Getting Organized - Folder Structure Suggestions?

Question

Hi Bigger Pockets, I've just purchased my first 3 unit property in December and I am reading through The Book on Managing Rental Properties by @BrandonTurner. I'm realizing my need to be as organized as possible up front when it comes to all the paperwork associated with the property.

Does anyone have any good systems of organization such as their digital folder structure, your method for organizing your files, or just overall tips for organization?

I appreciate all advice you can provide for great systems and organizational lessons learned.

Daniel Hyman · Answer

@PJ Kolnik

Congrats on the purchase!

You might want a folder called "Tax and Accounting" in which you keep subfolders with the following titles:

• Bank Statements
• PM Statements
• Mortgage Statements
• Closing Documents
• Check Images
• Invoices
• Receipts
• Financial Statements

Aside from being able to pull a document easily, your CPA will thank you for being so organized.

Daniel Hyman · Answer

@PJ Kolnik

You could create a seperate folder for each property. Each property can be subdivided into other folders such as:

• Rental Applications
• Leases
• Major Repairs & Improvements
• Insurance
• Closing Documents
• Miscellaneous

Bret N. · Answer

It's amazing, something simple can make things easier on one's life.  Proper naming of files and folder structure was never taught in schools(or if they were I was more concerned with what Grateful Dead setlist was being played..lol)  Eitherway, it has caused some chaos come tax season. I am glad I found this!

PJ Kolnik · Answer

@Michael Noto I agree, I actually spent a good 4 hours last night building this folder structure in Google Drive last night. The amount of competency and confidence that I feel that I gained from getting organized was awesome. I definitely feel like getting organized in this way has really helped me figure out some of that - "I don't know what I don't know"

Michael Noto · Answer

@PJ Kolnik I would highly recommend using Dropbox to store your digital files. Since we started using it regularly 2-3 years ago we are much more organized and being able to access files from any device has helped us in a pinch several times.

PJ Kolnik · Answer

@Daniel Hyman that makes sense. Do recommend I "pay" myself for Property Management as a self management landlord?

PJ Kolnik · Answer

@Daniel Hyman - I was looking at your Tax & Accounting folder suggestions and saw the "PM Statements" what are these?

PJ Kolnik · Answer

@Daniel Hyman good ideas - this is a great place to start. I'm think I will put correspondence documentation in a subfolder labeled with each applicant's names in the rental applications folder and then just drag those personalized folders into the "Leases" folder when they become a tenant

PJ Kolnik · Answer

@Daniel Hyman thanks for the advice! Do you have further advice for documents associated with overall management of the property as well?

Getting Organized - Folder Structure Suggestions?

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