Accounting
Rental property depreciation is a tax mechanism that generally allows owners to recover the cost or other basis of qualifying income-producing property over time rather than deducting the entire cost immediately. It differs from a decline in market value, a mortgage principal payment, and a repair expense. Land generally is not depreciable. Depreciation reduces adjusted basis and may affect tax consequences when the property is later sold.
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Investing
Rental property equity is the portion of a property’s current value that is not offset by debt secured by the property.
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Investing
Gross Rent Multiplier (GRM) compares a rental property price or value with gross annual rental income. This guide explains the formula, examples, limitations, and how GRM fits with cap rate, cash flow, cash-on-cash return, and ROI.
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Performance
Cash-on-cash return measures the annual cash flow a rental property produces relative to the cash an investor has actually put into the investment.
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Accounting
A rental property income statement summarizes income and expenses over a specific period and shows whether the rental operation generated a profit or loss. It is also commonly called a profit and loss statement, rental property P&L, or landlord income statement.
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Investing
Net operating income measures how much income a rental property produces after operating expenses. This guide explains the rental property NOI formula, examples, exclusions, and how landlords use NOI to compare property performance.
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Accounting
A rental property balance sheet shows what a rental business or portfolio owns, what it owes, and the owner’s equity at a specific point in time.
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Accounting
A rent roll is a snapshot report that summarizes current rental units, tenants, rent amounts, lease dates, occupancy, deposits, statuses, and balances. Landlords use rent rolls to review rental income, vacancies, lease expirations, and portfolio performance without reading every transaction one by one.
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Accounting
Rental property journal entries are the individual accounting records that document financial events before they become part of a property’s accounting history. Most landlords never create them manually, but understanding them makes bookkeeping, reports, and financial records much easier to understand.
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A rental property general ledger is the organized transaction record behind a landlord's accounting activity. It helps explain what happened, when it happened, which account was affected, and which property the activity belongs to.
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A practical rental property chart of accounts helps landlords organize income, expenses, assets, liabilities, security deposits, owner activity, and property-level reports.
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Accounting
Rental property owners may generally deduct ordinary and necessary expenses for managing, conserving, or maintaining qualifying rental property, subject to applicable tax rules and limitations. Not every cash outflow is an immediate deduction: some costs are potential current expenses, some must be capitalized and recovered over time, and personal costs generally are not rental deductions.
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Accounting
Rental property bookkeeping is the process of recording and organizing the income, expenses, balances, and financial activity associated with each rental property. This guide is built for small landlords who want cleaner records, clearer property-level performance, and less year-end scrambling.
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Everything landlords need to know about rental income, expenses, open balances, cash flow, and reporting.
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Accounting
A rental ledger is a chronological record of the charges, payments, credits, and balances associated with a rental property or tenant account. Landlords use rental ledgers to see what was owed, what was paid, when each transaction occurred, and whether an unpaid balance remains.
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Comparisons
Property management software, general accounting software, and rental property accounting software overlap, but organize rental operations and financial records differently. This guide compares their roles and how landlords can evaluate the right fit.
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Investing
Learn how landlords evaluate rental property profitability using NOI, cash flow, cap rate, cash-on-cash return, ROI, expenses, vacancy, and property-level reporting.
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Property Management
A practical guide for landlords tracking rent charges, payments, open balances, and property-level income.
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Property Management
How landlords can organize rental property expenses, keep better records, and understand property-level costs.
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Investing
How landlords measure rental property cash flow, avoid common mistakes, and improve property performance.
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Investing
A practical guide to the difference between cash flow and profitability, why both matter, and how landlords can use them together.
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Property Management
A practical guide to open balance, past due amount, future unpaid charges, and collection follow-up for rental properties.
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Comparisons
A practical comparison of rental property accounting software and spreadsheets for landlords deciding how to track income, expenses, balances, and reports.
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Accounting
The rental property reports landlords should review to understand collections, balances, cash flow, expenses, forecasts, and property performance.
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Property Management
A practical overview of how landlords track income, expenses, balances, occupancy, cash flow, and property performance.
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