# Accounting Software for rentals



## w0nger (Mar 15, 2010)

I'm just trying to get organized for my upcoming rental business and I'm curious about accounting software. I've narrowed it down to quickbooks but I'm a tad confused between Quickbooks Easystart and Quickbooks Pro. Which one do I need? 

I will have 2 properties for rent plus another business that's not related to rentals. No employees. I want to keep track of expense/income and assets (ie. office supplies/computers/cars). Can I get by with easystart? or do I need Pro?


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## Homerhomer (Oct 18, 2010)

You don't need pro, but easy start is a piece of crap, not much better than quicken. I suggest pro, it's a one time cost if you don't need payroll updates, and if you work with accountant you can send them accountants copy, in turn they can send you back a file to merge without manually posting journal entries by you. This option is not available with easy start. It will cost you about $200, but you can use it for many years, you can do excel import/exports, set up accounts payable, create more reports and on and on...


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## fergusonsd (Dec 30, 2012)

When your just starting out you don't need anything fansy, a simple spreadsheet that allows you input your income and expenses then automatically calculates your mortgage and how much you will have left over is what you need to get started. Once you have a place rented again a spreadsheet is often good enough for a 1-5 property portfolio. You can download a free working spreadsheet here:

http://www.fergusonfinancial.ca/generating-positive-cash-flow/

There's also lots of other great information to get you started.

Good luck.

Devon


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## Quotealex (Aug 1, 2010)

I'm currently using three softwares (apps) to do the job:
1- Landlordmax for my day-to-day rental activites (i.e. entering leases, rents, expenses, scheduled work and contacts). It is a not expensive easy software to use and has over 100 reports that can be downloaded into Excel for further analysis or give to my accountant... 
2- Quicken Home & Business to track my properties net value, among other things. 
3- TheLandlorApp, a smartphone app, to track my rents when I dont have access to my computer. This app does a bit more than just track rents tho.


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