User Friendly Banking- Checking & Savings Accounts for Landlords

[Kelsey Herbst]

Hey all,

I will be closing on my first rental property soon (house hacking a triplex in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and am starting to think about organizing the finances of a few accounts, not only for accounting ease but to keep the rental information separate from personal banking.

I understand I will need an escrow for safety deposits, and then at least need a rental checking account for incoming rent checks and outgoing mortgage payments or expense payments. 

1) Should I be separating the operating costs account from the property's "reserves" (I am thinking of putting away 10% of gross monthly rental income for this, does that sound like a good number? What should all be accounted for in reserves? : capex, vacancy, repairs...taxes maybe?)

2) Are there any recommendations for Philadelphia/PA banks or credit unions (or big banks, if you've had luck with them for such an account) for user friendly accounts or business accounts (like maybe a easy to navigate app and no monthly maintenance costs)? Specifically one bank or credit union that we can have both the escrow account and the checking account. Ideally the account would have credit/debit card ability for things like trips to home depot etc!

3) We would also like to put together a savings account for future property purchases, are there any recommendations for this type of account as well? I currently have a personal online only high yield savings account, but my partner and I would like to jointly contribute to our future funds in a savings account with some growth potential---I was thinking about opening another Wealthfront account for us but wondering if there's any other recommendations from local BP-ers!

Open to all suggestions or other information that is useful for organizing expenses...even trying to figure out what to put in our spreadsheet is driving me nuts