Real estate accounting software makes managing simple. With it, you can easily and quickly handle bookkeeping, tracking income and expenses, and other property management accounting tasks. 

But how do you create a custom solution for your real estate business? In this guide, you’ll find all the important information about real estate accounting, types of accounting, essential accounting tools and features to develop, pricing, and more!

What is Real Estate Accounting Software?

Real estate accounting software is a solution designed to manage financial operations in the real estate sector. It offers features such as tracking rental income, handling property expenses, managing leases, expense tracking, overseeing multiple properties, and more.Such software offers many great benefits, which is why property management companies and real estate professionals choose it. 

Benefits of Real Estate Accounting Software

Easier Income and Expense Tracking

With real estate accounting software, you can create detailed budgets of your income and expenses. Sure, you can use traditional methods for analytics, but real-time updates through accounting software make it easier to track confirmed income, expenses and other financial processes. You can reassess and adjust your strategies to improve performance.

Accurate Financials

When reports and accounting are done manually, they take more time and are more likely to be error-prone. Automating these processes helps create more accurate reports faster and reduces the risk of mistakes.

Accounting software also simplifies the tax process so all data remains organized, current, and readily available during tax filing.

Time Efficiency

Real estate accounting software automates tasks, saving you time. Rent tracking, vendor payments, financial reports, and other accounting tasks take seconds because everything is generated automatically. There is no need to do things manually.

Better Organization

Real estate accounting software keeps all your property and financial data in one place! Many companies struggle with disorganization – some information is on paper, some in Google Sheets, and some in separate management tools. This creates chaos. That’s why using this software simplifies your processes and keeps everything organized!

Property-Level Insights

A big advantage is getting detailed financial reports for each property. You can see how each one is doing and track profits.

Features for Real Estate Accounting Software

Real estate accounting software simplifies the complex financial management processes in the real estate business. To maximize its potential, the right set of features is a must. Below, we’ll explore the features that every real estate accounting software should have to help you run a more efficient business:

Dashboard

The dashboard is the first thing users see when they open your app or visit your website. A well-designed dashboard logically organizes all key information in one place, making it easy for users to access what they need.

Detailed Financial Reporting

Financial reporting is the backbone of any accounting system. With it, real estate companies can quickly produce cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements. Everything is automated and efficient!

Property-Specific Accounting

Property-specific accounting allows you to handle the finances of each property individually. You can easily track income and expenses accurately for every property in your portfolio.

Rent and Lease Tracking

Rent and Lease Tracking streamlines tenant and property management. It helps you automatically track rent payments, due dates, lease terms, and more, ensuring smoother operations.

Comprehensive Analytics

Fast access to analytics simplifies managing property taxes, preparing tax returns, and tracking tax deductions.

Budgeting Tools

These tools help you plan and allocate resources for property maintenance, upgrades, or new investments, ensuring better financial control and planning.

Integration

Your accounting software should easily connect with other systems needed for accounting, such as CRM, property management tools, payment gateways, etc. Integration with document management is especially helpful for handling paperwork.

Cloud-Based

Cloud-based accounting software allows real estate agents and other related users to access data from anywhere.

Types of Accounting Software for Real Estate Business

A few standard accounting methods in the real estate industry help manage finances better. Here’s a list of the most popular ones:

Project-Based Accounting

Project-based accounting is a must-have in real estate. It helps track the financial performance of individual projects. By monitoring each project separately, businesses can assess profitability, manage costs, and ensure accurate reporting.

Accrual Accounting

Accrual accounting is a method of recording income and expenses as they are earned or incurred, even before payments are made or received.
Accrual accounting provides a more accurate picture of a real estate business’s financial activity, as it accounts for all liabilities and income, regardless of payment timing.

Cash Accounting

Cash accounting is a simpler method, often used by smaller real estate businesses. This approach records income and expenses only when money is received or paid.

Cost Accounting

Cost accounting tracks expenses related to property development, maintenance, and management. This method helps with better cost control and determines the profitability of individual projects or properties.

Tax Accounting

Tax accounting in real estate is used to manage taxes on property sales, rental income, and property taxes. Tax accounting includes strategies to take advantage of tax deductions, depreciation, and tax credits available to property owners and investors.
Accurate tax accounting helps real estate companies stay compliant and reduce their tax liabilities.

Property Management Accounting

Property Management Accounting focuses on managing the financial operations of rental properties. You can track rent payments, handle tenant security deposits, manage maintenance expenses, and generate financial reports on property performance.

Investment Accounting

Real estate investors commonly use investment accounting to track the performance of assets in their portfolios.

Custom vs. Ready-Made Real Estate Accounting Software?

How do you identify which real estate accounting software your business needs? Let’s look at the difference between custom and ready-made accounting software:

CUSTOM SOFTWARE is a system where you can integrate the accounting tools that your business needs. It is fully adaptable. You can choose whatever you want, as it’s fully your product.

READY-MADE SOFTWARE is a system that has already been developed. It has accounting features you can use for your business. You choose the subscription plan and pay for extra accounting tools and features.

Customization

• Custom Software: Fully adapted to your business processes and needs.
• Ready-made Software: Limited customization; mostly generic features.

Accounting Features

• Custom Software: Includes any feature set you need. You have the potential to add more at any time.
• Ready-made Software: Includes only preset features, some of which may be unnecessary or missing key functionalities.

Cost

• Custom Software: Initial costs are higher, but long-term savings come from efficiency and no need for a subscription.
• Ready-made Software: Lower upfront costs but may require additional expenses for upgrades or workarounds.

Scalability

• Custom Software: Scales with your business as it grows. Great for long-term use.
• Ready-made Software: Hard to support larger or more complex operations, ideal for startups or smaller businesses.

Integration

• Custom Software: You can integrate your software with existing property management platforms and other systems.
• Ready-made Software: Limited integration options; may require workarounds.

Conclusion: How to Choose the Best Accounting Software?

Custom software is ideal for real estate businesses with specific needs, growth potential, or the requirement for specialized accounting features and integrations. While the initial investment may be higher, you gain long-term value and scalability!

Ready-made software is a good starting point for smaller businesses with basic needs, a limited budget, or for real estate agents and property managers. However, it has limitations that may lead to extra costs as the business grows.

How Much Does it Cost to Develop Custom Accounting Software?

• Mobile App for Accounting Software – Starting from $30,000
• Web Platform or Accounting Software – Starting from $30,000
• MVP or Accounting Software – Starting from $25,000

The price may increase depending on the complexity and additional accounting features required. Contact us to find out the total cost, and after the discussion, we will identify the final price!

How to Develop Real Estate Accounting Software

At RewiSoft, our development process is structured into four key stages: Discovery, UI/UX Design, Development, and Release & Post-Support:

№1: Discovery Stage

In this discovery stage, we conduct a deep business analysis and product discovery to identify the essential features for property management software.

After defining the project’s scope, we move to the Tech Architecture Libraries & Frameworks step to understand the requirements clearly.

№2: UI/UX Design Stage

In the UI/UX Design Stage, we create wireframes to structure the software, establish a consistent design system, develop the UI, and conduct user testing to refine the design based on feedback.

№3: Development Stage

We build the server-side architecture (Back End) and the user-facing interface (Front End). Then, we test all accounting features, fix bugs, and perform a final readiness check to ensure the software is fully operational.

We synchronize design and development to speed up iterations and integrate design improvements during development.

№4: Release & Post-Support Stage

After release, we offer ongoing support:

• Complimentary Bug Fixes: Free bug fixes for one-month post-launch.
• Hourly Support: Ongoing support for updates and enhancements.

Find more details about our Web Development process:

Mobile App Development Process:

Conclusion

The right real estate software can simplify accounting processes and deliver more accurate, efficient results. Our team is here to help you choose the best accounting solution to your business goals!