Bookkeeping as a Solo Propriater

[Jared Baker]

Hello BP.  Not sure if this is the right place for this post or not but seems close.

I just bought my first rental property, a triplex.  It needs some work, but one of the units is already rented so I'll have that income and I plan on renovating the other two units and getting those rented out asap.  I will be living in the property as a owner occupied.  So I have a two part question here regarding how I need to keep track of the money.

Question 1: Do I need a special account for my rent money coming in?  Since everything is under my name, rent checks are made out to me.  Since I will be using the rent to pay the mortgage, do I need to have a special account, separate from my personal, where money comes in to and then I write checks from that account as well or can it all be just put in one personal account? (I also have to chip in a small amount from my personal accounts to cover the mortgage) 

Question 2: What is the best way to keep track of the rent coming in and the expenses going out?  I plan on finding an accountant this year to help go through everything, but is a simple excel file good enough or do I need something more robust?

Thanks BP :) 

[Dan V.]

@Jared Baker It is the best practice to have a separate and exclusive bank account for your rental property. All rents and expenses should go thru this account and not commingled with personal transactions. Some states require a separate account for security deposit so you should look at that too to see if you need more than one bank account. If you plan on using credit cards, have a separate and exclusive credit card account as well for the rental property. 

Software or excel will both work since it's only one property. You just need to establish a proper system to track everything for the rental property so it will be easier comes tax season and also if in case you wanted to analyze how your property is performing. 

Congratulations and good luck!