Investor · La Crescenta, CA · Member since 2013 · 174 posts · 50 votes
My property manager uses Buildium. I have asked for a CSV file of all transactions so I can easily import them into my bookkeeping. The best he has been able to do is to export a report in xls format. With some manipulation, I can create my needed columns, but there should be a better solution.
Does anyone using Buildium know how to create a simple CSV (or tab delimited) file that has columns for all (or most) transaction fields?
I would think that many property management customers would want this.
Not sure why you would want to. Too much work - I would only enter summary. Keep the summary and detail on file. If you are going to do that you as well pay all the bills. So there is not double entry.
Our Buildium clients give their owners our ebook.
Anyway open the file in excel and save the file as csv.
Not sure why you would want to. Too much work - I would only enter summary. Keep the summary and detail on file. If you are going to do that you as well pay all the bills. So there is not double entry.
Our Buildium clients give their owners our ebook.
Anyway open the file in excel and save the file as csv.
Hi Jim, I've used Buildium for the past 5 years -- I have not done specifically what you are asking and am not quite sure if it can be done.
That being said, I do know every time I've called Buildium their folks have been MORE than willing to help me with any issues I might have. Maybe your PM and yourself could complete a conference call with Buildium Tech Support at the beginning of the week and you can describe what you're after and possibly they could walk your PM through the process if it's possible?
Sorry I wasn't much help, but the best solution I can think of.
I just bought your Ebook, and I understand the reasoning. However, my CPA would like all of the details in case he disagrees with a classification. With recent IRS changes, repairs vs maintenance vs capital expenditures can make a difference.
If I can easily import the details, it shouldn't be a lot more work, and it will allow me to drill down to the apartment of tenant if I want to.
So ask the property manager to be specific about repairs, maintenance and capital improvements. If the money spend increases the value of the property than it is a capital improvements.
Our property managers have agreement with landlords such as a cap on the expenses, major expenses to be approved, owners pays direct for major expenses, and so on. What is included in your agreement? Having a conversation with your manager be just the answer and a simple solution
So I signed up for a Buildium trial then called tech support to ask how to download a flat file of all transactions. The very helpful support person showed me how to choose Reports -> Financials -> Income Statement Detailed and choose 'CSV' as the Report Format. Very easy.
I sent the instructions including a screen-shot to my property management company. I later called my contact and asked if she understood everything.
She said 'We don't use Buildim. We use Propertyware.'
I'm glad to see that you can laugh at others' misfortune;-)
Unlike the Buildium CSV file, Propertyware only prints a report in xls. It still looks like the pdf report. It just requires some massaging to get the columns needed for Quickbooks.
Sorry, @Jim Workman! Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying. Am I missing something, or can't you just open the file in Excel, and then save it as a CSV? This is what it looks like when I try to save an Excel file on my computer
Think of a regular report where info is presented vertically to fit on 8.5" wide paper. That is the way the Propertyware XLS file looks. Just requires a bit of manipulation to get everything into columns.
Last weekend, I had success importing IIF files into Quickbooks. I'm using your idea of the PM as customer with city/building/apartment as class/subclass/sub-subclass.
I haven't figured out how to tie the tenant to the apartment so I'm just including their name in the memo field after the actual transaction date. (IIF files can have multiple dates, but only one is used as the journal date.)