Maybe I am a creature of habit or maybe it is just that I stay with something unless it is broken.  I have been using QuickBooks to manage my business (both rental properties and real estate) for many years now.  I was recently asked if I had tried some of the other “rental property” software packages that are custom built for rentals.

I have looked at the other options, but a couple thoughts:

• Most of these apps were overkill for what I needed.  They track the tenant application info, repair history, and long term history of which units of yours this person lived in.  None of that is important to me as I have it in my brain or on paper.
• I just need accounts receivable for each tenant.  All other info (move-in date, phone numbers, tenant names, etc) is on lease or tenant app.  I move contact info to my phone.
• My accountant can take the QuickBooks file and upload it and then pull all the reports he needs to do my taxes.  Doubt he could use the others.
• The Quicken Property manager software (last I checked) is not compatible with regular quicken or QuickBooks.
• QuickBooks is an industry standard small business accounting software that is widely recognized and the IRS would be hard to argue with you about how it does the work.
• Lastly, many of these other software packages are as or more expensive than QuickBooks.

Alternatively, I know several investors that have 5-10 properties and still use spreadsheets.  While this may work well for someone that is highly versed in Excel, there are a few draw backs:

• I don’t know about you, but a couple times in my past when using Excel, I have copied the wrong formula and ended up with a result that was close, but not perfect.  I didn’t realize to much later that it was wrong.  Quickbooks can’t have that issue.
• While you can create reports using Excel, I can simply open Quickbooks and call up a couple dozen financial reports to show me or my mortgage guy how things are looking.
• At the first of each month, my QuickBooks automatically enters all the rents as well as any continuous bills.  Not easily done with Excel.
• It is much harder to show an auditable trail in Excel than in Quickbooks.  See this post for why you need to be set up for auditing.

It is almost the first of the year.  While the learning curve on QuickBooks is pretty steep, think about buying it and making a New Years resolution to get on board.