How are Mac users managing your rentals with Quicken?

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booter
booter Unconfirmed, Member ✭
edited May 2021 in Download, Add/Update Accounts (Mac)
I'm new to quicken. Currently evaluating the product mainly for budget/spending tracking, investment aggregation, and managing my rental properties. I thought "Home & Business" would have been the 1st choice, but see its not available for Mac.

Have you found other versions of Quicken support managing your rentals well? Thank you for sharing your experiences.

Answers

  • MontanaKarl
    MontanaKarl Member, Mac Beta Beta
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    Since you said "properties" plural, it is likely that any workarounds to make things work in QMac would be frustrating compared to the Windows "Home & Business" version.  If you review some of the features listed on the product page here:

    https://www.quicken.com/personal-finance/rental-property

    and find that those would be helpful, then I think you should look at the Windows product and run that on your Mac.  Quite a few of us run QWin on our Macs by using Parallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion or other Windows virtualization software.  It all works perfectly fine, but you'll have the added cost of Parallels/Fusion/whatever and potentially the cost of a Windows 10 license (although Microsoft has continued a program by which you may be able to get a free license - do a search).

    In my case, my Quicken data file resides in my Mac file system which is shared with my Windows 10 virtual machine.  So, Time Machine keeps all of my Quicken Windows data backed up automatically just like all Mac data.

    One last thought... from how you asked, I assume that your rentals are handled on your personal 1040 on a Schedule E.  If they are an entirely separate business that files its own tax return, then I would stick with QMac for your personal finances and look at some of the other Mac-based software available to handle just your rental business.

    Quicken user since 1990, MacBook Pro M2 Max on Ventura 13.6.5 • Windows 11

  • YingDave
    YingDave Member ✭✭✭✭
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    I am Canadian H&B (windows) version and it does not have Rental Property functions. I have for 15-20 years ran investment properties through Quicken without special Rental functions. You can use a combination of Asset/Liability accounts with Tags for each property. This allows you to track cash flow for each property separately, also capital improvement and asset values and loans.

    If your need is just cash flow and you use a property agent to manage the communication with your tenants then you can quite happily just run your cash flow through normal quicken accounts. This I feel is the main reason why you would need Rental function in US Windows Quicken - direct tenant management. I am in a different location and in this market, it is virtually unheard of not to use a property agent to handle tenant communication and lease arrangement, so can easily get by without using the Rental module (ie. QW Canadian version).

  • MontanaKarl
    MontanaKarl Member, Mac Beta Beta
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    Good points, @YingDave  - but while Tags are useful for tracking properties/units... they are cumbersome for tracking tenants... if you have many units with lots of tenant changeover over the years.  So, sure, depending on the situation, your suggestion might work just fine.

    For someone who needs to track receivables per tenant and more, the US H&B version is likely worth the extra cost.  (For more complex rental situations, other software might be more appropriate.)

    Quicken user since 1990, MacBook Pro M2 Max on Ventura 13.6.5 • Windows 11

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