Guide for QuickBooks Real Estate Bookkeeping

Many people have criticized QuickBooks online for its short comings as a real estate and property management software that is until now. Many real estate owners begin with QuickBooks Online.

And it is not surprising considering how much of the accounting market that capture by Intuit services. Intuit is the provider of QuickBooks accounting software. As of today, there were over 5.6 million QuickBooks users globally and counting, according to their latest advertisements and QuickBooks Data release into the Dec 2020.

QuickBooks Online is a great accounting software for real estate companies. QuickBooks is easy to use, learn, cost-effective, and accountant support is plentiful.

step by step guide for QuickBooks Real Estate Bookkeeping:

Book sale and purchase HUD

Book property tax payments (possibly from escrow account)

Booking refinances

Booking construction loans and keeping track of the amounts drawn and still available.

Rehab: capital improvement vs. repairs and maintenance

Mortgage checks (applying payment to escrow, principal interest etc)

Book loans- incoming and outgoing

Partnerships- contributions and draws

How to use Projects in Quickbooks Online

When you’re using Quickbooks Online, you can add properties as Customers. This method can be effective when you have several properties–as in the case of buy-and-hold investors.

A new feature in Quickbooks, Projects, also allows you to allocate expenses, bills, invoices and more under the customer name. This way, it will be easier to track the income and expense of each property.

Here’s how to do that.

1.     Choose Invoices from the left panel

2.     Click on Customers.

3.     Create the New Customer button.

4.     Input the name of the property under the display name and click save.

5.     Add a Project. You can do this in two ways–click on the Project tab under the customer name or click on Projects from the left panel.

6.     Click add a project and fill out the necessary details. Once you create the project, you can track income, costs, and profit.

While weighing the pros and cons, it’s better to assess what your business needs. Consult other people in the industry if needed. You may also ask your bookkeeper or accountant to suggest options on what you can do to make the process easier for your business.