afford the PM software with accounting such as AppFolio and Yardi. I just have to work with what they can afford to use.

You can run the balance sheet by locations

Why not just use Rent Manager for accounting as well?

Who set the QBO for you, the current bookkeeper? If so, maybe you need to get rid of her instead.

I can tell you that the setup is already incorrect. I don't know how many times I've seen accountants/bookkeepers mess up the setup for QBO and it is very hard to switch it to the correct way due to the amount of data. 

Classes are not meant for Properties.  

When classes are used as Properties, this is more on the corporate level accounting.

When classes are used as Units, this is looking at it on a property level accounting. Most bookkeepers do not understand the difference and that's why they can't set up the accounting platform correctly.

Are both LLCs rentals? Honestly, 1 subscription should be enough for all rentals even with multiple LLC.

Your CPA should be able to set it up correctly. 

 OP said QB doesn't work. I honestly do not know what she is looking for.

You should be looking for Accountants that focuses on REI. They have approximately 32 associated members and probably 3 of them is the actual partners. Chances are they have turnovers and new CPAs or just regular staff accountants without CPAs doing the new client books that might not know anything about real estate.

If you insist on using them, expect to pay premium price. If they aren't accepting new clients unless it's a referral, that means they need to spend extra time in the office and paying more to their staffs. 

Last time, a CPA friend of mine, his firm wasn't accepting any new clients, but because I am referring, his firm was going to accept him as a new client. The cost was $10K to do the tax returns for like 6 LLCs and personal tax returns. And they were only looking for specific clients, gross revenue must be at least $1.5M for them to even consider.

Food for thought. There are plenty of people here to help. 

Are you looking for just tax returns or balancing the books or both?

yes, these are legit.

I have Ally

Checking is 0.10%

Savings is 4.20%

CD is 5.20%

Hello @Marcos A Miranda

This sounds about right. A lot of new investors think they would be making a lot of money. It is almost the same mentality of the renters, they think that all landlords are rich lol

You are building equity when doing this. 

Yes, it can get eaten up but only year-end you will truly know if those will get eaten up.

It is important to make sure your books are accurate so when it's time for tax filing, you won't be surprised if you owe or not.

Hi Lisa and welcome to BP.

Seems like you are already in a great start. 

What type of investing are you looking to do? It seems like you are already familiar with Multi-family homes.

You should consider remote. I don't have any real estate clients locally. All of my clients are around the US. 

I don't think there's a real way to verify if they handled it or not. You can always just talk to them and see if they are telling you the truth. I mean once you talk to them, it's pretty easy to spot if they know what they are talking about.

I've work on STRs before and to be honest, it is not the most fun aspect of accounting because the volume of allocating income from all sources (airbnb, vrbo, stripe, direct booking, and so on) to a bunch of random expenses (cleaning, supplies, repairs, advertising, commissions, and all typical real estate expenses).

I had to strictly rely on the client's input on what the expenses belong to which property or even units, if the paperwork doesn't say. 

I don't mind working with clients with STR but it is hard when it takes 1-2 months to get a response on what certain expenses belong to. And then it looks bad on my end because the books aren't up to date. To top it off, once I get that information, I have to then set a dedicated timeframe to do all the pile of expenses.

I apologize to ramble on, but no one seems to see it on the accountant's side of things when handling the operating accounting. So you can keep that in mind when you find someone that handles STR. There are a bunch of people here that offer their services.

I recommend using dropbox to store all the receipts and name the files with the property that it belongs to along with the cost of the expense. Share the folder with the accountant and that's how you make it easier for everyone to keep track.

I will tell you that one of my clients that was using google drive, this took forever to look for anything because of the amount of receipts to review and it is just slow. Another client of mine was using dropbox and it was such a game changer when searching for the receipts.

Cost of the services will vary due to the amount of work it involves.