Where to log transactions for a Property Manager without a linked account?

isthistexas

Hello all,

I'm a fairly new user and am also a fairly new landlord. I'm using Quicken Premier Windows (not Home & Business). I contracted with a property management firm to handle tenant related items and am receiving a paper statement each month. I want to track all of the various transactions (income & expense & reserve bank account). What is the best practice to log transactions that are not linked to an existing account? Should i create a cash or checking account to serve as a proxy?

Tom Young

"What is the best practice to log transactions that are not linked to an existing account?"

I'm not sure I'm following along with you.  I'd think that you would be receiving checks, checks that are reduced by the property management firm's fee and current expenses, and I'm not exactly sure what a "reserve bank account" is referring to.

If you're not receiving checks because, maybe, the "excess" cash is being deposited into a "reserve bank account" controlled by the property manager, I'd say that money is still "yours" and I don't see why it wouldn't be appropriate to set up that bank Account in Quicken.  If all the income, and expenses flow through that account then that's where you'd capture your information.  If some sort of actual check comes to you out of that account that would be accounted for as a transfer between the reserve bank Account and your regular checking Account.

Maybe you could add some information here about how things really work or how you expect them to work.  It's difficult to provide accounting suggestions without knowing, at a fairly granular level, how things work "in real life."

NotACPA

That  Reserve Account would be an Asset (banking) type account that you own, just as the checking account that you deposit the $1300 into is owned by you.

SO, the split transaction would be

• DEPOSIT TO CHECKING ACCOUNT (in account register)  $1300
• 1st split line: Tenant Rent received (using an income category) $2000
• 2nd split line: Management fee (using an expense category) -$200
• 3rd split line: Transfer to Reserve Account  $-500

Tom Young

"What is the best practice to log transactions that are not linked to an existing account?"

I'm not sure I'm following along with you.  I'd think that you would be receiving checks, checks that are reduced by the property management firm's fee and current expenses, and I'm not exactly sure what a "reserve bank account" is referring to.

If you're not receiving checks because, maybe, the "excess" cash is being deposited into a "reserve bank account" controlled by the property manager, I'd say that money is still "yours" and I don't see why it wouldn't be appropriate to set up that bank Account in Quicken.  If all the income, and expenses flow through that account then that's where you'd capture your information.  If some sort of actual check comes to you out of that account that would be accounted for as a transfer between the reserve bank Account and your regular checking Account.

Maybe you could add some information here about how things really work or how you expect them to work.  It's difficult to provide accounting suggestions without knowing, at a fairly granular level, how things work "in real life."

isthistexas

See the brief outline below. Essentially the only transaction that I see in my checking account is Owner Distribution. The income received and expenses deducted are all processed on the property managers side. The Reserve Amount is kept by the PropMgr for miscellaneous maintenance expenses. In my example a balance of $500 will be maintained each month. I do not have access to this account. As i digest your comments and think about how it works in the real world. It probably makes sense to create a dummy checking account to push all of the transactions through rather than adding transactions to my checking account since this is not where they are occurring. Then any balance that results should sync with the balance of this reserve account.

Income Tenant Rent $2000
Expense Management Fees $200
Owner Distribution $1300

Balance of Reserve account $500

NotACPA

That  Reserve Account would be an Asset (banking) type account that you own, just as the checking account that you deposit the $1300 into is owned by you.

SO, the split transaction would be

• DEPOSIT TO CHECKING ACCOUNT (in account register)  $1300
• 1st split line: Tenant Rent received (using an income category) $2000
• 2nd split line: Management fee (using an expense category) -$200
• 3rd split line: Transfer to Reserve Account  $-500