Howdy folks, first post here. Hope ya’ll are doing well. I wanted to ask what ya’ll may be using to track expenses and incomes on your properties. I am just getting going (have 3 properties) and wanted to get better organized. Any advice will be appreciated. Happy New Year to all!!!
We use QuickBooks Pro. We have the 2009 version. The free version wasn’t robust enough for our business so we upgraded to Pro. You can separate your properties into different classes as well as break down your income/expenses into different accounts. Then you can run financial reports by class to see how each property is doing. It’s not hard to learn. I usually update it every couple months or so. At the end of the year, I send a backup copy to our accountant along with our bank statements. There are other threads on here you can search for where other people have asked the same question.
Welcome and Happy New Year!
Since you have three properties, is it safe to assume that you are holding these for rental use.
If so, then Quicken Rental Property Manager (about $150) will probably satisfy all your bookkeeping needs.
If you are flipping property, then Quicken Home and Business (about $100) is probably sufficient.
If you have employees, then you may want the more robust (and more expensive) capabilities of Quickbooks.
If you just need to organize your income and expenses to make cash flow analysis and income tax reporting a little easier, why won’t the spreadsheet program you already own work?
Yes, I am holding them for rentals.
I don’t have any employees, only hiring contractors when remodeling or repairing.
I could use an excel spreadsheet, I am pretty good on excel, but, I just wanted to see what people would recommend.
Thanks for the reply & have a great New Year.
Here’s to 2011 being the best one yet!!!
Our business is set up the same way as yours…no employees, just hire out what’s needed. I also tried to set up my own files on Excel when I started. That lasted the first year when we just had our small apartment building. I hate spending money on things I don’t have to, but QB Pro was well worth the money. I found it for around $80. It has plenty of room to grow with you.
I haven’t used Quicken like Dave T, so I can’t compare it to that. You could take a look at the free version just to get a feel for it.
I don’t think quicken lets you track assets and liabilities. it’s just a checkbook.
to properly classify properties and related mortgages, and prepare financial statements for the bank, you need something with a little more horsepower.
QB is a lot of bang for the buck.
Mark,
Quicken comes in several flavors for the PC. If you just want a checkbook register, Quicken Deluxe will do that.
The version I use, Quicken Rental Property Manager, has extensive capabilities that support budget tracking and financial reporting (such as cash flow reports, P/L reports, balance sheets, and more). Quicken does track assets (but does not do depreciation schedules), supports loan amortization, and exports all the typical tax schedule information to TurboTax.
Quicken is more of a Quickbooks lite than most people give it credit for.
In the interest of full disclosure: Last year I was a software beta tester for both TurboTax 2010 and for Quicken Rental Property Manager 2011 so I may be somewhat biased.
didn’t know that, Dave. thanks.
in re: the original post, you should also ask your tax preparer what he/she prefers. i use Quickbooks. if you bring me some other software I can’t read it or make changes. if I have to use hardcopy reports, I have to do manual adjustments. having the quickbooks file makes my job easier.
and easier = faster.
and I charge by the hour.
I highly recommend Quickbooks. It’s easy and user-friendly
We have tried a bunch of different software–Peachtree, RentRight, etc. But we now use Quickbooks Online. So everything is backed up for us, off site.
Furnishedowner