5 Real Estate Accounting Software to Stay on Top of Your Finances!

Last updated: 14 Feb, 2023 By Ashish Rana | 6 Minutes Read

Accounting forms the backbone of every business, and the way businesses manage their accounting processes creates a great impact on their business growth. In the real estate industry, business owners have multiple tasks to handle apart from taking care of their accounting and bookkeeping practices.

Manually trying to manage real estate accounting is definitely not a viable option as it is prone to errors and also consumes an ample amount of time and efforts.

Real estate owners need to incorporate the use of technology in order to analyze the operational scenario, devise refined strategies for business growth, manage taxes efficiently, and do a lot more. So, let’s get started and figure out some of the top accounting software statistics:

• According to Accounting Today, the global market value in the next eight years for accounting software will be approximately around $11.8 billion

• As per the Sage Practice of Now 2018 report, 66% of accountants prefer investing and bringing in the use of artificial intelligence to their processes

• According to Forbes, cloud accounting brings down the costs of labor by 50%

Top 5 Accounting Software for Real Estate

1. QuickBooks Online & Enterprise

QuickBooks Online- This software comprises of really helpful real estate accounting tools and irrespective of your position as a broker or an owner; you can use it flawlessly. On the other hand, QuickBooks Enterprise is apt for managing accounting operations for mid-sized businesses across industry verticals like distribution, retail, real estate, construction, and more.

One can easily manage inventory workflows, multiple users, transaction data, locations, and more. In the USA, QuickBooks dominated the accounting software market in 2017, with 2.55 million subscribers worldwide.

Pros	Cons
Provides ease of access (multiple locations and different platforms).	Spike in prices overtime.
Cloud-based functionality.	Limited number of users.
Data is always backed up.	‘Combined reporting’ feature not available.
Integrates with many third-party applications.	Not so effective payroll product.

2. FreshBooks

This is web-based software for accounting, which is a great option for the real-estate owners owing to its friendly features like time and expense tracking, payments management, invoicing, and more. Auto-payment reminders, branding invoices, and accepting online payments are some of its major features.

Pros	Cons
Efficient with credit card payments and automating reminders.	Mobile app doesn’t allow access to reports.
Has the ability to auto-send invoices and accept auto-payments.	Does not work well for larger businesses (needing inventory tracking & vendor management).
Sends link for invoices and can tell if and when a client has opened the link.	Lacks some of the features that competitors offer.
Comparatively less expensive.	No bank reconciliation.

3. Sage Intacct

The applications of this software provide real-time operational and financial insights, along with the option of automating processes which are critical.

It helps you effortlessly manage some of the prominent accounting operations like order and cash management, accounts payable and receivable, general ledger, and more.

Pros	Cons
Very flexible & easy to use.	Comparatively pricey.
Offers custom reports.	Not as versatile and offers less options compared to QB.
Cloud-based system.	No mobile app.
Provides many features.	Additional modules budgeting, interactive reporting cost extra.

4. Multiview Software

This software which has 14 modules for multiple configuration deployment is suitable for any industry type. One can easily manage financial analytics and reporting, accounts payable and receivable, general ledger including budgeting, order entry with fixed assets and invoicing, etc. with this software.

Pros	Cons
Very secure when it comes to data.	Difficult to create custom reports.
Browser based application.	Though the customer support solves the issue right away, it is sometimes glitchy.
Provides good financial solutions.
Easy to understand.

5. Xero

Going by the Xero report, companies who use accounting software acquire clients 5 times more than the companies who manage accounting manually.

Xero is one of the most preferred accounting software which offers greater features for billing, project management, income, invoice, expense, and payroll. With Xero, you get to avail the following benefits:-

• Sync with other apps made exclusively for the real estate world
• Collaborate with your staff, bookkeeper, and accountant from anywhere in real-time
• Make paying invoices easy for your customers with flexible options including Paypal and Stripe

Pros	Cons
Very easy to use and intuitive.	No notification for paid invoice.
Cloud-based software.	Allows only one payment option per invoice.
Both the price and the quality of the software is good.	Limited transactions per month (2000).
Great invoicing system.	Setup can be a bit confusing.

Top Real Estate Accounting Software Benefits

Excellent Management of Books

Excellent bookkeeping is all about having the key statistics in place of your business throughout the year as it helps in making important business decisions and also devise proficient strategies for future business growth.

The best way to achieve this is by using accounting software for real estate as its management features make entering transactions and organizing them effortlessly.

Efficient Payment Processing and Rental Invoicing

Software enables real estate businesses to maintain, run, and achieve payment schedules. It sends payment reminders to the parties who owe money to you, which also boosts the business relationship.

When you use software like QuickBooks Online, you are able to send attractive invoices to renters and vendors like companies for maintenance. All you have to do when the rent is due is type the name of the customer, fill template for the invoice, and send it via email.

Effortless Management of Transactions

For real estate agents, managing transactions is overwhelming due to the number of rental and property transactions they have to take care of. With manual management, things become even tough, and this is the reason software for accounting for real estate business becomes a necessity and not an option.

With software, you get to automatically track the investments and get to know what changes may occur during a rent hike. Apart from this, you can analyze transactional data to assess what effect a specific transaction may have on your overall transactional affair.

Trouble-Free Organization of Documents

Organizing your documents manually is not only a tedious task but is also associated with loss and error risks. On the other hand, saving and organizing your data in the digital format not only lessens the efforts and time but also lets you discover and keep track of the following accounting data regularly:

• Receipts and invoices
• Tax returns
• Insurance-related information
• Contracts
• Bank statements
• Credit card statements
• Leases and more…

Error-Free Bank Reconciliation

Bank reconciliation is one of the major accounting tasks that need to be executed perfectly and lets you know of gaps, accounting mistakes, timing delays, bank errors, and more. However, this perfection can only be achieved when you have maintained your books efficiently and regularly.

Accounting software not only helps you in maintaining your books but also makes the reconciliation process an easy and stress-free affair.

Timely Payroll Processing

When it comes to payroll processing, it is imperative to classify your independent contractors and employees carefully by using the U.S. Department of Labor’s economic realities test which is divided into six parts, learn state-specific rules, and follow the guidelines of the IRS.

Managing all these things manually becomes intense for your real estate accountant and is also prone to error. This is where accounting software helps you streamline the payroll process through proper management and timely execution.

Systematic Management of Property

Managing property in a systematic way is the key to a plain-sailing tax season and when you use accounting software, you are able to manage the finances related to your property in the following ways:

• Automatic adjustment calculations of late and additional fees
• Track the paid bills to avoid any confusions during the tax season
• Track income from various other sources like vending machines, laundry fees, and more
• Make a vendor ledger for tracking your expenses for every owner and property

Conclusion

Every industry today is keeping pace with the technology due to increased customer demands and strict IRS regulations, and the real estate industry is no exception to it.

This brings us to the conclusion that the real estate industry can benefit at large by bringing in the use of technology to manage their accounting operations in an efficient and effortless manner.

Depending upon the specific requirements of your real estate business, you may choose one of the top 5 accounting software and reap the associated benefits.

In case, you do not have an accountant for real estate business having the technical expertise for staying ahead in the competition; you can avail outsourcing accounting services from a leading and reputed provider.

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