The Essential Home & Business Collection

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E A S Y - M A N A G E O N E O F T H E B E S T R E A L E S T A T E P R O P E R T Y M A N A G E M E N T P R O G R A M S I N S T R U C T I O N M A N U A L I N T R O D U C T I O N Thank you for purchasing our easy-to-use real estate property management program. This program will keep track of your tenants, expenses, rents paid and not paid, and will give you a multitude of reports to help you keep track of your real estate investment. This program can be set up to accomplish many different types of applications to suit your individual needs. W A R R A N T Y EXCEPT AS PROVIDED ABOVE, BRADLEY SHOVERS AND EASY-MANAGE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE PRODUCT. SHOULD THE PROGRAMS PROVE TO BE DEFECTIVE OR INACCURATE, THE PURCHASER ASSUMES THE RISK OF PAYING THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR, OR CORRECTION AND ANY INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES,INCLUDING ADDITION TAX OR PENALTY IN NO EVENT WILL BRADLEY T. SHOVERS OR EASY-MANAGE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION AND THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THIS PRODUCT EVEN IF BRADLEY T. SHOVERS OR EASY-MANAGE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. Use of this software product for any period of time constitutes your assumed acceptance of this agreement and subjects you to its contents. EASY-MANAGE 4771 N. SANTA MONICA BLVD. MILWAUKEE WISCONSIN 53211 PHONE 414-962-8000 I N D E X CHAPTER 1 INSTALLING THE PROGRAM CHAPTER 2 GETTING STARTED CHAPTER 3 UTILITIES CHAPTER 4 LEDGER CHAPTER 5 TENANT OPERATIONS CHAPTER 6 REPORTS CHAPTER 7 UNIT DETAILS CHAPTER 8 BACKING UP INFORMATION -1- CHAPTER 1 I N S T A L L I N G T H E P R O G R A M HARD DISK INSTALLATION For installation on a hard disk, first make a separate subdirectory on your hard drive ( example: md manage ) then cd manage. Then copy all of the files on the (a) and (b) disks to the new subdirectory. Then, just type MENU, and the program will start. CONFIG.SYS Whether the Property Management Program is installed on a hard disk or on a floppy disk system, DOS must be told to allow extra room for "file handles" so that the program can open all of the files it needs. If this is not done, the program will complain about a "DOS ERROR 4" which simply means that it can't open enough files. To fix this, copy the config.sys file that is on your disk "A" to the floppy or hard drive where you boot-up your machine. The new CONFIG.SYS file will be read- in during the boot process. A good policy is to re-index often. To do this, go to UTILITIES and follow the instructions. -2- CHAPTER 2 G E T T I N G S T A R T E D The first step in using your program involves the installation of your properties into the program. ALWAYS USE CAPITAL LETTERS. GO TO "UTILITIES" #5 Go to MAINTAIN "UNITS AND PROPERTIES." This is where you must identify the property. Whether it is a single family, duplex or multi- unit building, the property must be identified. You can use a code number or abbreviate the street name. What I've done is to call the property by the street. For instance, the building is on 17th Street, you can call it 17; let's say the property is on Kilbourn, you can call it just KIL. If you want to be more specific (but it's not necessary), you can call it KILBOURN and the address. YOU SHOULD TRY TO MAKE THE PROPERTY FIELD AS SHORT AND SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE TO MAKE IT EASIER TO INPUT INFORMATION. If you own many different buildings on the same street, you can use just the address or you can use the street name plus the address of the building to completely identify it from the other buildings on the same street. As far as the unit is concerned, every unit in the building has to be identified separately. If the building is a 4-family and the units are numbered 1,2,3,4, that should be the way the units should be identified. The property name must be exactly the same for every unit in the building. Once you have the property filled out, you specify the unit. If it's Unit 1 and you named the property XYZ, it would state in the property category XYZ, Unit 1, the next unit would be XYZ, Unit 2, the next would be XYZ, Unit 3, the next would be XYZ, Unit 4. If your building has letters, such as unit A, B, C and D, you can use letters instead of numbers. If you have a duplex, you could have Unit 1 be the first floor, Unit 2 could be the second floor, or the lower unit is LO, and the upper unit is UP. For a cottage, the unit can be COT or be Unit 3 -- whatever you're most comfortable with. If you own a lot of duplexes, the code should stay the same for buildings of that type, so that it will be less confusing. When it asks for address: Input the exact mailing address for the particular building and unit that you are inputting. Also, fill in the city, state and zip code. This information is used in some reports and will be used extensively in sending letters to tenants. NOTE: NEVER "EDIT" THE PROPERTY CODE OR UNIT UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF A YEAR. AFTER LOADING PROPERTIES AND UNITS, "RE-INDEX" THROUGH THE UTILITIES OPTION. -3- CHAPTER 4 U T I L I T I E S #1 -- Delete Marked Ledger Records. This will only delete ledger records equal to category D (Delete a Record). This is how you get rid of records put into the ledger record system that you want to remove. It will only delete the records when the category is equal to or set to D for Delete a Record. To delete records in another category - after Starting #1 (delete marked ledger records) the screen asks (Ok to continue?), press (shift-f2) at the same time. You can then choose any other category to delete. EXTREME CAUTION SHOULD BE USED !! BACK UP EVERYTHING FIRST. #2 -- Maintain Ledger Categories. You can add, edit or delete the codes and names of the expense categories. If you change or delete a category, first be sure to change any existing expenses entered to another category before changing anything. DO NOT CHANGE "D" - DELETE RECORDS. #3 -- Maintain Units & Properties. You can add, edit or delete the property codes, unit codes and all other data on your properties and units. IMPORTANT: IF YOU SELL A PROPERTY, SEE "SOLD PROPERTY". ALSO, DO NOT EDIT OR CHANGE PROPERTY CODE OR UNIT CODE UNTIL BEGINNING OF A YEAR. LEAVE THE SMOKE FIELD EMPTY AT THIS TIME. #4 -- Delete Ledger Records by Date. This option should be used for starting a new year (see instructions for "NEW YEAR"). #5 -- Delete Rent Records. You must have back-ups of what you're deleting, but this option will let you delete older rent records.(SEE START A NEW YEAR) #6 -- Delete Moved Out Tenants. This program will store information about tenants who moved out of your building so you can save some information on these tenants. After a tenant has been gone for several years, you may want to remove him from the database file. YOU SHOULD HAVE A BACK-UP BEFORE ANYTHING IS DELETED. #7 -- Re-index Database Files. You may need this option in case of a power failure with the records getting disorganized, or after you change or delete any of the above categories. PLEASE LEAVE CAPS LOCK ON! RE-INDEX AFTER CHANGING ANYTHING IN UTILITIES PLEASE MAKE BACK-UPS AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE TO PREVENT THE LOSS OF DATA!! -4- STARTING A NEW YEAR On your hard drive, create a new subdirectory, for example, "Easy91." To create, MD Easy91, Return. Then get into your current subdirectory, for example, "Easy90." Type CD Easy90, Return. Type COPY *.* C:\Easy 91., Return. Now you're ready for a new year. Get into your new subdirectory and type MENU, Return. From the Utilities menu, first go to #4- Delete Ledger Records by Date -- delete preceding year. Next, go to Delete Rent Records and delete preceding year. Done! SOLD PROPERTY The easiest way to handle this is to do nothing until the end of your year, except move out all tenants in that building. At the end of the year, make several back-ups and then follow the instructions for STARTING A NEW YEAR. After that is done, go to UTILITIES and delete the property and all units of the sold building. -5- CHAPTER 3 L E D G E R Now we will go into the LEDGER area -- this category keeps track of every expense that you incur by owning real estate. It keeps track of it: 1) by date, 2) by the particular property, 3) the expense incurred, 4) to whom the expense was paid, and 5) by the category in which you wish to categorize the expense. If you choose the LEDGER category, you get the LEDGER menu, which has three options: 1) Enter Records, 2) Revise Records and 3) Run Report. Choose #1 -- press 1, enter. It first asks you, " Do you want to enter a record?" Hit Return. It says Y. If, for some reason, you got into this mode by accident, press No, and you will escape. Let's assume you want to enter a record, press Return. As you can see, today's date automatically pops up. If the payment was made previous to today, you simply have to type over the date and enter the correct date. Question #2 asks "What Property?". All you have to do is type in the abbreviated property name that you selected when you set up the UTILITIES menu and type that in. If you make a mistake in this entry, as soon as you get the first letter or number of the property you are trying to enter, a help screen will appear listing the properties the computer thinks you are trying to input. The computer will not allow you to enter a property name which does not exactly match one of the property units you have already put into the program. #3 -- "Who Did We Pay?" -- type in who you paid. #4 -- "What Did We Pay For?" Answer that question for each expense. #5 -- The amount paid. #6 --The category. At first, you're not going to be able to memorize all of the individual category letters, so if you're having trouble at #6, just press enter again, and all of your categories will appear on the right hand side of the screen. Choose one, type the letter, and press enter. The program asks you to quickly glance over what you've input to check if it's accurate. Press Return and it will be saved. If not, press N, and it will ask you which line is incorrect --identify the incorrect line and the program will allow you to change the information. -6- After you save the expense, if you're entering another expense for the same property, simply press F2 and it will automatically enter the date and property code. From here, go to "Run Report". This option allows you to choose many different options for gathering information and running a report, which you will find very useful. You should experiment with all of the different types of reports that this particular category has to offer. As you can see, you first identify a property. If you press Return, you can access information on all properties. Then you pick a particular category, or by pressing Return, all categories. The Date Range field is self-explanatory and the Paid To field indicates that if you made a payment to someone or some company, it can pick out just those payments. Detail asks if you want a detailed report on each individual payment or if you want just to total the payments by property and category and get sub-totals. Then, finally, if you've opted for all properties, it will ask you if you want each property report on a separate page or if you want to combine the information on one page. The best way to figure out how to use this is to experiment with it. Anytime you feel you have made a mistake, hit the F10 key and that should return you to the LEDGER menu. Last, Revise Records, which allows you to change any record. The program now works this way: in order to revise a record, you must first run a report to locate the record that needs revising. The report must be run TO THE SCREEN, NOT TO THE PRINTER. As you can see, when you run it to the screen, it gives slightly different information. The number we're concerned with is the record number, which, when there's a record that needs changing, must be found through the report program. Locate the record number (remember it or write it down), escape back to the LEDGER menu and choose #2 (corrections). When it asks you to enter the number, enter the record number on the bottom of the screen and it will promptly bring the detailed information of the entry that needs changing to the screen. An area that should be discussed is a field called DELETE A RECORD. This is designated as Category D in the category field. Whenever a record is input that I want to delete, I simply use category D. You can go through the UTILITIES to remove all records in the database which are equal to category D, Delete A Record. 7 CHAPTER 5 T E N A N T O P E R A T I O N S From the main menu, let's examine the TENANT mode. There are five options to choose from once you get to the TENANT menu. To start, you must load your current tenants into the property management system. BEFORE THAT CAN BE DONE, YOU MUST ENTER THE PROPERTIES AND UNITS PRIOR TO ENTERING THE TENANTS. The program is designed to prevent you from entering a tenant unless the property and the specific unit exactly matches one which you have already programmed in. Entering New Tenants: Start with your first tenant. You would enter the second option, Enter Tenant. Start with the last name first. Type the last name, leave a blank, and then fill in the first name. Now the property must be typed exactly the way you entered the property code in the property file. The unit also must be exactly the way it was entered in the unit file for that property. The program prevents you from double-entering a tenant into the same property and unit. Once the blank screen appears, you simply fill in all the details regarding the tenant that you feel important. Fill in the moved-in date (very necessary), but LEAVE THE MOVED-OUT DATE BLANK. That must be filled in only at the time the tenant moves out. Also, it is very important to fill in the rent and any other data you feel is pertinent. Once this is done, if the new tenant has paid rent, follow the "Enter Rent" instructions. IMPORTANT! After entering a new tenant, the past due field will most likely have to be adjusted, assuming that your new tenant has paid in full when he moves in (the past due field should be 0). In many cases, the past due field will show a negative number. THIS MUST BE CORRECTED! There are two ways to correct this. First, after entering the rent paid by the new tenant and accepting it as correct, you can change the past due amount by just pressing F5; then put in the correct amount, usually 0, press Return and then it asks "Ok To Accept?", if so, press Return. Done! The second way is to press 1 for "Enter Rent," identify the tenant by name or by address and unit, press Return for the rent input screen. Do not fill in anything. Press escape, and the last payment for this tenant will appear. Now press F5, and you can change the past due field. Move into #3 Revise A Tenant. The screen shows you that you can search for a tenant to revise in two ways. You can enter the tenant's last name, hit Return when it asks you for the property, and it will find the tenant. -8- The other way is when it asks for a tenant's name, and you have forgotten it. Hit Return, and it asks for the property. The property should be put in. If you can get the first letter or number of the property correct, the program will help you select the proper property. If, for example, you have three properties on 34th Street, and they all have different address numbers, you enter 34th Street and the computer will help you select which property you want. The unit has to match exactly, whether it is an Upper, Lower or Unit 1, 2 or 3, etc. Then, the computer will search and find that tenant. At that point, if you want to change and use the data, press Return, and help-screens will appear so that you can change any information regarding the tenant. A new option, a memo field, F4, allows you to add as much data about a new tenant as you wish. Try it. You must hit Control W to save! If a tenant has moved out, the program will not allow you to enter your new tenant before you change the old tenant information, specifically, by filling in the Moved-Out field. When a tenant moves out and you have a new tenant move in, you must change the status of the old tenant through Revise Tenant by filling in the moved-out date. That will automatically transfer the moved-out tenant to the moved-out database, so you can keep track of the information regarding your old tenant. It's a good idea prior to moving-out the tenant, to fill in the comment area as to whether the tenant was a good tenant, poor tenant, paid the rent, etc. Once the moved-out date is entered and accepted, you can no longer add or change information on this tenant. E N T E R I N G R E N T P A Y M E N T S A screen appears to help you locate the exact tenant who paid the rent. As before, there are two ways of locating the exact tenant: the first, by name, the second, by property and unit. If the tenant gave you a check, and his name is on the check, the tenant will be easy to find. Type in the last name and when it asks for the property, press enter, and it will search for that name. If for some reason, the check has no name on it, and you know where the person lives, you could type in the property and unit and it will also find the exact tenant that you are looking for. If it doesn't find the exact tenant that you are looking for, use Page Up or Page Down. You can flip through the records until you find the exact tenant. When the exact tenant appears on the screen, you simply press enter, and an additional screen appears, which is self-explanatory. You enter the amount of rent the tenant paid, the date, the name of the tenant who paid (even though it automatically appears as tenant #1 in that unit). If a different tenant paid, and you want to record it as such, you have that option. #4 asks "Paid by Check?". If it is, say yes (Y), if it is not, say no (N). -9- The month and year the rent should be credited to; Say that you receive a check on 2/27/91 for 3/91, insert 3/91. In the Past Due field, you cannot make an entry because the computer automatically calculates that particular field for you. After all rent data is entered, the program asks you if it's correct. If so, respond appropriately, and the computer will do the rest. If you want to find out about a tenant's past rent payments, you can do so. When you've located the tenant who you want to check, hit Return, and the rent screen appears. Prior to adding the information , hit escape, and the last rent payment made on this unit will appear. If you use Page Up, the prior payment to that will appear and so forth, until the first rent payment appears on the screen. You can Page Up and Page Down to find the exact rent payment that you are looking for. This is the only way that you can change a rent record which has been previously input. If you want to change this located rent record, press Return, and follow the prompts in the program. In the event that you want to manually change the Past Due field, it can be done (even though it rarely should be used). The Past Due field can be changed manually when the rent input screen is on by hitting ESC, then F5. You can then change the past due amount to adjust it to what currently is past due. But under all normal conditions, the computer should calculate what the tenant owes and this should be the correct amount. PLEASE READ---IMPORTANT!!! Post Rent option: This particular option should be used once per month, most likely on the 1st of the month. This option updates the Past Due field. The option is self-explanatory. It effectively adds to the Past Due field the current rent of every individual tenant. IT IS IMPERATIVE TO USE THE POST RENT OPTION ONCE A MONTH IN ORDER TO USE THIS PROGRAM EFFECTIVELY. Posting Late Fees: The program has the capability of adding the late fee that you charge for each individual tenant. You enter this amount (which is dictated according to the terms of the lease) when you originally add the tenant into the program; it will automatically add the late fee into the past due field. Press #5, Post Late Fee, from the TENANT MENU on or after the date that the late charges are due. -10- The Moved-Out Tenant Information is an option in which you can store information about a tenant who has moved out. In locating this tenant, you use the same locating system you've previously used to enter rent and revise tenants. If the exact tenant doesn't appear on the screen, you still have the option of paging through the tenants, using the Page Up or Page Down keys to locate the exact tenant that you are looking for. AT ALMOST ANYTIME IN THE PROGRAM, THE F10 KEY OR ESC KEY WILL GET YOU BACK TO ONE OF THE MAIN MENUS. R E - I N D E X W E E K L Y ! -11- CHAPTER 6 R E P O R T S The Reports Menu offers you many valuable reports. We will go over each one briefly. Tenant Phone Numbers -- A list of tenant addresses and phone #s. Can be sent to the printer or to the screen. Late Rent Payments -- Also goes to the printer or to the screen. A list of tenants who are currently behind in rent. This report uses the Past Due field. If any tenants owe rent, it will appear on this report, along with their names and phone numbers. Past Due Letter --This report prints out an individual letter to every tenant who owes rent! It is set up to be used with window envelopes, so you can just fold the letter and mail it. Tenant Status Report -- This report only goes to the printer. You can search all properties and tenants by hitting Return at the questions or specify a tenant or property. This reports on name, phone, date moved- in, last rent raise, date lease expires, current monthly rent and security deposit amount paid. Monthly Profit/Loss --This report gives you all rents and expenses per month. It goes to the printer or screen. You can specify one property or all properties. CAUTION : THIS REPORTS ON RENT ACCRUED TO THE MONTH SPECIFIED, NOT NECESSARILY RENT PAYMENT DATE. Individual Rent Record -- This report has a screen that you've seen before. It asks you for the tenant's name, and you select the property and the unit. With this report, if you do not enter a specific name, property or unit, it will report on all properties. It gives certain information as to a tenant, property, unit in which they live, their rent, and other pertinent information. You may also specify dates on this particular report, and the report will show you payments which were received during that time period. If you enter no tenant, the property but no unit, and do install the dates, this report will show you the rent record of all of the units in that particular property between those dates. This report purposely does not calculate any negative numbers. Rent Report --This is another report to show rents received. It is a little different than "Individual Rent Record". This report also shows if the rent received was by cash or check. It will also make summary reports of your rents for tax purposes. This report purposely does not calculate any negative numbers. You can ask it to report on dates, rent received, or the month to which the rents are accrued. -12- Annual Profit/Loss -- This report only goes to the printer. You can select all properties or just one property. Experiment with it -- you'll like this report . INCOME IS REPORTED ON MONTH ACCRUED TO NOT MONTH PAID. Vacancy List -- This report lists all of the vacant units and shows the monthly rent of the last tenant to live there. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE REPORTS FOR IRS REPORTING - IF YOU WANT TO INCLUDE ALL INCOME RECEIVED FOR THE YEAR REGARDLESS OF WHAT MONTH IT'S ACCRUED TO - USE "RENT REPORT" AND USE THE DATE FIELDS ONLY. TO SHORTEN THE REPORT USE THE SUMMARY OPTION. (FOR EXAMPLE: IF A TENANT PAYS THE JANUARY, 1991 RENT ON DECEMBER 28, 1990, IT IS 1990 INCOME.) THE "MONTHLY PROFIT/LOSS REPORT" AND THE "ANNUAL PROFIT/LOSS REPORT" BOTH CALCULATE INCOME ON THE MONTH INCOME IS ACCRUED TO, NOT NECESSARILY THE DATE RENT IS PAID. THE "RENT REPORT" GIVES YOU THE OPTION OF CHOOSING EITHER DATE RECEIVED OR MONTH ACCRUED TO. IF, FOR A MANAGEMENT ACCOUNT, YOU MUST FURNISH ACTUAL INCOME BETWEEN CERTAIN DATES, THIS IS THE REPORT TO USE. FOR EXPENSES, USE THE REPORTS FROM THE "LEDGER" SECTION. WHEN ENTERING BACK RENT OR DELINQUENT RENT, YOU MAY WANT TO HAVE IT ACCRUE TO THE CURRENT MONTH. FOR RENT RECEIVED FOR FUTURE MONTHS, HAVE IT ACCRUE TO THE MONTH THE RENT IS PAID FOR. CONSULT YOUR ACCOUNTANT FOR FURTHER EXPLANATION ! CHAPTER 7 U N I T D E T A I L S This area allows you to enter permanent data regarding each unit. For example: When unit was painted, color of carpet, what was remodeled and when, etc. What you can do for general building notes like exterior painting, new roofs, or hall remodeling, is to use part of the first unit to the building. To get to it just put in the property code and no unit , and you will get to it every time. The search screen is just like Enter Rent or Revise a Tenant, and it works just the same. Just locate the unit, press Return, and follow the instructions. The Smoke Detector section of the program is optional. It is advised, however, that you should use it if you own units in the City of Milwaukee or anywhere where smoke detector laws are enforced. This section of the program is, for the most part, self-explanatory. You can get reports showing when batteries in the units' smoke detectors need to be changed. Also, when a new tenant moves in, his name and address will appear first because some municipalities require that the battery be changed for every new tenant. CHAPTER 8 B A C K I N G U P I N F O R M A T I O N The most important files to back up are the "DBF" files and the "DBT" files. If you have a lot of data, it is easier to just back up these files. To use them, you would have to re-index them through the UTILITIES options. AN EASY COMMAND IS COPY *.DB* A: Return. BACK UP FREQUENTLY -- BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY! IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO "RE-INDEX" WEEKLY - IT IS DONE THROUGH THE UTILITIES MENU. IF YOU MOVE OR CHANGE PHONE NUMBERS, CONTACT US, AND WE CAN UPDATE YOUR PROGRAM.