How do you handle per-unit expense reporting?

Question

Curious how other property managers here handle reporting — specifically things like per-unit expense tracking, or seeing rent income broken out by month in a way that's actually usable for owner statements. Do you rely on what your PM software (Buildium, AppFolio, etc.) gives you natively, or do you end up rebuilding reports yourself in Excel? Trying to understand how big a gap this actually is for people, or whether it's a non-issue.

Joseph Zimmerman · Answer

I self-manage two Chicago rentals, so there's no PM software in the middle and I rebuild it all in my custom P&L, one per property, every month.

The mortgage takes the most work. My payment hits as a single line, so I split it into principal, interest, and escrow before anything else. Without that the property looks more expensive than it is and the equity number drifts. I track the escrow balance separately too, since a shortage shows up there months before it changes what I pay.

In general, I use Monarch for transactions and expense tracking and then I import that data into my P&L tool for KPI's and analysis.

Adam Bartomeo · Answer

Appfolio tracks all of the unit expenses for multifamily- maintenance, utilities, etc. If there are overhead expenses than you would have to divide those out - taxes, insurance, lawn, etc.

Bill B. · Answer

It does all the schedule E work for you or property.

You enter the loan balance, # of payments and interest rate plus any extras like insurance/hoa/property taxes. So each loan payment is automatically and  correctly allocated and matches the bank’s amortization table, even if you make extra payments.

Diana Khan · Answer

@Aravind Sanjeevi, from owning and working around rental property, I’ve learned that I care less about having a perfect report and more about whether I can quickly see what needs my attention.

For me, I want to be able to look at a property and answer a few simple questions. Which unit is costing me more than the others? Are repairs starting to repeat? Is one unit turning over more often? Is the rent still covering what that unit is really costing me?

I also do not think every expense needs to be forced down to the unit level. Things like taxes, insurance, landscaping, or work on a shared area may make more sense at the property level.

What matters to me is keeping the reporting consistent. If the same types of expenses are tracked the same way every month, it becomes much easier to see when something changes.

That is where I think the real value is. The report should help the owner make a decision, not just give them more numbers to look at.

Aaron Zimmerman · Answer

For mine, I don't track expenses by unit. I typically know which unit is the biggest headache

Aravind Sanjeevi · Answer

This is a really useful reframe, thanks. Sounds like the real value isn't more granularity but consistency - and a report that points you to what needs attention rather than just handing you more numbers. That's a distinction I hadn't thought about enough.

Bill B. · Answer

Try something small and simple like quicken. It can tell you total expenses, general expenses, and property  specific expenses. It can break them down by property, by time period, and by expense or income type.

Of course it will also compare it to your budget, last year or any other time period you can think of. It will download and enter automated transactions from bank accounts and credit cards.  I only have a dozen properties, but it doesn’t take an hour per month even with 10+ HOA’s.

How do you handle per-unit expense reporting?

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