Posted by Julio on November 20, 2000 at 21:23:54:
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Software to track cost of rehab and rental - Posted by Tony (Balto.)
Posted by Tony (Balto.) on November 20, 2000 at 20:32:49:
I just purchased QuickBooks Pro 2000. This is my first year in the business. I’m not sure if this is the best program to track the cost of doing a rehab and tracking rent. I have bought two rehabs and one Rental property this year and I’m tring to get all the paper work in order. Anybody recomend this program or a better one.
Re: Software to track cost of rehab and rental - Posted by Paul NM
Posted by Paul NM on November 21, 2000 at 15:07:20:
Hi Tony,
All of these programs are just specialized databases and the key to success is setting up catgories that work for you. I personally prefer Quicken because it lets me delete mistakes and doesn’t force me to make a correcting entry like a “real” accounting program would.
On the category line I put things like
Electricity/house1
I can then pull reports by electricity across properties or expenses by property. If you put a colon after the property name you can subset further.
The accountants reading this will laugh because it is so obvious to them, but in an independent burst of genius 
I came up with the idea of an account named Cash. All money coming in goes through the cash account. This solved the problems I was having when I would make a deposit, get some cash and use the cash to buy parts for three different properties.
PaulNM
Re: Software to track cost of rehab and rental - Posted by JPiper
Posted by JPiper on November 21, 2000 at 14:09:31:
I use QuickBooks. I believe the Pro version has some features not available in the version that I use. Either way, I have found QuickBooks to be adequate for my use. The one problem is that in my version there is no built-in amortization schedule. Therefore, you’ll need separate software for this. I use NoteSmith Pro for this purpose…data can be imported to QuickBooks. You could also perform your calculations for example in TValue for entry in Quickbooks.
JPiper
Re: Software to track cost of rehab and rental - Posted by Matt
Posted by Matt on November 21, 2000 at 12:13:17:
Hello Tony,
I am a Certified Public Accountant and I work on a daily basis with 3 different small business accounting software packages: Peachtree, Quickbooks, and One-Write Plus, so I have knowledge about all 3. I can tell you that I have several clients with rental properties on the Quickbooks system and they like it for its user friendliness. It is easy for a beginner to understand and is plenty adequate for what you need to use it for. Just make sure to get with a good CPA at year end (if you are near Northeast Ohio you could contact me!) that has experience with this program so that when doing your taxes, he can review some of the things you have done in this software and make sure you are posting items to the correct accounts. Some adjustments may need to be made in order to show correct income at year end. Also, he may be able to give you some year end planning tips to help lower income taxes. I am still new to real estate investing, but this website has helped me greatly, so I’m happy to give info back in my area of expertise and hopefully this info helps you. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Matt