Opening a Trust or Escrow Account For Property Management

[Ryan Kurth]

So, maybe a stupid question, hopefully, an easy enough one to answer. 

We are going to be gradually taking on a lot of in-house property management, and according to WA state law, need to promptly deposit tenant security deposits into a trust or escrow account. 

I went round and round at my (not to be named) bank, and they have different answers depending on the day. 

1) can't be done. 

2) you need to form a new trust (i.e. call a lawyer), get a new entity set-up at the bank, then open it under that new Trust.

3) you need to open up a separate account for each tenant, provide the tenant's name and SSN and deposit it under that. I asked them how on earth do their customers that manage thousands of units possibly do that. Do they have thousands of savings accounts with the bank? Where does the money go while I'm waiting for the bank to set-up a new account every time there is a new tenant? I was met with a lot of blank stares. 

So, a lot of wasted time at this point, but hopefully I'm getting warmer. 

Any experience or advice on how to actually do this, follow the law, and be efficient? 

Thanks!!