How do you keep track of your utility bills?

[Blake Edwards]

Those of you who self manage multiple properties, do you use a simple spreadsheet to keep track of all the utility bills? Or Quickbooks, or something else?

[Johann Jells]

All on autopay via the utility website, transactions downloaded and categorized in Quicken, like all my expenses.

[Gabe Meikle]

Depends on your needs @Blake Edwards. Spreadsheets work for a while but have the downside of being rather time consuming and error prone. If you want to go this route I recommend using Airtable expense tracking template. Quickbooks is another reasonable option, you can do everything you'll need, but sometimes it's not very straightforward and since it's not built for real estate, you may need to pay an accountant to help you get set up. If you want a platform built for real estate investors to track their utilities, Kitt is a good option to try (I'm biased). You get the benefits of an audit trail and financial reports without all the extra stuff you don't need in quickbooks. As @Johann Jells mentioned, Quicken is also a nice option, quite simple and straight forward although it loses some of the important features of an accounting system, I have heard good things from investors that use it successfully. Hope this helps.

[Account Closed]

My tenants always paid their own utilities.  Lights and Gas would have to be put in their names and verified on or before the signing of the lease.  If the lights and gas were not transferred into their names on the day we signed the lease (and I would call the utility companies to verify if they did this or not) then I didn't rent to them.  PERIOD ! They paid their own water bills as well and I would verify that the same way too.    However, the water bill would come to me and then I would bill my tenants for the water bill. 

FOOT NOTE:

If my tenants rented one of our apartments, then we, as the landlords, paid the water bill. They paid their own lights and gas and the same scenario I posted above would pertain to them as well regarding their lights and gas.

For the tenants who had to pay the water bill, which we as landlords paid for ourselves, on behalf of the tenants, (and of course this would be stipulated in the Lease Agreement that they would be responsible for the lights, gas, and water bills) we would then turn around and bill the tenant for the water bill by typing up an Invoice out of QuickBooks and sending the tenant the a bill for the Water and also sending them a copy of the water bill sent to us from the Water Company to prove we weren't trying to charge them for more usage than what they used.  

QuickBooks is a great program for landlords because it allows us to pay a Vendor for a bill that belongs to a tenant, by writing a check to the Vendor, in this case the Water Company, and then selecting the Tenants name from the Customer:Job column on the check.  This generates a bill to the tenant in QuickBooks for this bill, and all we have to do is print out the Invoice that QuickBooks generated and send it to the Tenant with a copy of the bill the water department sent to us.  This proves to the tenant that this is the actual amount we had to pay for their usage of water for that month.  

If you, the landlord,  pay the lights and gas on behalf of your tenants, but you have it stipulated in your Lease Agreement they they, the tenants, are responsible for ALL UTILITIES, lights and gas and water,  then you would do it the same way as you did water bill.   You write a check to the Vendor and then choose the tenants name from the Customer:Job Column on the check and then when you click on the Tenants name, QuickBooks will generate that bill for you and all you have to do is print it out.

It just doesn't get any better than that, which proves just how POWERFUL QUICKBOOKS  really is.  It truly is a landlords BEST FRIEND !

Nancy Neville

[Nathan Gesner]

I use property management software that tracks things for me. I think too many small-time investors spend too much time and money trying to act bigger than they are. If you have fewer than 20 units, I think spreadsheets are sufficient for tracking everything.

[JD Martin]

Excel. And I pay everything on Autopay. I only pay utility bills between tenants - and I'm old fashioned this way, but I have paper bills sent to my box so I can put them in the tax receipt files. 

[Patrick M.]

I am with @Johann Jells. My utilities make it very easy for me and I simply plug them into my spread sheet afterwards.

[Gita Faust]

When using QuickBooks or other software: memorize the bill, check or credit card transactions. 

Then all you have to do is click on the transaction change the date and amount to make property accounting a breeze.

Immaterial if you making one single payment for multiple properties or multiple payments.

Gita Faust

[Theo Hicks]

I set up autopay for all utilities (water, electric, gas). I created a custom Excel spreadsheet to track all of my expenses.

Something else to consider is setting up an automatic utility transfer for when tenants move out rather than manually calling in and putting the utilities back in your name. Reach out to the utility company or go to their website to see if they offer such a service. 

[Ashley Shearer]

@Account Closed - I am just setting up quickbooks and did exactly what you said above about the Water (I pay sewer, trash and invoice my tenants). I opened the vendor and wrote a check, listed the trash and sewer separately at the bottom, put the tenant name in the customer field and put the unit in the class field. When I went to the customer center, nothing shows up under a bill they owe or an invoice for the amount. How do I find the customer invoices to print out and mail to them? 

[Account Closed]

Make sure you turn on Time Tracking in your Preference Section

So you are in your Vendor Center:  Make sure that little bill box is checked. 

Click Save and Close 

Go to your Customer center and choose your tenant (Name) do a Ctrl + I  (for Invoice) and this window should appear.

Click on the Expenses Tab

To put a check mark next to the bill you want to send your tenant press the space bar on your keyboard and click on save and close.

And now the bill appears for your tenant.  DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING ON THIS FORM.  jUST print it out and then click on save and close. 

You can slip the $60.00 for this tutorial under my door the next time you come to Michigan.  :)

Of course you know I'm kidding.

Nancy Neville

[Account Closed]

Double posted.  So I erased it.  

[Ashley Shearer]

@Account Closed It worked! Thank you very much. Just searched the book again and realized I missed the time tracking step. Thank you again!