Quicken Rental Property Manager is a stand-alone software application to track rental income and expenses for do-it-yourself landlords. Intuit has created a quick and easy software solution that's far superior to tracking the same information using pencils and paper, or even Excel spreadsheets. However, some landlords may need more detailed cost basis reporting not found in Quicken Rental Property Manager.
Overall:
Quicken Rental Property Manager is recommended for rental property owners who need a quick and easy application to keep track of rental income and expenses. In particular, Quicken Rental Property Manager is highly recommended for landlords who are currently tracking rental income and expenses using paper reports or Excel spreadsheets. Tracking the same information in Quicken or Quickbooks won't be as quick and easy, but extra time spent customizing your Quicken software will pay off with smarter reports come tax time. Rental property owners who need to track more than 100 properties or require additional cost basis tracking should will find Peachtree or Quickbooks a better fit for their needs. Overall, I applaud Intuit for making a software program that's easy to use and is suited to the daily needs of rental property owners.
Features in Quicken Rental Property Manager:
Quicken Rental Property Manager provides quick and easy data entry for common accounting tasks for landlords. The software enables landlords to:
- Track rental income and property-related expenses per property and per unit,
- Track tenant information (name, address, unit number, lease information),
- Generate reports to track rental payments, late payments, and expenses, and
- Generate reports to analyze profit and loss per property, and an tax report that's designed to match Form 1040 Schedule E.
Quicken Rental Property Manager does not integrate with Intuit's Quicken or Quickbooks applications. However, the software does allow you to export data to the desktop version of TurboTax for quick tax preparation for do-it-yourself taxpayers.
Personal Observations when using Quicken Rental Property Manager:
- Basic tasks are easy to find and easy to use. Simply click the large "Enter Expense" or "Enter Rent" buttons to record these items.
- Reports are easy to find. Just click the "Reports" button and choose between an Income & Expense Report (P&L) or a Tax Report (formatted to look similar to a Schedule E).
- "Rent Center" provides a quick overview of tenant payments. By scanning the report, you can quickly see which tenants have paid and which haven't paid their rent for a particular month.
- You can track up to 100 properties in a single file. If you need to track additional buildings, you could create a new Quicken Rental Property Manager file.
- You can track up to 100 units per property. If a particular building has more than 100 units, you could create additional properties. For example, you could create one property for each floor.
- Lacks data entry for cost basis and depreciation on properties. When you add a new property, you type in the building's address. This becomes the name of the property in Quicken Rental Property Manager. There's no place, however, to store critical information about the cost of the property, loans against the property, or depreciation being claimed for tax purposes.
Bottom Line:
If you don't already own Quicken or Quickbooks, Quicken Rental Property Manager will help you get organized quickly and painlessly. If you already own Quicken or Quickbooks, you might want to take some time to customize your software to handle rental property.
