Bookkeeper - owner draws, mgt fees, renewals, etc

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Atwan Kwan

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Mar 24, 2021, 6:02:29 PM3/24/21
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This may be a weird question....

Do you guys collect your fees in buildium yourself?

How do I get my bookkeeper in sync with my properties and fees for me?

So my bookkeeper can reconcile monthly no problem....

But i've been inputting the management fees, pay the draws, collect other income - lease commission, etc....


Is there a way the bookkeeper can see on buildium, the property activity, so they know and can start recording the lease commission, renewal fees and other income??

Is there a report they can pull up to see, if anything just got leased/renewed, etc?

Hope that makes sense....

Glenn Russell

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Mar 24, 2021, 6:17:16 PM3/24/21
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We started with Buildium in 2010 with little or no assistance.

We did not have the training or expertise to use "the system"
for paying out "Company" income, so used a bulk payment
by just transferring out of our Rental Escrow acct to our
General Operating Account each month.

We calculate the Management Fees using that monthly report
and fill in the attached worksheet  (in google sheets for each month)
that helps us track all the misc fees that accrue to our benefit.

As a result, it screws up the balances that appear to belong
to the property,as we don't use the "Company payment method."

We're so far down the road, that I don't know how to clear all that up
and use the "Buildium method."

for example, this is a property which I own.  the property info
is correct:  $1792 in security deposit and $500 owner reserve.

But I have no idea what this number is in the "Bank Balance" report.  $4,579.68 ???

image.png

image.png
Glenn
   Cell: 757 - 641-7400

Would you like to discuss your property(ies)?  Pls schedule with me:
https://calendly.com/coastalgroupbroker/brief-overview-off-your-property-ies
Glenn Russell, Broker
Coastal Group, Inc. Realtors
4634 Haygood Road
Virginia Beach, VA 23455
Cell: 757 - 641-7400
Ph: 757 - 233-9595 
Fax: 757 - 233-9696
Glennhruss...@gmail.com
http://GlennRussell.com
www.CoastalVirginiaProperty.com  ...search all 4 cities...
www.VirginiaBeachProperty.management

Coastal Group, Inc. represents as clients, its Sellers and Landlords 
unless otherwise disclosed.  Please ask us about representation.




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Coastal Fees 2021 Worksheet - May 2021.pdf

Aaron Silverman

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Mar 25, 2021, 5:59:02 AM3/25/21
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Hi Glenn,

Your books are really off, and you should have them corrected.  If you are audited, you could (and should) get in a good bit of trouble.  This is trust accounting, and you should know where every penny is at all times.  

I started with Buildium in 2013 with no training either, and all of my property accounting is 100% accurate (to the penny) including all balance sheets are balanced.  Your screenshot shows an unbalanced balance sheet; I did not know that was even possible as the software should automatically balance it.  

All of those fees listed on your form should be listed in Buildium and paid out either as a bill to the property (ex: leasing fee) or management income (ex: late fees) attached to a property.  

This is not a "Buildium" method issue.  This is a problem with your accounting practices.  

A friend of mine lost over 8k to a property management company's bad accounting.  The company did not properly balance their books, and when they were audited, they were forced to clean-up everything.  After the books were corrected, my friend was on the short-end of 8k missing from his account in rents that were never collected but paid out as if collected.  

Trust accounting is serious business.  Sorry to sound like an a-hole, but based on what you posted, your books are seriously flawed.  

Aaron\

Glenn Russell

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Mar 25, 2021, 7:37:00 AM3/25/21
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I didn't realize until I sent this that it was to the entire forum.
Our books are fully audited and it is not possible to modify the
numbers per your comments.
Security deposits, owner balances are all  "to the penny."
The remaining "money" in the accounts is due to various fees
earned over the years....and offset in another master account.
.......we would survive an audit very well.

Glenn
   Cell: 757 - 641-7400

Would you like to discuss your property(ies)?  Pls schedule with me:
https://calendly.com/coastalgroupbroker/brief-overview-off-your-property-ies
Glenn Russell, Broker
Coastal Group, Inc. Realtors
4634 Haygood Road
Virginia Beach, VA 23455
Cell: 757 - 641-7400
Ph: 757 - 233-9595 
Fax: 757 - 233-9696
Glennhruss...@gmail.com
http://GlennRussell.com
www.CoastalVirginiaProperty.com  ...search all 4 cities...
www.VirginiaBeachProperty.management

Coastal Group, Inc. represents as clients, its Sellers and Landlords 
unless otherwise disclosed.  Please ask us about representation.



To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/buildium-narpm-users/9ee53f5c-f653-4c30-ad16-4d0073778c16n%40googlegroups.com.

Tim Hendricks

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Mar 25, 2021, 8:59:01 AM3/25/21
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Buildium makes paying the vast majority of management income easy. My steps:

1) Management fees. Use "Collect Management Fees" function in Buildium. It calculates what is owed and records a check in the books. I complete an online transfer from Trust to Operating.

2) Ancillary fees (late, NSF, etc) - same process, except with "Pay out Management Income Accounts" Function.

3) Charging leasing commissions is the only manual process in my workflow, driven in part by the variability I have my owner/property on lease and renewal rates. When we completed one of these workflows, I get a fully executed copy via email from DocuSign after all parties sign, and drag it to an AP folder in my email client. As time permits, but at least monthly, I create bills in Buildium, payable to the management company, for the appropriate amount due (typically rent x commission rate). When I pay 3rd party vendor bills 2x/month, any open bills to my management company for commissions are then paid at the same time.

Tim Hendricks
Texas Real Estate Broker #595881
Residential Management Professional (RMP®), Certified TX Residential Property Manager (TRPM) and Leasing Specialist (TRLS)





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Devin Bewley

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Mar 25, 2021, 9:49:21 AM3/25/21
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Arron,
I'm with Glenn on this and as long as he has an accurate paper trail he should be fine. My books continually get sideways based on Buildium's own processing of things. At one point they were so far off that I actually hired people out of Buildium for them to go through to try and find out the issues and fix it. All the Buildium people did was make it so much worse. Since then I've had to hire three different accountant/bookkeepers to try and figure out how to fix what shows up in Buildium and fix it.
My biggest issue came from having to change banks, what a nightmare that was.

Have a fantastic day!
Devin Bewley
Broker/Owner
Legacy Properties-PM LLC.
720-989-1996
www.legacyproperties-pm.com
P.S. Any typos or unusual phrases are courtesy of Google Voice to Text.

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Atwan Kwan

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Mar 25, 2021, 10:42:04 AM3/25/21
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Hi Tim,

The original post was about making a process so that I can delegate those tasks collecting fees to someone else, the bookkeeper.

I do it myself because I obviously know when I've leased a property or when I need to collect a fee.

But is there a way someone else can look up the properties and see this so they know when to charge/collect fees for the company?

Thanks
AK


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Tim Hendricks

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Mar 25, 2021, 3:39:26 PM3/25/21
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The first 2 steps can be done by anyone with Buildium. Just create a user ID for your bookkeeper.

For lease, there's a rent roll report that can be run by your bookkeeper to see new leases and set off a charging process.




On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 9:41 AM, Atwan Kwan <akwanr...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tim,

The original post was about making a process so that I can delegate those tasks collecting fees to someone else, the bookkeeper.

I do it myself because I obviously know when I've leased a property or when I need to collect a fee.

But is there a way someone else can look up the properties and see this so they know when to charge/collect fees for the company?

Thanks
AK


On Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 8:59 AM Tim Hendricks <tim@512re.com> wrote:
Buildium makes paying the vast majority of management income easy. My steps:

1) Management fees. Use "Collect Management Fees" function in Buildium. It calculates what is owed and records a check in the books. I complete an online transfer from Trust to Operating.

2) Ancillary fees (late, NSF, etc) - same process, except with "Pay out Management Income Accounts" Function.

3) Charging leasing commissions is the only manual process in my workflow, driven in part by the variability I have my owner/property on lease and renewal rates. When we completed one of these workflows, I get a fully executed copy via email from DocuSign after all parties sign, and drag it to an AP folder in my email client. As time permits, but at least monthly, I create bills in Buildium, payable to the management company, for the appropriate amount due (typically rent x commission rate). When I pay 3rd party vendor bills 2x/month, any open bills to my management company for commissions are then paid at the same time.

Tim Hendricks
Texas Real Estate Broker #595881
Residential Management Professional (RMP®), Certified TX Residential Property Manager (TRPM) and Leasing Specialist (TRLS)
On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 5:02 PM, Atwan Kwan <akwanrealtor@gmail.com> wrote:
This may be a weird question....

Do you guys collect your fees in buildium yourself?

How do I get my bookkeeper in sync with my properties and fees for me?

So my bookkeeper can reconcile monthly no problem....

But i've been inputting the management fees, pay the draws, collect other income - lease commission, etc....


Is there a way the bookkeeper can see on buildium, the property activity, so they know and can start recording the lease commission, renewal fees and other income??

Is there a report they can pull up to see, if anything just got leased/renewed, etc?

Hope that makes sense....

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Aaron Silverman

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Mar 26, 2021, 7:39:25 AM3/26/21
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Glenn and Devin,

Do you two realize you are arguing it is ok to have your numbers off in Buildium?  Glenn, you even said you do not know what goes into the numbers "But I have no idea what this number is in the "Bank Balance" report".  This should not even be a discussion, so I am bowing out.  

Do what you want with your books, but do not dispense advice to others implying bad accounting practices are ok.

Good luck with your books.  

Aaron

On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 3:39:26 PM UTC-4 Tim Hendricks wrote:
The first 2 steps can be done by anyone with Buildium. Just create a user ID for your bookkeeper.

For lease, there's a rent roll report that can be run by your bookkeeper to see new leases and set off a charging process.




On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 9:41 AM, Atwan Kwan <akwanr...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tim,

The original post was about making a process so that I can delegate those tasks collecting fees to someone else, the bookkeeper.

I do it myself because I obviously know when I've leased a property or when I need to collect a fee.

But is there a way someone else can look up the properties and see this so they know when to charge/collect fees for the company?

Thanks
AK


On Thu, Mar 25, 2021, 8:59 AM Tim Hendricks <t...@512re.com> wrote:
Buildium makes paying the vast majority of management income easy. My steps:

1) Management fees. Use "Collect Management Fees" function in Buildium. It calculates what is owed and records a check in the books. I complete an online transfer from Trust to Operating.

2) Ancillary fees (late, NSF, etc) - same process, except with "Pay out Management Income Accounts" Function.

3) Charging leasing commissions is the only manual process in my workflow, driven in part by the variability I have my owner/property on lease and renewal rates. When we completed one of these workflows, I get a fully executed copy via email from DocuSign after all parties sign, and drag it to an AP folder in my email client. As time permits, but at least monthly, I create bills in Buildium, payable to the management company, for the appropriate amount due (typically rent x commission rate). When I pay 3rd party vendor bills 2x/month, any open bills to my management company for commissions are then paid at the same time.

Tim Hendricks
Texas Real Estate Broker #595881
Residential Management Professional (RMP®), Certified TX Residential Property Manager (TRPM) and Leasing Specialist (TRLS)
On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 5:02 PM, Atwan Kwan <akwanr...@gmail.com> wrote:
This may be a weird question....

Do you guys collect your fees in buildium yourself?

How do I get my bookkeeper in sync with my properties and fees for me?

So my bookkeeper can reconcile monthly no problem....

But i've been inputting the management fees, pay the draws, collect other income - lease commission, etc....


Is there a way the bookkeeper can see on buildium, the property activity, so they know and can start recording the lease commission, renewal fees and other income??

Is there a report they can pull up to see, if anything just got leased/renewed, etc?

Hope that makes sense....

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Jack Lansky

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Mar 26, 2021, 1:53:53 PM3/26/21
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Hey everyone,

Just wanted to throw it out there that if anyone needs help and wants a free Buildium audit just let me know.

I specialize in Buildium accounting, QBO, trust banking, property management, and do big clean ups full time. 

Some of the advice in this group is correct, a lot of it depends on the specific situation or the company, and some of it is just dead wrong / bad practices. 

Happy to clarify or chat anytime, just email or text. Info is below.

Cheers,

Ashley Simonelli

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Mar 26, 2021, 6:14:24 PM3/26/21
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Yes and No. They rolled out buildium analytics not long ago which will allow for reports that determine these things however you have to be on the top tier package. I don’t remember exactly what that is called.

If you do not have the top-tier package that includes buildium analytics, you will not be able to pull the necessary reports for the items that you’re referencing.


A bookkeeper (or anyone) with the appropriate accounting access on any level would still be able to charge management fees and ancillary fees but renewal fees and leasing fees would need to be tracked manually or you would have to be enrolled in analytics.


On Mar 25, 2021, at 10:42 AM, Atwan Kwan <akwanr...@gmail.com> wrote:


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