Buildium Training - Ep. 4 Adding Owners, Setting up Management Fees and Looking at the Owner Portal

Hello everyone, and welcome back to APM Help Academy. Today, we’re going to cover setting up rental owners and management fees in Buildium, as well as a quick overview of the owner portal.

Setting Up Rental Owners

There are multiple ways to add rental owners in Buildium:

1. Bulk Upload

If you have many owners to add at once, use the import feature:

1. Go to Settings > Import Data.
2. Select Upload Data File > Rental Owners.
3. Download the Excel template, fill it out, and upload it.

This is convenient for large portfolios and avoids manual entry.

2. Adding an Individual Owner

If you only need to add one owner:

1. Navigate to Rentals > Rental Owners.
2. Click Add Owner.
3. Fill in the owner’s information:
   • First & Last Name (or company/holding company)
   • Start/End Date of Management Agreement (optional, helpful for reminders)
   • Primary Email (required for portal access and notifications)
   • Phone Number (optional, useful for records)
   • Mailing Address (linked to Google Maps for autofill)
   • 1099 Filing Information (recommended to enter upfront)
4. Assign the properties associated with the owner. Multiple properties can be added at once, but the properties must already exist in Buildium.
5. Adjust ownership percentages if needed. Ownership percentages affect:
   • Owner Distributions: Automatically allocates cash based on ownership.
   • 1099 Filing: Automatically calculates income proportionate to ownership.
6. Click Create Owner.

Owner Profile Features

After creating an owner, you can:

• Add notes and files
• Edit properties and ownership percentages
• Add EFT information for automatic payments
• View financials: distributions, contributions, and available cash across all properties
• Send a welcome email for portal access
• Add custom fields (new Buildium feature)

Note: If ownership changes on a property, it involves a more detailed process (new versions of property, owner, and lease). Buildium has a support article outlining this procedure.

Management Fees

Global Policy

To set up management fees that apply to all or most properties:

1. Go to Settings > Application Settings > Management Fees.
2. Configure your global policy, including:
   • Management Income Accounts: Fees your company keeps (e.g., application fees, convenience fees, late fees).
   • Non-Commissionable Income Accounts: Income types with no fees charged to owners (e.g., security deposits, repair reimbursements, utilities).
   • GST Settings (for Canadian portfolios if applicable).

Setting this correctly upfront is critical to avoid accounting errors and ensure proper fee collection.

Property-Level Overrides

If a property or owner has a different management fee agreement:

1. Go to Rentals > Properties > Property > Financials > Management Fee Settings.
2. Override the global policy and set a custom fee (e.g., a flat $75 fee).
3. Save the changes.

This ensures each property’s fees match the specific management agreement.

Owner Portal Overview

Owners can log into their rental owner portal to view:

• Financials: Profit & Loss statement (Income – Expenses = Net Income)
• Rental Owner Ledger: Distributions and contributions
• Documents: Shared files and e-signature documents
• Requests: Track service requests or tasks submitted to your team
• Reports: Limited set by default (e.g., Rental Owner Statement, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Rent Roll)

Administrators can sign in as any rental owner to help navigate the portal or troubleshoot.

Caution: Be careful when giving owners additional access, as it may reveal information for other properties unintentionally.

Key Takeaways

1. Add owners via bulk import or individually, ensuring emails and 1099 info are filled.
2. Set up ownership percentages correctly for distributions and 1099 filing.
3. Configure management fees in Buildium globally, with overrides for exceptions.
4. The owner portal provides clear financials, documents, and communication tools for owners.

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