Product Description
In this day and age, we’re lucky to have software that takes care of the nuts and bolts of property management accounting. But even with software, you’ll find it much easier to keep accurate records if you have an understanding of the basic accounting concepts upon which these programs are based. Buildium’s Property Management Accounting teaches you these concepts with property management specifically in mind. Don’t worry if you don’t have an accounting degree or… More >>
Property Management Accounting: A Survival Guide for Non-Accountants
#1 by L. Limited on May 18, 2010 - 7:02 pm
This book is way overpriced, and lacks any valuable information. I have signed up for a property management account with Buildium, which I love. However, there was no information contained in this book, that I hadn’t already figured out for myself. (And I am no account.) 90% of the information covered in the book is already available throught Buildium’s tutorials, and the rest only takes common sense to figure out. Don’t waste your money on this very overpriced, very tiny book.
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by knoxbury on May 18, 2010 - 8:34 pm
The 5 star review for this book is pure marketing fluff. No one could legitimately give this book 5 stars. As others have said, this is an overpriced pamphlet. And not only is it overpriced, it’s redundant. You could sum up the “meat” of the book in 2 sentences (what is a debit account and what is a credit account) and all that follows is example after example of crediting and debiting accounts when 1 example would have gotten the point across.
My best guess is that this book was written to provide you with enough information to sound helpful and show enough examples to wish you had PM accounting software to do this for you (enter Buildium). I’m a Buildium user and I can say that I have gained very little from this book and definitely not $30 worth of info! $9.99 is the most I would pay for this book. If the goal of this book was to drive managers to use Buildium, I would think that Buildium would have had more success offering this as a free pdf download instead of robbing potential customers and leaving a bad taste in their mouths as to the benefits of Buildium. Do yourself a favor, skip this book, grab a PM for Dummies book and sign up for a trial of Buildium to see if it’s right for you.
Rating: 1 / 5
#3 by Mike S. on May 18, 2010 - 8:39 pm
I was very disappointed. Not much of a book more like a little pamphlet. The material was adequately covered but I feel ripped off because of the price.
Rating: 1 / 5
#4 by KRBConsulting on May 18, 2010 - 10:54 pm
As a consultant – it seems that I spend a good deal of time teaching property managers, and real estate brokers and their personnel accounting. And then translating their business for them using what-to them- must seem like a secret code. This book is a helpful decoder ring, if you will. And it’s short enough that you can hold a busy RE pro’s attention long enough, to make it useful to them.
Rating: 4 / 5
#5 by Gazar on May 19, 2010 - 1:54 am
If you’re looking for a 30lb. textbook on accounting, this is not the book for you. However, if you’re looking for a concise, well written guide to the basics of property management accounting give this one a shot. By reading the book and following the examples, someone (like me) who knows how to manage their personal finances but doesn’t know how to properly “keep the books” for a property management company can gain the knowledge and confidence to do so.
Rating: 5 / 5