All Forum Posts by: Max Emory

@Daniel M., I'll connect with you!

Hey @Justin R., we use QuickBooks Online exclusively for all of our REI Clients. I use it for my personal portfolio as well. We've found it has superior reporting features, integration features, and is overall more efficient to work within than other REI-specific software.

The downside is QBO is not set up for REI so you'll need to do that or work with an expert to ensure it is set up for your business appropriately.

Something else to keep in mind is your entity structure and how your entities file tax returns. As a general rule, each entity that files a separate tax return (partnership, s-corp, c-corp, etc) will need its own QBO subscription. If entities are disregarded, you can keep up with more than 1 in a single QBO account using the location/business feature to keep track of them separately. This will save you on subscription costs.

For KPI tracking, that will depend on what you want to track whether QBO is a good solution or not. There are other software out there where you can create custom KPI dashboards but I don't currently know of an all-in-one solution.

Best of luck!

Hey @Erin Babnik, I agree with the Excel recommendation.

I love to suggest QuickBooks Online for bookkeeping for REIs (that's what all of our Clients are on) but if you only have 1 property and are looking to keep this as simple as possible the clear winner is Excel.

Best of luck!

@Errol Graham, like I mentioned above, we love QBO for our REI clients. But, it's really only worth it if you have some good cash flow coming in from your rentals and you have more than a few rentals. For simplicity, let's say 5 rentals or less you can get away with excel or other free REI-specific software.

What I found with the REI-specific software is they're more cumbersome to work within than QBO. If you're familiar with QBO, you can perform certain tasks at scale that the other software lack. So, increased efficiency for certain tasks with QBO.

Also, the reporting capabilities within QBO are superior from what I've seen. When I used to use other software there were reports some CPAs asked for that I couldn't pull within the REI-specific software. QBO's reports are also super duper customizable.

And, the 3rd major benefit of QBO is its ability to integrate with other platforms more seamlessly than REI-specific software.

I promise I don't work for Intuit haha. This has just been my experience both as an REI and the owner of a bookkeeping firm that specializes in serving REIs.

Hope that helps!

 Sounds good, @Ian Dale Ibrado! You sound like you have experience with rental properties so I'm sure you'll do well. I just said that in case you didn't have experience and were listening to those who sell the "replace your income with rental cash flow in 90 days" idea. More times than not, it takes a few years for LTRs to show consistent cash flow depending on the model of course.

@Ian Dale Ibrado, ensure you have multiple exit strategies to pay back the HELOC. Rental cash flow usually takes a while to become consistent unless you acquire a unicorn of a deal. So, just make sure you at least have a plan B and plan C to pay back the HELOC behind your plan A (rental cash flow).

@Steele Kruzel, are you open to remote CPAs or do they have to be local to you?

If you're open to remote CPAs who serve clients all over the U.S., I can send you my list of recommended REI-savvy firms.

Let me know!

Hey @Zach Kirchoff, we serve a lot of flippers. I own a cloud-based bookkeeping firm that specializes in serving REIs all over the U.S. We're real estate investor-owned, veteran-owned, and 100% remote.

All Team Members are U.S.-based, Bookkeeper Launch certified, Bookkeeping for Real Estate Investors certified (our course), and QBO ProAdvisor certified (also, experienced with common REI PM/Project Management software such as Appfolio, Buildium, DoorLoop, BuilderTrend, etc etc).

I also run a large community of bookkeepers who serve the REI industry. So, lots of people to connect you with to find the right fit.

If you have any other specific questions, I'm here to help just like everyone else in the BP forums.

There are a lot of great bookkeepers and accountants in this community!

I hope this helps!

@Joshua Burgeson, look into Relay bank while you're doing your research. That's who our firm recommends to most in this space!

Hey @Garrett Mathis, I agree with @Simon W.. 

We use QuickBooks Online exclusively for all of our REI Clients for their master accounting solution. I use it for my personal portfolio as well. We've found it has superior reporting features, integration features, and is overall more efficient to work within than other REI-specific software.

And, our clients who self-manage use a PM software to handle all property-specific tasks (tenant portal, requests, rent payments, etc etc). We translate all of the PM software data into their QBO(s) each month to show complete financials (property-specific & non-property specific transactions all in 1 software).

The downside is QBO is not set up for REI so you'll need to do that or work with an expert to ensure it is set up for your business appropriately.

Something else to keep in mind is your entity structure and how your entities file tax returns. As a general rule, each entity that files a separate tax return (partnership, s-corp, c-corp, etc) will need its own QBO subscription. If entities are disregarded, you can keep up with more than 1 in a single QBO account using the location/business feature to keep track of them separately.

If you want to discuss any of this further, I'm happy to answer questions and help walk you through it.

Best of luck!