A quick quickbooks qtn - Posted by CarolFL

Real Estate Investing
1

Posted by ken in sc on April 12, 2000 at 11:57:00:

I would be most grateful for any help! The way QB says to do it does not work. My accountant and I have it working, but it is certainly not what I had hoped and like I said, cumbersome in places. Thanks for your time!

2

A quick quickbooks qtn - Posted by CarolFL

Posted by CarolFL on April 11, 2000 at 09:17:37:

I have Peachtree for my other biz activities, and don’t really feel terribly comfortable with it… basically because someone else set it up, and every time we want to do something, I find there’s a quirk to it.

QB has been highly recommended, and seems to be user friendly.

Stopped by Staples this a.m., and found

  • QB Pro 2000 (retailing for $399.99)and
  • QB 2000 (about$100).

I looked at the back to see the differences … the main ones seem to be

  • multiuser
  • intergrated with MS Excel, etc
  • more advanced job costing.

Folks, we have just touched on one of my weaker areas … a bookkeeper / account I am not.

Those of you doing

  • property management and
  • flips and
  • rehabs
    please give me your input on the one version versus the other.

Forever grateful, as always.

Carol

3

Info on FREE Trial versions of Quickbooks! - Posted by Jim-WI

Posted by Jim-WI on April 11, 2000 at 18:39:57:

http://www4.intuitmarketplace.com/store/welcome_trial.asp?trial_id=3

4

Re: A quick quickbooks qtn - Posted by Glenn-OH

Posted by Glenn-OH on April 11, 2000 at 13:21:36:

Couple of points:

  1. The $399 price was probably for the 5-user package, I think the one user (but multi-user ready when you want to add)is about $179-189 most places.
  2. There is a website that has an add on for Quickbooks which is set-up for real estate. It is www.yeiter.com I have not seen it yet, but it is supposed to add functionality to QuickBooks.
    Glenn
5

Re: A quick quickbooks qtn - Posted by JPiper

Posted by JPiper on April 11, 2000 at 12:23:38:

Carol:

I use QuickBooks. I like the program but frankly it has it’s problems with some features that we need…amortization is one that comes to mind.

This year I purchased NoteSmith Pro. For notes this software is unsurpassed in my opinion. It’s written by John Moren (Lisa’s husband) at NoteSmith.com. This software has simplified my life considerably. The Pro version can also handle rental income or lease/option income. Data can then be exported to QuickBooks. I might add that I have my mortgages set up on NoteSmith as well…very helpful in knowing where your mortgage stands at any particular point. Did I say it isn’t cheap?

JPiper

6

I hate QBooks - Posted by William Bronchick

Posted by William Bronchick on April 11, 2000 at 10:30:00:

We use QBooks Pro 99, which has the same basic info as 2000. Personally, I think it sucks for real estate, since it does not do loan amortization, whereas Quicken Home & Business does. The only thing I really use Qbooks for is payroll, which is fairly simple. As for job estimating, a pen and paper are a lot easier; the job estimating feature of Qbooks is good for contractor that can prepare professional bids. In fact, a simple spreadsheet in Excel is a lot less brain damage than Qbooks.

7

Re: www.yeiter.com - Posted by ken in sc

Posted by ken in sc on April 12, 2000 at 08:06:24:

I checked out this site and it has an add on to qbooks that is supposed to be just for us investors. I too have found qbooks cumbersome for some aspects of RE, mainly for managing all the rental houses. I set up qbooks the way the “help” for qbooks said to for prop. mgt. but it did not work well. Has anyone used this yeiter product, or know of a course or other product for property management? I tried a couple small prop. mgt softwares but they were not good. At least with qbooks I know the program having used it for years for the rest of my accounts.
Would welcome advice.

8

Re: A quick quickbooks qtn - Posted by David Alexander

Posted by David Alexander on April 11, 2000 at 12:30:35:

Yeah, but if you compare iot to other programs that do the same, they cost a minimum of 2k or more. I shopped around first, and then couldnt believe the price difference for the same thing. Guess that’s the price when nothing off the shelf will do what we need :slight_smile:

David Alexander

9

Appreciate the sentiment but how to handle it all? - Posted by CarolFL

Posted by CarolFL on April 11, 2000 at 10:43:50:

Arrgh!
Payroll is the least of my concerns at this point… that I can do with paper and pen.

What I am looking to do is

  • manage the rentals
  • keep track of l/o and notes
  • come up with a job cost on flips and rehabs when all the bills are paid.(It’s not so much the estimating as the final job costing that interests me.)

I have found the reporting features of Quicken don’t cut it for the rentals… can’t identify accounts the way I need to. Maybe the Home and Bus version would. Mine is several years old.

10

Re: www.yeiter.com - Posted by CarolFL

Posted by CarolFL on April 12, 2000 at 10:02:56:

I had met a CPA locally (now working for the county) who SWORE by QB and did a one evening course on QB for property management. Unfortunately, at the time I was not ready to implement it.

Let me see if I can get hold of her or my notes… she just thought it was the best thing going - specifically for property management.

Carol

11

Re: Appreciate the sentiment but how to handle it all? - Posted by William Bronchick

Posted by William Bronchick on April 11, 2000 at 10:47:01:

Quicken Home & Business is fine - just use the Categories and Classes features to sort out the projects. You can use the “budgeting” feature to estimate costs.

I recently started using paytrust.com to do the payments on my rentals - what a blessing!

12

Re: Property manangement with Quick Books - Posted by Gary (Tx)

Posted by Gary (Tx) on April 12, 2000 at 21:08:58:

Here is a site ya’ll might check out for your property management