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Accounting Software - QB Online - Xero - Freshbooks - Slickpie

sannitig

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Nov 20, 2013
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Hey Everyone,

I'm looking at getting some accounting software and am looking for the best bang for the buck whilst being geared towards real estate investing. QB is most expensive and their support is crap from what I've read.

I just incorporated myself, purchased a piece of land under the corp and am building a duplex. I have three other properties that are under my personal name (sole proprietor I guess) and rent to numerous students. What would be the best software or are they all pretty much the same?

I notice their advertising stress invoicing and good/services, which I provide none of. This is more of just keeping track of expenses tbh and rent which get's deposited into my bank account.

Would love to hear what everyone uses and why
 

Tina Myrvang

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Nov 15, 2010
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Hello,
You can search for historical threads/posts on this issue. Drop down the Forum menu above and click on Search forums. Type in the key works and all the posts that mention those words will be listed.
Have a great day and thank you for joining our forum.
 

Matt Crowley

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QB is great, used it for years. Small scale real estate is pretty simple organization so any accounting software will probably do fine. QB allows you to upload several bank cards and cc and then you can just post to your books using cash. Huge improvement from Excel. Totally adequate for me.
 

sannitig

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Thanks for the tip Tina but I've already done that but there is not much out there on the REIN forums. Many of the other forums I am a member of will have tonnes of previous threads, but not so much here.

I've come to the conclusion that I would like to have a more intimate discussion with my fellow investors and would like to see if anyone has any constructive input in regards to my specific information.

Any takers? What do you guys tend to use out there Xero, QB, Freshbooks?

-I know QB works - I guess what I'm trying to determine is if Freshbooks or Xero would work in this situation because they seem to very user friendly and have a beautiful GUI
 

Albert710

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Apr 30, 2015
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I would eliminate Freshbooks as it does not provide you with a balance sheet. You need a balance sheet in your cloud accounting software.

Xero allows you to categorize your expenses by project so this would be one to consider. There is a monthly fee but everything is in the cloud.

Quickbooks Pro for Desktop may be a good option as you will pay an annual fee but be able to use if for your personal investments as well as your corporation. It allows you to categorize expenses and revenue by property or project.

Quickbooks Online put out a product in development into the market leading to bad reports with respect to their support lines and software in general. They're getting better at it but Quickbooks Pro for Desktop may be your most stable product at the present time unless you absolutely need software in the cloud. If you do, then Xero would be worth considering.

Sage 50 is also a useful tool with a long history for reliability and costing by property.

Sage One is a new entrant into the Canadian market with respect to cloud accounting. It does not, however, have reports to identify costs by project or property. For that reason, it may not be the best one for your needs.
 
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Elsie5871

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Jul 21, 2015
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Has no one used Xero or Freshbooks?

I use XERO. I've started a bookkeeping business for Real Estate Investors, and XERO is the system of choice by me and by my training academy. Great support, easy to use.
 

PeterM

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Last year I switched from spreadsheets to QB Online. I have multiple properties and JVs but no corporation. I'm using their "classes" feature to keep the properties separate. But this requires that you get a more expensive subscription. It works well and now that I'm doing my year end stuff, I'm seeing the benefit over spreadsheets. But all accounting software takes some getting used to (I have no bookkeeping or accounting background). I don't use it for balance sheets (not enough benefit over my existing spreadsheets) or consolidated P&L. I only had to use their support once and it was OK.
 

DanW

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Sep 18, 2007
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I have quick books desktop. I don't worry about not accessing it online so it is fine for me. Don't buy the cheap quick books as you can't set up classes. It is a pain to learn the program, but I just watched youtube videos to learn. It's great as when tax time comes I take 5 minutes to print off a report and write my business km's on it and I give it to my accountant. Very nice.
 

Gary3641

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Apr 30, 2015
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I used FreshBooks initially for a few years as we invoice monthly for property management and renovations bit as my JV's grew in number switched to QuickBooks online with all the different classes etc for each house and seemed to be ok. My accountant was good with QB then I got a bookkeeper as well who only uses sage (formerly simply) so I am currently switching over and it 'seems' more user friendly. I like to do everything possible form my mobile hence FreshBooks to start the ab online but simply does everything QB does but is in my opinion easier on the go. I invoice a lot for jobs, renovations and property management. QB and Sage both have more to offer come tax time than FreshBooks.
1. If your nice and simple FreshBooks will do but cost wise it's the same as sage or qb online so would recommend starting there and growing with it as you do to prevent the switchover headaches I've had.
2. Find out what your bookkeeper and accountant prefer (then they can teach you and speak the same language when you need help
3. Find someone who has the system you want to use and ask them to help you set it up right (REIN member)

Either one you choose as long as you understand it and it works for you.

Hope that helped if you have any questions please reach out gladly have a telephone chat to help you avoid the struggles I went through.
 

Eric Saumure

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May 1, 2017
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Many of my real estate clients use Xero. Xero is great for real estate investors and allows for integration with an incredible array of cloud softwares that facilitate a real estate investor's life(Plooto, Hub Doc, Simple Pay, etc).

Honestly, they're all good(QB Online, Sage, etc). If you're on a serious budget brunch, you could use excel(But this is really not recommended).

One of the best reasons that Xero works so well is because of its integration with Hub Doc, which allows you to take pictures from your smart phone to upload your transaction to Cloud Storage, files it automatically using Optical Character Recognition(OCR), then automatically creates a journal entry, then automatically reconciles with your bank transaction.

We're all busy. We don't have time to sit in front of a computer to do what technology can do for us!


Eric Saumure, CPA, CA
Zenbooks | Real Estate Accountant | Paperwork Eliminator
 
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