Cost Control and Expense Management: Your Ticket to Maximized Profitability
Introduction
Redefining Bookkeeping with Attitude
Introduction
Introduction
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Introduction
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Who said ruling the real estate world was only about finding hot properties? Nope, there's a secret sauce—sophisticated financial strategy underpinning it all. And guess who are the rockstars in this band? Budgeting and forecasting!
Get ready to harness the power of cold, hard data, keep your finger on the pulse of market trends, and make technology your best friend. Let's dive into the exciting realms of zero-based budgeting and the constantly evolving world of rolling forecasts—your power tools on the journey to real estate stardom.
Zero-Based Budgeting: It's Like Spring Cleaning for Your Costs!
Imagine zero-based budgeting (ZBB) as your personal financial trainer— it won't let any cost sneak into your new budget without justifying its existence. This isn't your grandpa's old-school budgeting—ZBB starts fresh from a "zero base," putting every department under the scanner for its costs and needs.
In the bustling world of real estate, ZBB can be a game changer. It nudges you to keep a hawk-eye on all expenses and bid adieu to anything that's draining your resources without adding value.
Picture yourself steering a real estate company, with a portfolio chock-full of apartment complexes. With zero-based budgeting, you're dissecting each expense—be it maintenance contracts or landscaping costs for each complex, in every budgeting cycle. You're the budget detective, spotting opportunities for savings, whether it's time to renegotiate contracts or swap out vendors for more cost-effective ones.
Rolling Forecasts: Stay Agile and Keep it Real!
The real estate industry moves faster than a cheetah on a caffeine rush—a static forecast can quickly become a relic. Enter rolling forecasts, your secret weapon to maintaining forecasts that are as fresh as this morning's coffee. These forecasts are continuously updated, whether it's every month or every quarter, to mirror the latest data and market trends.
Rolling forecasts are your trusty navigator, helping you adapt your strategies based on the most current information. It's like having your very own crystal ball, keeping you prepared to dodge risks and snatch up any golden opportunities that come your way.
Let's say you're juggling a portfolio of rental properties, and suddenly, the market sees a surprise spike in vacancy rates. A static forecast would be left in the dust, but with a rolling forecast, you can revise your predictions to account for these new vacancies. Now you're ready to adjust your strategies on the fly—whether it's upping your tenant retention game or reconsidering your rent prices.
Tech to the Rescue for Budgeting and Forecasting
Tech tools have swept in like a superhero, transforming the budgeting and forecasting landscape in real estate. Software solutions like MRI Software or RealPage are like your trusty sidekicks, offering a suite of tools tailor-made for real estate budgeting and forecasting. They automate data collection, deliver real-time market trends, and provide predictive analysis to help you fine-tune your forecasts.
For instance, a software solution like Yardi Voyager doesn't just help manage property and financial data, it offers advanced forecasting features too. It takes your historical data and current market trends to craft insightful predictions, powering you to strategize and make decisions with a newfound confidence.
Wrapping up, budgeting and forecasting are not just necessary evils—they're your secret weapons in the quest for real estate dominance. Zero-based budgeting keeps your costs on a leash, while rolling forecasts equip you to dance with the market's ebbs and flows. And with the right tech tools, you're on the fast track to not just surviving but thriving in the real estate market.
Remember, in this game, it's not just about the properties you've got, but also the strategic financial planning behind it. So, let's rock this!
Introduction
Whoever said "cash is king" was on to something, particularly when it comes to rocking the real estate world. Consider cash flow the lifeblood of your empire, powering your daily grind, settling debts, and igniting growth opportunities. Real estate conquerors know this: taming the cash flow beast can propel your business to unimagined heights. Here's the golden how-to:
Spying on Your Cash Flow: The Secret Sauce to Success
"Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." That's a golden oldie that still rings true today. Consistently snooping on your cash inflow and outflow is like having your hand on the pulse of your empire's fiscal fitness. It helps you anticipate those inevitable highs and lows - like the summer surge in demand for leases or the winter drain on your wallet when that central heating system kicks the bucket.
It's not about becoming a number-obsessed hermit. Rather, it's about uncovering the trends, deciphering the market's mood, and learning to predict the impact on your own fiscal tides. And with a little planning, you can even schedule those costly property makeovers during the quieter rental periods. Sneaky, right?
Building Your Treasure Chest: Because Surprises Happen
From sudden boiler bust-ups to unexpected market downturns, the real estate world is full of surprises. Having a treasure chest of cash reserves makes you the financial Indiana Jones of the real estate sector, always ready for the next adventure.
But this isn't just about having a 'break glass in case of emergency' fund. It's about the freedom to pounce on those oh-so-tempting investment opportunities that suddenly pop up. Consider stashing away three to six months' worth of expenses. It's like having a personal genie granting you financial wishes whenever you need them.
Mastering the Cash Flow Tango: Timing is Everything
In real estate, timing is not just a good thing—it's everything. Syncing your income and expenses is like finding the perfect rhythm in the cash flow dance. It ensures you always stay ahead of the beat.
Try to get your rent payments in before those nasty bills strike. If your mortgage takes a bite on the 15th, ensure your rent comes in by the 10th. Smooth-talking your vendors into aligning their payment schedules with your income stream is another smart move. It's all about owning the dance floor!
Tech Magic: Your Personal Cash Flow Oracle
Today, technology is like a sorcerer's stone, transforming cash flow management from a cumbersome task into a fun, manageable process. There's a treasure trove of applications out there that act like your personal finance wizard, casting an overseeing spell on your cash flow.
Automating your tracking, forecasting future trends, alerting you to upcoming cash crunches, and showing the impact of various scenarios on your cash flow - these apps do it all! QuickBooks, for instance, is like having your very own financial wizard, helping you master the mystical art of cash flow management.
Being a whiz at cash flow management is not just about making sense of cents—it's about adopting a 360-degree approach. By turning cash flow watching into a strategic game, padding your financial safety net, nailing the timing of income and expenses, and embracing the power of tech, you're not just running a real estate venture—you're reigning over an empire! Because in the world of real estate, the chant isn't just "location, location, location"— it's "cash flow, cash flow, cash flow".
Let me start with an apology. I am sorry I didn't post last week.
I want to jump right into it because with all the talk about COVID-19 and employers moving to a virtual working environment, this post is NECESSARY.
By now employees are being clocked via badges issued so that when they scan it to enter the building, they are officially "on the clock". With the move to remote offices and virtual working environments, this is not happening. I DO have a solution.
Tsheets by Intuit is your time tracking solution both remotely and in-house. It handles it all! With its geo-location tagging, you, business owner or HR Director, can see where an employee is when they clock on.
From the admin screen you can get a quick glimpse of who is currently working, who is on break, track their paid and unpaid leave hours, approve shift changes and time off requests.
Employees can clock in from their phones via the smartphone app, the website, or using a tablet set up as a kiosk. This is great for in house because that kiosk can be set to snap a photo at clock in so there will be no more clocking in for friends who are late!
Employees can choose from a list of their job duties what they were working on and give a summary in the notes section. I use Tsheets as I work on my clients and I send those reports directly to them so they know exactly what their money is getting them in terms of service AND value.
Tsheets by Intuit is this bookkeeper's COVID-19 approved time tracking software.
Sign up with me and receive great discounts.
Schedule a call now. Let's talk!
Tracking your expenses sounds easy, right? We all know that isn't the case. It can be quite time consuming especially if using spreadsheets. If you are a high volume transaction business, finding the time to input that data can prove to be quite difficult and let's face it, that task can simply get put off for MONTHS is there is too much to be done.
I want to talk about a couple of automated methods of tracking your expenses that, once setup, require nothing more than uploading a receipt.
First up:
Receipt Bank
Optimized for web-based accounting platforms, Receipt Bank allows you to take a picture of, store, and sort your receipts for ease of use for you and your accountant or bookkeeper. There is also a mobile app, making it much easier to snap a photo of the paper receipt and upload it to you Receipt Bank folder before it gets lost or damaged so bad it can’t be read. For a demo of Receipt Bank, you can click the name above this paragraph.
Next:
Expensify
Another optimized for web-based accounting platforms, Expensify boasts itself as a simple method of tracking expenses across multiple accounts; automating the entire process from capturing the receipt to payment to creating the expense report in real time. Expensify integrates with many credit card and banks to further create the ease of use. For more about Expensify, I found a great article that discusses the software HERE.
Lastly:
Direct to Accounting Software
This method is simply taking your receipts and inputting the data directly into your accounting software, whatever that software may be. You can still get expense reports and store the receipt as an attachment should you choose to do so. This method is a bit more time consuming and requires high level input from you, business owners.
Side note: Not every application is going to handle your 100% of your needs. Some of them mention the handling of other financial documents and although having one software that CAN handle more than one piece of your financial information is wonderful, this is not always IDEAL. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with employing multiple applications for the handling of financial documents like bank and credit card statements, expenses, and bills and invoices in addition to your accounting software.
If you are looking to get a system set up that can automate your finances, schedule a consultation with AMH. I can help you choose those applications that are best for your business.
For small businesses, automation is a MAJOR key to succeeding. When you have to do everything on your own, having some powerful tools in your tech stack (software and apps used to run your business) to alleviate a lot of the data entry can be LIFE CHANGING.
One of the tools that should be in EVERY small business' tech stack is HubDoc.
The power of HubDoc comes from the over 700 suppliers (banks, credit card, and utility companies) you can import documents from and the way you can upload documents like receipts. You can scan them, take a photo with your smartphone, or email them.
In addition to where you can get your info from and how you can upload that info to HubDoc, are the ways your HubDoc account can be maintained.
Self-Managed is just as is it sounds. You, business owner, will manage your account including adding your own bank and utility accounts that will fetch statements and invoices. You must invite your accountant/bookkeeper to your HubDoc account in order for them to have access to the documents and be able to sync information between your cloud accounting software and your HubDoc account. The self-managed option is best if you do not want your accountant/bookkeeper to have access to your financial institutions' login information.
Next is Firm-Managed. In this instance the accounting/bookkeeping firm manages the HubDoc account for you with the login information to your banks, credit card companies, and utility company. This is the best choice in the opinion of THIS bookkeeper because it eliminates a constant barrage of emails, texts, or calls in an effort for the firm to get information or updated information especially if you have your accountant or bookkeeper pay bills for your company.
One more awesome feature of HubDoc is how it can simplify your bookkeeping. Here is what HubDoc has to say about that:
" How Will Hubdoc Simplify my Bookkeeping?
Audit-Proof Your Business:Â Have a source document for every business transaction, and a bank statement for every month of business activity. Hubdoc goes to each website and fetches your documents.
One Secure Hub:Â Store unlimited documents in a single, auto-organized hub. Never lost sight of a statement or invoice again.
Easy Collaboration with Your Advisors: Your accountant and bookkeeper will instantly have access to everything they need. No more time spent on monthly hand-offs, and no hassle over lost documents. "
HubDoc is cloud storage for your financial documents 10x'd to do MORE than just store your paperwork. When set up and used properly, HubDoc can sync with your QuickBooks Online, Bill.com, and QuickBooks Desktop and carry over bills and invoices to be paid; making both you AND your accountant/bookkeeper more efficient and effective with how the time is spent.
For more information about HubDoc, click HERE.
Already using HubDoc or want to get started, schedule your consultation TODAY!!!
Switching from spreadsheets to accounting software is a big deal and you want to first and foremost ensure you are getting the software that fits your BUSINESS needs. With cloud accounting software becoming increasingly more popular, it gives you another option to consider when switching to a computerized accounting software.
Let's discuss the options available.
Intuit Products - QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online
Here at AMH, we are AVID fans of QuickBooks Desktop. It is, by far, the most robust accounting software available to small business owners. It handles payroll, inventory, cost accounting, property management, and much more. To make this more of a better option, your desktop file can be hosted online, giving you anywhere access to your accounting information as long as you have secure internet connection (recommended).
QuickBooks Online is a good option for those just starting out and want to keep good records. With its "scalable" options it is a good fit for many. Like its desktop counterpart, QuickBooks Online can handle payroll, inventory, and cost accounting. It can handle all of this for a business with multiple locations. This is especially good for construction business or contractors who have jobs in multiple locations. For more information on the QuickBooks Online options, click HERE.
AMH does not work with any QuickBooks Online products.
The remaining accounting software that I'm going to mention are all online only and I am not as well versed in those as I am Intuit products.
Other popular choices for accounting software:
Xero
Accounting Suite
Oracle
FreshBooks
Wave
Sage50 Cloud
Zoho
NetSuite
Clicking on any of the above will take you their websites where you can learn more about them.
If you have already chosen QuickBooks Desktop as your accounting software, have it hosted in the cloud, and are ready to get started, schedule a consultation and a setup appointment with AMH today!