How do you get owner statements out by the 3rd?

Question

For those of you managing for third-party owners: the 1st isn't rent day, it's statement day. Rent roll, deposits, repairs, the note explaining why the plumber cost $640, and every owner wants it slightly differently.

The managers I've seen stay on top of it do three things: one statement template per owner set once, a rule for which expenses get a note (anything over a set amount or anything unplanned), and every statement drafted by the 3rd so they only review.

What's your setup? And which part still eats the most time?

(I put together a checklist of 20 jobs small PMs are handing off, with what to check before each one goes out. Happy to send it to anyone who wants it, just reply or message me.)

Rukhaam Mahar · Answer

Thanks Lee, "not done until the paperwork is in" plus a Friday sweep is a practical fix for the vendor chase John described.

Rachel Mazzanti · Answer

Moving the deadline back is exactly right. The 3rd is not the hard part, the 2nd is.

The one step I would add before any statement goes out is the bank tie-out. Rent collected on the rent roll has to match what actually hit the bank, and the trust account has to reconcile, not just add up. A statement that is fast but does not tie to the deposit is just a fast way to get a question from every owner at once.

Your note rule is good too, and I would attach the invoice for anything over that $250 line, not just describe it. Owners rarely argue with a one sentence note and the invoice behind it. They argue when they have to take the number on faith.

In my company the close runs backwards from the send date: vendor invoices in by the 2nd, deposits reconciled, then statements drafted. Anything late gets the one line note and rolls to next month, same as you do. Consistency is what makes the 3rd believable.

James Jones · Answer

From the owner side of a 236-door portfolio in Memphis, the 3rd is won or lost before the month closes. Statements are slow when somebody is hunting paper at the end. My rule is no invoice and no open work order, no pay, so every charge on a statement already has its backup attached to the house it belongs to. Rent on my 3BRs runs $1,395 to $1,950, and one wrong-house repair charge can eat a big piece of a month's margin. Exceptions get flagged and reviewed, everything else goes out. The deadline is a paper problem, not a calendar problem.

John Cafarelli · Answer

The thing that finally got us close to the 3rd was moving the deadline back, not working faster on the 3rd itself. I set a hard cutoff: all rent, deposits, and invoices have to be logged by the end of the 2nd, no exceptions. Anything that comes in late goes on next month's statement with a one-line note, otherwise you're always chasing one receipt while the clock runs out.

For the notes, I stopped explaining every line. I only add a note for unplanned work or anything over about $250, and I keep it to one sentence: what it was, why it was needed, and the date. Owners stopped asking follow-ups once the format stayed exactly the same every month, because they knew where to look.

The part that still eats the most time for me is chasing missing invoices from vendors, not building the statement itself. If you can get vendors to send invoices the same week the work is done, the rest is mostly just a review. A simple monthly close checklist — rent in, deposits reconciled, repairs logged, statement drafted — has saved me more time than any fancy template did.

Rukhaam Mahar · Answer

Matthew, that's the fix I wish more people heard: write the note when the work is approved, while it's fresh, not on the 2nd. It also means statement review becomes checking, not detective work. Who writes that note in your shop: the coordinator who approves the work, or whoever talks to the vendor?

Matthew Tregoning · Answer

The explanation for that $640 plumber bill should start when the work is approved. I’d have the coordinator record the problem, approved scope and any change in scope while the conversation is fresh. Then the statement reviewer can check the note against the invoice instead of reconstructing the story on the 2nd. It also makes covering for another manager much easier when they’re away during month-end.

Drew Sygit · Answer

A VERY naive approach.

1) Any 3rd party manager that's not using PM software is a company to stay away from

2) When did you research the percentage of tenants that pay by the 1st of the month?

Here's results from Google:

Key Payment Breakdown Data

• Due on the 1st: Around 84.2% of all analyzed rental payment requests are officially due on the 1st of the month.
• Within 3 Days: Approximately 68% of tenants submit their rent within the first 3 days of the month.
• By the 5th/6th (On-Time Window): Industry trackers (such as the NMHC Rent Payment Tracker) historically show roughly 69% to 76% of households making a full or partial payment by early-month grace periods (around the 5th or 6th), growing to 92%–95% by the end of the month.

Due on the 1st: Around 84.2% of all analyzed rental payment requests are officially due on the 1st of the month.

Within 3 Days: Approximately 68% of tenants submit their rent within the first 3 days of the month.

By the 5th/6th (On-Time Window): Industry trackers (such as the NMHC Rent Payment Tracker) historically show roughly 69% to 76% of households making a full or partial payment by early-month grace periods (around the 5th or 6th), growing to 92%–95% by the end of the month.

Why are you targeting the 3rd to send out owner statements, when only 68% of tenants have paid by then?

3) How long does it REALLY take tenant ACH payments to clear?

4) What happens if tenant pays by a mailed check?

This is really a silly topic, especially since all you're trying to do is find something to vibe code and sell😡

Lee Futcher · Answer

Hi Rukhaam,

John and Rachel both landed on the same thing: the 3rd is decided on the 2nd. And John named the part that still eats the time, which is chasing vendor invoices.

What's helped most there is not letting a work order close without its paperwork. The job only counts as done when three things are in: the invoice, an after photo, and the address it belongs to. Until then, it stays open.

Then run one short sweep every Friday instead of on the 1st. Pull every open work order that's missing an invoice and send one reminder per vendor. Four small rounds of chasing spread across the month are much easier than twenty on the morning statements are due, and it keeps James's no-invoice, no-pay rule from turning into a scramble.

Which slips more often with your vendors, the invoice itself or the photo showing the work was done?

Talk soon,Lee

Rukhaam Mahar · Answer

Thanks Stephen, good point: in-house labor is the one line without a vendor invoice behind it, so logging the hours as the work happens is what protects the cutoff.

Stephen Schroeder · Answer

Rukhaam, for managers with their own maintenance techs, labor is the line that blows John's cutoff. A vendor sends an invoice with an address on it. Your own tech doesn't, so someone rebuilds the hours on the 1st from texts and memory, and that's where the wrong-house charges come from.

What I've seen work is making the hours exist before the month closes. The tech clocks in and out of each job on their phone, GPS puts it on the right property, and the labor line is already sitting there on the 2nd with the time log behind it. I'm the founder of Orca, which is time and GPS tracking for exactly this, so I'm biased, but even a same-day paper log beats rebuilding it on the 1st.

How do you get owner statements out by the 3rd?

How do you get owner statements out by the 3rd?

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