All Forum Posts by: Landon Mizuguchi

@Jose Jacob I started out n spreadsheets also till portfolio out grew it. Move it Quickbooks and then realized they don't support flips / buy and hold very well when you hav multiple properties to I moved to Digb since the focus on real estate investors. 

@Hamid Kelishadi check out Digb. They specialize in this kinda thing. 

@Padam Neopane I tried QB, but it doesn't;t handle multiple properties well and the standard classes or whatever you call them aren't for real estate so I looked at Stessa and Digb (both focused on real estate) and eventually went with Digb because they have more accurate auto-classification of transaction after you link bank accounts so you don't need to do bookkeeping.

Jesse Scheidel it's a tough time to be looking for a CPA with the 10/16 deadline a week away. If you decided to expand your search beyond Grand Rapids, MI you might check out Digb. I can't guarantee they have availability right now, but you can check them out. 

 @Kristin Riker congrats on closing the deal and breaking out of Analysis Paralysis. Feedback on accounting & taxes piece / tracking income and expense for portfolio. 

• Spreadsheet is one option as Joseph Palmiero pointed out (if you like spreadsheets and doing this manually)
• Quickbooks Online ($85 per month). You’ll need help setting it up to track multiple rentals as @Ivan Rodriguez pointed out. 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 portfolios. You mentioned on this thread and 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. Autocategorizes transactions when you link bank accounts and takes the manual tediousness out of spreadsheets. 

Worth checking out all 3 and picking the one that best meets the needs of your portfolio. Personally, I started out on spreadsheets and then moved to software at the end of the year since it got overwhelming and my CPA was going to charge me a clean-up fee for the spreadsheet. Hope this helps! :) 

Buyan Thyagarajan Quick comparison of the most popular tools for REI accounting/taxes below

• Quickbooks Online ($85 per month). You’ll need 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 portfolios. You mentioned on this thread and 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.

Worth checking out all 3 and picking the one that best meets the needs of your portfolio. 

Aside from Excel, here are the most common REI accounting software programs out there:

• Quickbooks Online ($85 per month). You’ll need 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 portfolios. 
• 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.

I'd check out all 3 and pick the one that is best for you. Everyone has different needs.

There's a BP tax professional directory - this might also be a great place to look for CPA.

I have 2 LLCs and recently split portfolio with business partner and setup my own LLC. We were originally using Quickbooks, but when I setup my own portfolio with new LLC I looked at both Digb and Stessa since Quickbooks wasn't focused on real estate and was tough to work across multipl properties. I went with Digb because they support rental taxes better. Stessa seems to have focused on property management and is missing features for my LLC.

Andrew Carlon I agree with Abel Curiel you need a platform that REI focused and set out of the box for real estate investors: Stessa, Digb, Quickbooks are all apps that are great for helping real estate investors get visibility of their portfolios and manage income, expenses, and taxes.