6 Ways to Save Time & Money on Real Estate Bookkeeping and Accounting

When you’re ready to go live, make sure you have some time set aside to get your virtual staff set up on the right foot. Ironing out the kinks early on will make it much easier to deal with any potential hiccups in the future. There’s a very real learning curve if you’re going to take care of the bookkeeping duties yourself. It’s important for every business to keep on top of its bookkeeping, even if the majority of us would probably rather be doing something else.

As you gain more properties, you may even consider hiring an accountant. With user-friendly accounting solutions made available to businesses of all shapes and sizes, there is really no excuse not to get started today. real estate bookkeeping While some may have a background in finance and real estate, others are more comfortable with technology and the trades. Whatever your background is, you need to have a good grasp of where your money is going.

Month and Year-End Checklists

From strategy, to scenario planning, to filing, RealCount real estate CPAs offer a full-scope of services designed to help you capitalize of lesser known tax advantages specific to real estate. RealCount helps you minimize your tax liability and maximize your revenue. Bookkeeping in real estate is an essential aspect to all real estate management firms. No matter how good your sales might be, it means nothing if you are not able to track sales, profits, and essentially all records of the transactions made. If you have decided to undertake the task of bookkeeping in-house, then it must be done religiously.

However, take note that multifamily properties are considered one property. You may have 20 units, but if that is made up of five fourplexes spread across town, you only need five accounts. Depending on your current people, processes, and platform needs, you may require anything from an assistant to complement your team to a standalone finance department. When we hire a new full time employee, we are generally limited to the local talent pool and out of town candidates who are willing to relocate.

Customized Bookkeeping Solutions for Real Estate Investors

Want to know how much cash flow your business generated in the past month? Perhaps you’re interested in a graph of your expenses over the past three years? Again, unless you are a pro with spreadsheets, this will be much easier using accounting software. If you are using a spreadsheet, you may decide to wait until the end of the month to categorize each item—but don’t wait too long. The longer you wait to categorize the dollars going in and out of your business, the greater the chance of error. This is the benefit of itemizing your income and expenses on a regular basis, which is much easier to do with professional accounting software such as QuickBooks or Xero.

The specific phrase Executive Summary will be expected whenever a professional looks at your business plan. Starting from the beginning, an accountant can help you develop a business plan. However you reach out, we’ll be happy to discuss your real estate business & needs. Capital Expenditures/Repairs includes large transactions that typically better the asset, improve it or increase its expected life.

Ways to Save Time and Money on Bookkeeping and Accounting as a Realtor or Real Estate Agent

Because real estate bookkeeping is our expertise, we work exclusively with real estate investors, including wholesalers, house flippers, landlords, realtors, and limited partner investors. Most balance sheets carry the asset value of a rental property at the original cost. Over the years, houses tend to increase in value due to appreciation, so carrying the property at the purchase price understates the true amount of owner’s equity. Reports created from a real estate bookkeeping system can also be generated based on a specific date range, such as monthly, year-end, or trailing 12 months.

We’ve been working with real estate investors like you for over two decades. That extra money created by property appreciation could be accessed via a home equity loan or a cash out refinance and used as a down payment to buy an additional rental property. A good real estate bookkeeping system makes opportunities like these easier to see. One of the best things about using Stessa to manage rental property finances is that the real estate balance sheet updates in real time.

Worry-free books you don’t even have to think about

Hire us to take over core accounting functions, so you can get back to growing your business. Programs like Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets, and OpenOffice can be used to create a basic real estate bookkeeping system to track income and expenses. However, even with one rental property, keeping information updated manually can become tedious and it’s easy to have something fall through the cracks. Let’s face it – most new business owners are not financial professionals. So one of the most nerve-wracking tasks they face is setting up the necessary accounting books. And as with any industry, real estate will have its own bookkeeping nuances to consider.

• As you start to invest in more properties, you might ask yourself, “Should I use just one bank account for all my rental properties or one bank account per property?
• Whether you are new to real estate investing or have a large portfolio, good bookkeeping is essential.
• Many real estate businesses must remember to include these numbers in their real estate accounting procedures.
• And as with any industry, real estate will have its own bookkeeping nuances to consider.
• Don’t let your business fall behind because of lax controls and reporting — we can help your company establish and maintain basic back office accounting services.

Having separate checking and savings accounts for your business makes connecting them seamlessly to your accounting software or platform easier. Doing so can relieve an extra step or manual work for you and your accountant. Within the real estate industry, these five elements can separate fiscally responsible agents from those who rely on disorganized or outdated records in their accounts. Now that you know the importance of strong real estate accounting and what to expect regarding trackable financial information, it’s time to take a closer look at best practices.

Accounting

The first step in setting up virtual bookkeeping services for real estate is to take inventory of your specific needs, including both goals and pain points. You’ll get a whole lot more out of it if you know what you’re looking for. Real estate accounting is the typical term for accounting practices focusing on real estate transactions. This type of accounting practice looks at the revenue generated by various properties and the following tax requirements. Streamline your small business’s accounting work with FreshBooks real estate accounting software. Its features include modern invoicing, late payment reminders, interactive team collaboration, and more.

• All these questions can be answered when you have a good accounting system that is updated regularly.
• SLC Bookkeeping has helped real estate gurus like you gain solid financial footing through accurate reconciliation, reporting, forecasting and strategic planning.
• Stessa helps both novice and sophisticated investors make informed decisions about their property portfolio.
• For example, three years ago the value of a home in Jacksonville, Florida was $184,000 according to Zillow.

If you’re not invoicing tenants directly from the accounting software, then your bookkeeping process is simple. Money received by the bank account can be categorized https://www.bookstime.com/ as rent income in the bank feed queue. Just as with expense transactions, be sure to fill out the class portion to record the rent for each unit.

How does virtual bookkeeping for real estate work?

Negligence doesn’t favor any investor, regardless of where they come from. Business finances, however, can be a difficult aspect of the investing world that not many are familiar with. Between terminology and the complex nature of numbers, accounting can get pushed to the side. Proper real estate bookkeeping is one of the most, if not the most, important factors of your business.