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PropMan Residential Property Management Software USER GUIDE for Shareware Property Management System PropMan USER GUIDE (C) Copyright 1986,1988 by G. Curtis Feger and Jeffrey G. Gobel PropMan Software (C) Copyright 1986,1988 by G. Curtis Feger and Jeffrey G. Gobel 309 S. Ynez Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91754-3203 (818) 570-1071 Copyright PropMan software is copyrighted. This USER GUIDE is copyrighted. Illegal copying of either is a violation of both criminal and civil law. Shareware and Copy Protection The shareware copies of PropMan software are clearly marked as shareware in their startup messages. Only copies so marked may be given to others. The shareware copies of the user guide are clearly marked on their title pages. Only copies so marked may be given to others. The following is an excerpt from our bound User Guide. An * denotes those sections or partial sections which are included here. Table of Contents 1. Getting Started Read Me First............................ 1-1 Terminology.............................. 1-2 Installation............................. 1-3 Starting Up PropMan...................... 1-4 Shutting Down PropMan.................... 1-5 Help..................................... 1-6 Initial Processing Month and Year........ 1-7 Entering Your Company Heading............ 1-9 Changing Colors.......................... 1-10 Chart of Accounts........................ 1-11 Entering Vendors......................... 1-12 * New Building Startup..................... 1-13 * New Building Startup - General Screen.... 1-14 * New Building Startup - Mortgage Screen... 1-15 * New Building Startup - Units Screen...... 1-16 * Entering Tenants for New Buildings....... 1-17 Building Changes......................... 1-18 Building Changes - General Screen........ 1-19 Building Changes - Mortgage Screen....... 1-20 Building Changes - Units Screen.......... 1-21 Unit Information......................... 1-22 * Activating a New Building................ 1-23 Entering Tenant Personal Information..... 1-24 * Building Statuses........................ 1-25 2. Day to Day Monthly Operations....................... 2-1 Moving In Tenants........................ 2-2 Moving Out Tenants....................... 2-3 Entering Rents........................... 2-4 Entering Tenant Financial Transactions... 2-5 Paying Bills............................. 2-6 Entering Invoices........................ 2-7 Changing Invoices........................ 2-8 Entering Tenant Personal Information..... 2-10 Entering Vendors......................... 2-11 Tenant Payment History................... 2-12 Miscellaneous Income..................... 2-13 Reserve Account Activity................. 2-14 Bank Deposits............................ 2-15 3. When Needed Printing Notices and Letters............. 3-1 Rent Changes............................. 3-2 Accounting Corrections................... 3-3 Printing Reference Lists................. 3-4 Printing General Reference Listings...... 3-5 Printing Building Reference Listings..... 3-6 Printing Unit / Tenant Reference Listings 3-7 Deleting Vendors......................... 3-8 4. Month End Income and Expense Recap................. 4-1 Month End Statements..................... 4-2 Backing Up PropMan....................... 4-3 Closing out the Month.................... 4-4 5. Archives Reviewing Archived Information........... 5-1 Reviewing Archived Invoices.............. 5-2 Reviewing Archived Miscellaneous Receipts 5-3 Reviewing Archived Accounting Corrections 5-4 Printing Archived Information............ 5-5 Reviewing Archived Income and Expenses... 5-6 6. Index New Building Startup As defined in PropMan, a building is any entity you wish to keep accounting records on as a whole. An apartment complex, duplex, a single family dwelling or group of homes, are all considered buildings. There are several simple steps required to startup a new building in PropMan. 1. If the building you are entering has a mortgage then (if you have not already done so) enter the lender as a vendor by following the steps outlined under Entering Vendors. 2. From the Main Menu press <S> for System Maintenance and press <Enter>. 3. From the System Maintenance Menu press <N> for New Building Startup and press <Enter>. 4. Your cursor is on Building. Type in the the number you wish to associate with the building you are entering. This number will be used to identify this building when ever you need to refer to it. The building number can be any number between 100 and 999. 5. The screen displays a message either saying that the building number you have entered is unused or in use already, and the cursor is on Startup building. If the building number you have entered is not in use then you will be creating a completely new set of building records. If the number was already in use and you reuse this number it will destroy any accounting, unit, tenant and history information that may exist for this building. If you have made a mistake and want to type in another building number then press <N> for No, press <Enter>, and go back to step 4. If you wish to continue then press <Y> for Yes and press <Enter>. 6. If the building number you have selected was unused then go to step 7. If you are reusing a building number then you have the option of retaining the background information for this building, such as it's name and address, mortgage information, apartment numbers, etc., even though the unit, tenant, and accounting information will be lost. Your cursor is on Clear data. Press <N> for No if you wish to retain the background information, or press <Y> for Yes to clear all of the old building data. Press <Enter>. 7. In steps 7 through 9 don't press <Esc> until you have finished entering the information outlined in all three steps If you do the building will be created incompletely and you will have to begin again at step 3. Perform the operations outlined under New Building Startup - General Screen. 8. Perform the operations outlined under New Building Startup - Mortgagee Screen. 9. Perform the operations outlined under New Building Startup - Units Screen. 10. Perform the operations outlined under Entering Tenants for New Buildings. 11. Perform the operations outlined under Unit Information. 12. Perform the operations under Activating a Building. New Building Startup - General Screen This screen contains the general information about a building, and it is the first of three screens required during New Building Startup. 1. Your cursor is on Name. Type in the name you wish to associate with this building and press <Enter>. 2. The cursor skips by Building status and Number of Units. While you are entering a new building it will always have a status of New (see Activating a Building). The Number of units starts out as one (buildings must always have at least one unit) but as you enter the apartment numbers for this building (see New Building Startup - Units Screen) this number will change accordingly. Your cursor is on the first line of the building Address so type it in and press <Enter>. Do the same for the other three Address lines as required. 3. Your cursor is on Monthly under Reserve Accounts. Enter the amount you wish to reserve monthly for each of the reserve categories listed to the left. Press <Enter> after typing in each amount. For example: Suppose your real estate taxes are $12,000 annually. You decide to put $1,000 aside each month. Enter 1000 under the Taxes reserve account. Each month, PropMan will automatically increase your tax reserve account by $1,000 and show the new balance on your monthly statement. 4. After you press <Enter> on the last Monthly reserve amount field the cursor will be under Balance. Enter the your current cash balance for each of the reserve categories by typing in an amount and pressing <Enter>. This balance may only be entered when setting up new buildings, PropMan will maintain the balance once the building has been made active. 5. After you press <Enter> on the last reserve account Balance, your cursor will be under Notes. This space is provided for any notations you may wish to keep. Type in your notes, pressing <Enter> after completing each line. 6. You have now finished with the first New Building Startup screen. The next screen is the Mortgagee screen. To get there you must press <F1>, find the function key labeled Mtgee Screen, press <Esc>, then press the Mtgee Screen function key. If you have already completed all three New Building Startup screens and want to have PropMan create all of the records for this building, then press <Esc>. This may take several minutes, but when finished you will be back on the System Maintenance Menu. From the System Maintenance Menu you can press <Esc> again to return to the Main Menu. New Building Startup - Mortgagee Screen This is one of three screens associated with New Building Startup. This screen allows you to enter mortgage information for this building. PropMan allows for up to five mortgages per building. At each month end close PropMan will automatically make an invoice for the next month, for each of the mortgages entered here. On those mortgage invoices PropMan will calculate how much of each payment will be applied to principal and how much will be applied to interest and will update the mortgage balance accordingly. 1. The cursor is now on Mortgagee Number. Type in a number from one to five corresponding to the trust deed you are entering, and press <Enter>. For example if you were entering mortgage information for the second trust deed on this building you would press <2> and <Enter>. 2. Your cursor is now on Vendor. The mortgage lenders should all be entered as vendors (see Entering Vendors). Type in the vendor number corresponding to the mortgage lender for the trust deed you are entering now and press <Enter>. The lender's name, address, and phone numbers will come up automatically. If you have not already entered the mortgage lender for this trust deed as a vendor then skip this field and continue with step 3. After you are completely finished with New Building Startup then enter the lender following the steps outlined under Entering Vendors. You may then follow the steps outlined under Building Changes - Mortgagee Screen. If you have already entered the mortgage lender for this trust deed as a vendor, but do not remember the number that was assigned to that vendor, then press <F1>. Find the function key number labeled Next Vendor. Press <Esc>. Press that function key number to step through vendors until you find the one you are looking for. 3. The cursor is now on Loan No. This is for your reference. Type in the number of the loan for this trust deed and press <Enter>. 4. The cursor is on Terms. This space is also provided for your reference only. You may type in the length and type of the loan. For example "30 Year Fixed 5/1/64". Press <Enter>. 5. On Due day, type in the day of the month that the loan payment falls due, and press <Enter>. For example you might type in "1" for the 1st or "15" if the loan is due on the 15th. 6. The cursor is now on Loan Balance. Type in the balance for this trust deed and press <Enter>. 7. On Interest rate type in the rate and press <Enter>. 8. On Prncpl & Int type in the monthly payment amount of the loan and press <Enter>. 9. On Impound type in the amount of any monthly impounds and press <Enter>. Your total monthly payment will appear next to Total. 10. This completes the mortgage setup for this trust deed. If you wish to enter another mortgage for this building then return to step 1. Otherwise continue with New Building Startup by going on to the Units screen. Press <F1>. Find the function key number labeled Units Screen. Press <Esc>. Press the Units Screen function key number. If you have already completed all three New Building Startup screens and want to have PropMan create all of the records for this building then press <Esc>. This may take several minutes, but when finished you will be back on the System Maintenance Menu. From the System Maintenance Menu you can press <Esc> again to return to the Main Menu. New Building Startup - Units Screen This is one of three screens associated with New Building Startup, and is where you specify what the apartment or unit numbers are for this building. It is important that the list of apartment numbers is complete and correct as you will not be able to change them outside of the New Building Startup procedure. 1. The cursor is on the first unit number. Buildings must have at least one unit, so when they are created the first apartment number is set to match the building number. If this is not one of the apartment numbers in this building then type the first apartment number over this one. Press <Enter>. 2. Type in the rest of the apartment numbers for this building pressing <Enter> after each one. If you make a mistake you can back up by holding down the <Shift> key and pressing the <Tab> key. Do this until you are on the unit you need to change and then type over it with the correct apartment number and press <Enter> until you are again on a blank space (ready for the next unit number). If you need to delete an apartment number you have entered, back up using the <Shift> and <Tab> keys until you cursor is on that unit, type over it with blanks using the space bar, and press <Enter>. If the building you are entering has more than fifty units then when you have filled in the last apartment number space provided for this block of units then press <F1>. Find the function key number labeled Next 50Unts. Press <Esc>. Then press the Next 50unts function key and continue entering apartment numbers. Should you want to return to a previously entered block of fifty units, press <F1>. Find the function key number labeled Prev 50Unts. Press <Esc>, and then press the Prev 50Unts function key. If you have already completed all three New Building Startup screens and want to have PropMan create all of the records for this building then press <Esc>. This may take several minutes, but when finished you will be back on the System Maintenance Menu. From the System Maintenance Menu you can press <Esc> again to return to the Main Menu. Entering Tenants for New Buildings This section is designed to show you how to enter the tenants already residing in a building which is just now being entered into PropMan. It does not outline the procedures for the normal month to month tenant move ins (see Moving in Tenants). For the procedures described below to work as outlined the building must have a status of New (see Building Statuses). 1. From the Main Menu press <D> for Daily Operations and press <Enter>. 2. From the Daily Operations Menu press <T> for Tenant activity and press <Enter>. 3. Your cursor is on Building. Type in the number of the building you are starting up and press <Enter>. The name of the building will appear at the top of the screen. 4. The cursor is on Unit. Type in the apartment number of a unit in this building and press <Enter>. If you don't remember the apartment numbers for this building or you would like to step through the apartments sequentially then press <F1>. Find the function key number labeled Next Unit. Press <Esc> and then press the Next Unit function key. When you reach the apartment you want, press <Enter>. 5. Your cursor is on Tenant. Type in the name of the tenant residing in this unit and press <Enter>. Names are entered last name comma first name. If there is more than one tenant responsible for this unit pick only one to enter here. The other tenants will be entered later. (See Entering Tenant Personal Information). 6. On Sched rent, type in the amount of the normal monthly rent and press <Enter>. 7. On Due day type in the number corresponding to the day of the month that the rent becomes due, and press <Enter>. For example the first would be 1, or the fifteenth would be entered 15. 8. On Paid to, type in the date of the last day for which the rent has been paid, and press <Enter>. It must always be the day before a rent Due day. You may only enter this date during New Building Setup, once the building is made active the Paid to date will be automatically kept in step with any tenant financial activity entered. 9. On Other due type in the balance of any assessments for this tenant and press <Enter>. This may only be entered during New Building Setup. Once the building is made active, the Other due balance will automatically be kept in step with any tenant financial activity entered. 10. On Last under Rent type in the amount of the most recent previous Sched rent for this tenant and press <Enter>. This amount should have been the monthly rental amount before the last rent raise. 11. On Last under Date type in the date of the last rent raise and press <Enter>. 12. The cursor is on New under Rent. If there is a rent change pending for this tenant then type in the amount of the new rent and press <Enter>. 13. The cursor is on New under Date. If there is a rent change pending for this tenant then type in the date the new rent will become effective and press <Enter>. 14. On Date in type in the date this tenant moved in and press <Enter>. 15. On Lease exp type in the date that the lease expires for this tenant and press <Enter>. 16. The cursor is on Pay / Quit. If a 3-Day-Notice has been served to this tenant then type in the date of service here and press <Enter>. 17. The cursor is under Deposit Balances. There are five deposit categories labeled at the left and your cursor is beside the first one. Type in the amount being held from this tenant for this first deposit category and press <Enter>. Do the same for the other four categories. 18. You have now finished entering this tenant. To enter the next tenant in this building return to step 4. When you are finished entering all of the tenants residing in this building, press <Esc> to return to the Daily Operations Menu. Press <Esc> again from the Daily Operations Menu to return to the Main Menu. Activating a New Building While buildings are being entered into PropMan they have a status of New. This status determines what operations can be performed on the building throughout the PropMan system. New buildings are still in the start up process. All of the background information about the building can be entered. Mortgage, reserve and deposit balances can be entered directly, as well as the information about the tenants already residing in the building. No operational activities will be accepted for New buildings. Money collected cannot be entered. No rents come due. No invoices can be put in. So, when you have entered all of the background information about a building and wish to begin normal monthly processing, the status of the building must be changed to Active. Active is the status of operating buildings. To change the status of a building from New to Active, follow the steps outlined below. Please check that you have completed all of the steps outlined under New Building Start Up before you activate the building. Some of the building background information may not be entered directly once the building is made active, such as tenant deposit balances and paid to dates, mortgage balances, etc. This is a good place to make a backup of your system (see Backing Up PropMan ). 1. From the Main Menu press <S> for System Maintenance and press <Enter>. 2. From the System Maintenance Menu press <B> for Building Changes and press <Enter>. 3. Your cursor is on Building. Type in the number of the building you wish to activate and press <Enter>. If you don't remember the number of the building you want, press <F1>. Find the function key labeled Next Build. Press <Esc>. Then press that function key to step through the buildings in your system until you find the one you are looking for, then press <Enter>. 4. Press <Enter> until your cursor is on Status. The current status of the building will be flashing, and for the purposes of this section that status should be New. To change the status of the building from New to Active, merely press <A> for Active and press <Enter>. 5. If you need to activate another building then press <Enter> until your cursor is again on Building and then return to step 3. If you have finished activating buildings then press <Esc> to return to the System Maintenance Menu. Press <Esc> again from the System Maintenance Menu to return to the Main Menu. Building Statuses Buildings in PropMan may have one of three statuses at any one time. The statuses are New, Active, and Deleted. New buildings are still in the start up process. PropMan is still holding information for them but the building is not being operated in the normal sense. No invoices can be entered or paid. No rents come due. No operational activities are allowed at all. While a building is New, its initial information can be entered. Mortgage, reserve and deposit balances are entered. Money collected cannot be entered while a building is New, only money already held in account balances. Active is the status of operating buildings. Rents come due each month; invoices can be entered and paid; all of the PropMan operations can now be performed on this building. The monthly accounting reports are available. Once a building is Active, changes to its financial information must be done with accounting transactions, and those transactions will generate an audit trail. An Active Building is one that is being run and PropMan will track what happens. Deleted is for buildings that are no longer operating. Perhaps it has been sold or is being rebuilt or converted. For whatever reason, no more accounting is being done for the building operations. The information for the building is retained but no activity is allowed. Reports about the building and the archives are still available, however.