All Forum Posts by: Seth Kitchka

@Shane H. Thanks for taking the time and giving me this advise. I really appreciate it! This does simplify it for me a bit. I feel like I have a good grasp on setting up the different accounts and inputting the expenses.

If I'm understanding you correctly you have to manually input the expenses (principle, interest, escrow) every month. That is what I was hoping to get around. I guess it won't be too bad. Like you said I have access to all my mortgage account information online, and I'm already inputting rents in there each month. 

A couple more questions, if you don't mind:

1. Instead of going back in time and inputting all the mortgage payments, would it still work if I put the current balance in? I'm assuming Buildium can keep track of the remaining balance. 

2. Did you input the current balance of your escrow account, or do you suggest I start with that? 

3. When or how to you input how much actually pays from your escrow account to the taxes and insurance? 

Thanks again, I'm going over to Buildium now to setup some of the accounts you mentioned.

Thanks for the reply @Shane H.! 

Did you just have to setup the recurring transaction, like Article # 111169, and was it good to go? If your escrow payment amount changes do you just update it without problems? What I meant by the NOI not being correct is if the mortgage, PITI and all, is included together as one entry.

When you input all the information did you input what is in escrow now, how much of the payment goes to escrow and how much to the principle (of course)? And will it know how much goes towards interest if I set it up correctly?

You may have failed Finance 101 but I never even took it!

This is good info. We're going setup for EFT payments soon, this is good to see. Maybe remove your grace period on the lease with future tenants, then if they pay a couple days late it'll still be within the time you actually want!

In my opinion this would be late. It's similar to a tenant putting the check in the mail on the third and showing a mailing receipt. Our lease states:

"Rent is not considered 'paid' on the day it is mailed, rent is 'paid' the day the Landlord receives it. Delays in postal services should be considered in determining when to mail the rent."

You're already giving a three day grace period. Maybe you can use this as an opportunity to tell them this is considered late, but you will waive the fee since this is their first time. I was military and always had my rent paid on the 1st. With that pay schedule there's no reason not to. FYI for future tenants, USAA always deposits a day early. I always had my pay, and still do with my new job, the day before payday. 

Thank you for the response @Ryan Swan. Yes I read that article, and the one on adding a mortgage without including amortization and escrow. I guess I just wanted advise from experienced users on what is working for them. 

I like the "non-operating expense" option and will look into that. Right now I'm still using my handy dandy excel spreadsheet. For the rest of this year the excel spreadsheet will be the primary, but I do want to be completely setup with Buildium to take over on Jan 1st. I'm going to give that "non-operating expense" a shot and see how it goes. Thanks again!

Hi all,

I signed up with Buildium and was hoping for some advise or tips from experienced Property Management software users. I only manage my five SFRs, nobody else's. I decided to start using Buildium now to stay ahead of the power curve. I don't want to wait until I have 10+ properties then play catch up on getting better organized.

I'm figuring it out as I go, little by little, but I was wondering what other people are doing as far as recording mortgage payments. I have a separate bank account for the rental income, expenses and the mortgage payments to be auto drafted from. I would like for the account balance in Buildium to reflect what is actually in the account at the bank. I am debating between a couple options:

1. Record each mortgage, inc. T&I, as an expense under each property knowing that the NOI won't be correct.

or

2. Record all mortgages in "My Office" not under each property, just to keep the bank account balance correct (I created a property "My Office" for misc expenses). Then maybe add an expense for the T&I paid to each property at the end of the year, and add a deposit to My Office totaling all the T&I expenses for the properties to keep the bank account balance correct.

or

3. (insert better idea here)

Thanks!

After hearing about the 1990 movie Pacific Heights in a Podcast I decided to watch it... talk about a nightmare! That was basically a Landlord horror film. Has anybody on here had a tenant like that, out to ruin their life?

Nat Chan Incredible situation, hang in there! Like already stated, it might be time for a real estate attorney to take over. You're not going to want to miss crossing a T or dotting an I and delay the process even longer. Something else that came to mind is maybe give the Fire Marshal a call. He/She may be able to issue a violation notice that would help your case. I don't know FL law but in MI we cannot start the eviction process until after the specified days have passed, I.e. 7-day pay or quit.

@Marcia Maynard thanks! That sounds great. A fellow landlord in the are mentioned something similar, I just didn't know how to word it

Thanks everybody, good advice. Today was another learning process. When my wife went to deliver the Notice to Pay or Quit the tenant had a receipt of payment. She went to the city to pay it in person. She was very sorry... of course. We're still not renewing