Welcome to another Ask Me Anything (Ask Us Anything?) episode! Each week we’ll answer your questions on STR, real estate, OTAs, and everything in between.
Today’s Question:
What do you recommend for accounting software for STR owners? Is there something specific for our industry or is Quickbooks still the gold standard?
Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. To hear your voice on the show and send a question to Sarah & Annette, visit Speakpipe.com/ThanksforvisitingAMA
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Sarah Karakaian:
[00:01:01] Welcome back. My name is Sarah Karakaian.
Annette Grant:
[00:01:04] I am Annette Grant. And together we are--
Both Sarah & Annette:
[00:01:06] Thanks for Visiting.
Sarah Karakaian:
[00:01:07] So, Annette, she's a little under the weather.
Annette Grant:
[00:01:11] Over here. Let's do it.
Sarah Karakaian:
[00:01:12] But she's here.
Annette Grant:
[00:01:12] I'm just testing out a new voice. You guys can let me know how you feel about it.
Sarah Karakaian:
[00:01:18] Okay. But we're going to hop into today's AMA episode. AMA stands for Ask Me Anything. If you head to our website, thanksforvisiting.me, in the upper right-hand corner is a red button and there you can submit your voice question. Anything short-term rental related, anything business related, we will answer it here on the podcast if we choose it. So today we've got a great question about accounting software.
Question:
[00:01:43] Hi guys, really love your podcast. Such good information. Just wondering if you had any insight on accounting software and what you all use or what you recommend. I've heard a lot about Stessa, but it's a free thing and there's usually some catch with something being free while it seems really good to be true. Or do you just use the gold standard of QuickBooks and shell out all the money for it? Any insight would be super appreciated. And obviously going to a CPA is best, but in order to keep track of all the stuff, we'd love to know what you recommend. Thanks.
Sarah Karakaian:
[00:02:19] Such a good question.
Annette Grant:
[00:02:20] It's a great question. Let's start here. Number one, I don't have any experience with Stessa, so I am going to let you know that right out of the gate. And I also want to reframe this question too of she used the term like "shell out all this money for QuickBooks." Please, I implore everyone to understand this is an investment in your business and it's also a write off. So I think just flipping the mindset a little bit, this is your accounting software. This is like, to me, the most important thing in your tech stack. It's helping you figure out how much money you're making. But we do have a lot of opinions on this, so let's roll with it.
Sarah Karakaian:
[00:02:57] So to be fair to you and to anyone listening, I use a software that is free and it's called Wave. So I don't use Stessa, but I do use Wave and it is free and it works for me. Where I'm at right now, we actually transitioned from QuickBooks to Wave. But I will tell you this, and this is what everyone needs to remember. And she said it in her question where she said, "I know getting a CPA would be the best option." So eventually you will get a CPA because especially if you're investing in real estate, you want to have a CPA that can help you be strategic with your investment. And before you even ask yourself what software you should use, I think you need to find who you're going to work with and see what they require you to use or they prefer you to use. Because I will tell you they will get really sassy if you're using a software that they don't know or understand. I am lucky in the fact where I hired a bookkeeper who understood a variety of softwares and she introduced me to Wave because the way we were using it in our business, she goes, this will be just fine. And it's actually free. So we're using that right now. Now, if you're more of a property manager and you are doing trust accounting, I'm going to go ahead and tell you you're going to have to use something more robust like QuickBooks. We invoice our clients, so have Wave just fine. But again, find out what CPA you're going to work with and see if they have an opinion or if they're open to variety of softwares because they will get sassy.
Annette Grant:
[00:04:29] And also I use two different. I use Xero, which is X-E-R-O and QuickBooks. And so like Sarah just mentioned, love our accountants, but they are not big fans of Xero. They just don't work in it as often. And so every time I have a question or an issue comes up with it, it isn't taken care of as fast or there's just a little bit more of a learning curve there that was left over from an old accountant that I used that really liked Xero and promoted that. But I will let you know if you do have your CPA, a lot of times you can get a reduction if there is a fee associated with QuickBooks. They can help you get their discounted rate or their affiliate rate. So that's also good to know. But yes, it's one of those things that you definitely want to see who you're going to be working with, what they prefer. It's just going to make everybody's life easier in the long run. And I will say out of all of it, please make sure that it can all be done online. It used to be old-school. QuickBooks you would like, I think put the disk in and have a local version. Everything does need to be on the cloud now. So I do absolutely 100% recommend using a software that's on the cloud that you can access anytime, anywhere, from any device. But great question and this is one of those things do it sooner than later because you're going to need it.
Sarah Karakaian:
[00:05:48] Yeah, you'll need it. I like your mindset shift there, Annette, of don't think of it as shelling out money. Think of it as an investment in your business because your accounting software is a place where all your numbers live, it's where all your strategies live. So just think of it--
Annette Grant:
[00:06:01] It's an investment.
Sarah Karakaian:
[00:06:02] as an investment.
Annette Grant:
[00:06:03] A great investment.
Sarah Karakaian:
[00:06:04] Plug that number in, that monthly requirement in, and just get really comfortable with it. So with that, if you have any feedback, other thoughts, suggestions--
Annette Grant:
[00:06:12] Or if you use Stessa, let us know. If you work for Stessa, if you know someone at Stessa, let us know. We're not opposed to it. We just haven't used it, so we want to be honest with you.
Sarah Karakaian:
[00:06:21] But I think the principle still stands, the free software versus QuickBooks, which is the like she said, the gold standard. But DM us or you could email us hi@thanksforvisiting.me. Continue the conversation. That's where you can share your insight. But we really appreciate you participating in our weekly AMA episodes. Again, if you go to thanksforvisiting.me there's a red button Ask Me Anything there and you can submit your question. Until next time, I'm Sarah Karakaian.
Annette Grant:
[00:06:47] I'm Annette Grant, and together we are--
