After purchasing a property, many investors ignore the monthly cash flows and focus only on appreciation. This is an acceptable strategy until the market sees a rate hike, rents remain stagnant, or the property incurs several costly repairs over one year. This often leaves the owner in the position of having to write checks to […]
A messy chart of accounts is one of those problems that looks harmless right up until it isn’t. An owner asks why their statement is different from what they expected, and all of a sudden, no one can find where a repair bill actually got coded. That’s usually the moment someone finally sits down and […]
Every commercial property manager experiences the same pain. During the reconciliation season, a tenant receives a statement, and shortly after, the phone rings. This time, the question is about why their share for repaving the parking lot increased. Often, the number is in fact correct. However, there are times when someone missed a lease clause […]
Ask any property manager who has faced a state real estate board over a trust accounting violation, and you’ll hear the same thing. Roof leaks and problem tenants are not what sink a business; it is the money. The money that belongs to someone else. Managing rental properties means handling a lot of cash that’s […]
AI is great for transaction-heavy tasks in property management like processing invoices, reconciling bank statements, and generating standard reports. However, human accountants are required to handle the tax strategy, disputed transactions, and advisory tasks as well as give the final sign-off on the books. This article aims to define the boundary for each of these […]
Property management automation has a positive financial impact on rent collection, bank reconciliations, and owner reporting. With automation, the main risk is at month-end close and in trust accounting, especially when people assume the software is working properly. This article clearly explains the pros and cons, with real numbers attached.
Real estate investors defer several billion dollars in capital gains taxes every year through a single tax provision. And yet a sizable percentage of investors still mess it up by missing that deadline, letting the funds hit a wrong account or skipping a form, and watching the entire benefit vanish overnight. The 1031 exchange rules […]
Whether you own three properties or thirty, there comes a time when basic bookkeeping is insufficient. For a property owner, portfolio accounting means treating each property and entity you own as part of an integrated financial system, rather than treating each as its own little island with a standalone spreadsheet. Single-property bookkeeping starts to buckle […]