Rentec Direct

We’ve added some great reports, based on user feedback, to Rentec Direct.  These new reports are available to you today!  We base a lot of our development on user feedback.  If you have any ideas for reports which would help you manage your properties, please email them to us at support@rentecdirect.com.

• Account Summary – See all of your banking accounts in one spot with their total income, expenses, and balance.
• Property Summary – See all of your property accounts in one spot with their total income, expenses, and balance.
• General Ledger - Customizable general ledger report by property or account.  Fully sortable by your own custom dates.
• Current Deposits – Quick report to show you deposits held per property.
• Lease Expiration - Quick report to show you which properties have leases and when those leases expire.
• Rent Roll – At a glance report of properties and tenants, their rent due, and current balance.
• Vacant Properties - Quick report to show you all vacant properties.

We’ve received quite a few inquires from our customers about the federal home buyer tax credit and how it might apply to them.  We’re not an expert on the topic; however, here’s an excellent FAQ published online with most of the same questions we’ve fielded.  It should prove useful.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 authorizes a tax credit of up to $8,000 for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.

The following questions and answers provide basic information about the tax credit. If you have more specific questions, we strongly encourage you to consult a qualified tax adviser or legal professional about your unique situation.

1. Who is eligible to claim the tax credit?
2. What is the definition of a first-time home buyer?
3. How is the amount of the tax credit determined?
4. Are there any income limits for claiming the tax credit?
5. What is “modified adjusted gross income”?
6. If my modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is above the limit, do I qualify for any tax credit?
7. Can you give me an example of how the partial tax credit is determined?
8. How is this home buyer tax credit different from the tax credit that Congress enacted in July of 2008?
9. How do I claim the tax credit? Do I need to complete a form or application?
10. What types of homes will qualify for the tax credit?
11. I read that the tax credit is “refundable.” What does that mean?
12. I purchased a home in early 2009 and have already filed to receive the $7,500 tax credit on my 2008 tax returns. How can I claim the new $8,000 tax credit instead?
13. Instead of buying a new home from a home builder, I hired a contractor to construct a home on a lot that I already own. Do I still qualify for the tax credit?
14. Can I claim the tax credit if I finance the purchase of my home under a mortgage revenue bond (MRB) program?
15. I live in the District of Columbia. Can I claim both the Washington, D.C. first-time home buyer credit and this new credit?
16. I am not a U.S. citizen. Can I claim the tax credit?
17. Is a tax credit the same as a tax deduction?
18. I bought a home in 2008. Do I qualify for this credit?
19. Is there any way for a home buyer to access the money allocable to the credit sooner than waiting to file their 2009 tax return?
20. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development has announced that HUD will allow “monetization” of the tax credit. What does that mean?
21. If I’m qualified for the tax credit and buy a home in 2009, can I apply the tax credit against my 2008 tax return?
22. For a home purchase in 2009, can I choose whether to treat the purchase as occurring in 2008 or 2009, depending on in which year my credit amount is the largest?

Rentec Direct is pleased to announce a major enhancement to the Rentec Direct accounting system.  Tying in bank accounts to your properties is now supported and of course, all the financial reports are now available to both the property accounting as well as these new bank accounts giving you the ultimate flexibility.

Rentec Direct has expanded the capabilities once again of the accounting systems available to you. While many landlords who manage one or just a few properties do not need enhanced accounting features, it is very useful for those who manage more units to have the ability to link in bank accounts.

Here’s some common use cases:

• Managing more than one property, and feeding all transactions from these properties into a single checking account. This is very easy to accomplish. Simply visit the Settings tab, choose Property Banking and add a new account. Name it either the same as the bank calls it (ie. Wells Fargo Business Checking), or any other name you prefer. Now visit the Properties tab, and edit any properties you want associated with this new account. Within the edit screen there is a new drop down menu for Default Account. Select your new account and all transactions associated with these properties you have edited will apply to your new account.
• For property managers managing one or more properties for an owner. Depending on your existing accounting policies, there are multiple ways to use these new features to your benefit.  The most common case would be continue using the property accounting to keep track of what is owed to the owner, and add a new banking account for maintaining and tracking your property holding account(s). In the same way as item 1, edit each property and assign the default account to the holding account you use for this property. As you apply owner disbursements (debits) to the individual properties when you disburse funds, the associated banking account will automatically be updated with the same transaction. When you post transactions against the property/owner such as management fees, in the account drop down select None so it does not also affect the bank account balance.

You can access and setup accounts under the Settings tab, option Property Banking. If you use this feature frequently it may be convenient to add an Accounts tab to the top of your window for easier access to your bank accounts. You can add this tab simply by going to the Settings tab, Program Defaults, and then mark Yes next to the show the accounts tab option. The tab will show in the main interface between the Tenants and Reports tabs.

You may have noticed the new right click interface within Rentec Direct, if not we posted about it here.  One of the primary goals of adding the right click interface was to be able to bring you new tools without cluttering the screen.

We’ve released our first set of new tools based on landlord requests.  Rentec Pro users can begin using these immediately.

Print Invoice – You can quickly print the most current rental invoice for any tenant by clicking the Tenants tab and right clicking the tenant, and choosing Print Invoice.

You can also print any historical tenant expense in invoice format by entering the accounting history for a tenant, selecting any charge, right clicking on the line item and selecting Print Invoice.  Invoices are generated in the same reports screen you are already used to.

Print Receipt - Additionally you can within the tenant accounting select any payment or credit made to a tenant, right click on it and select Print Receipt.  If you handle walk-in payments this is incredibly useful as you can post the payment into the system on the spot, and immediately print out a receipt for your tenant.

With the great added functionality of the latest web techniques like this new right click menu functionality, we plan to be able to implement many other feature requests from our users.  Keep them coming.