How to read your Propertyware owner statement

What you are looking at

The statement shows your portfolio’s beginning cash balance, the money in (rent and other receipts), the money out (bills, management fees, owner draws), and the ending balance, with transactions listed by property beneath the summary.

Because the ledger is portfolio-level, the balances describe your whole account with that manager, not any single building. Per-property reading still matters for attribution, but the arithmetic check runs across the entire statement.

The one equation that checks the whole statement

Beginning balance + money in − money out = ending balance, to the cent, across the portfolio. If the printed numbers do not satisfy their own equation, every other number on the document is unverified. Start every month here.

Propertyware portals also offer ledger reports that overlap the statement. When they disagree, the statement your PM formally issued is the document to hold them to, and the disagreement itself is a question worth asking.

The portfolio minimum: your cash, held back

Propertyware PMs typically hold a portfolio minimum or reserve: your money, retained to cover surprises. It is not an expense, but it sets how much of your cash you actually receive each month.

Verify the held amount against your management agreement, and watch for it rising without a conversation. The reserve line is also where balance-equation failures often hide: money moved to reserve is money out of your draw, and it must appear in the math.

Fees: recompute the line, then count the others

Recompute the management fee: collected rent times your contract rate. Then total the rest of the PM-billed lines for the month: leasing fees, renewal fees, inspections, maintenance coordination, admin charges.

Across the statements we have audited, that all-in number ran meaningfully above the advertised rate at two of three managers, in one case nearly triple across a short window that happened to include a lease placement. Single months mislead in both directions, so track the all-in rate across several statements before drawing conclusions. But track it. Nobody else is.

Draws, vacancies, and the two cross-checks

Two checks close the loop every month. First, the owner draw against your actual bank deposit: amount and date. Second, any unit that collected no rent against the charges recorded for it. Work during a vacancy is normal; unexamined work during a vacancy is how four-figure surprises happen.

• Draw on statement = deposit in bank.
• No-rent units: read every charge against them, and ask who approved the work.

The five-minute monthly routine

You do not need to study every line every month. You need a routine that catches the expensive patterns. Five checks, in order:

• Run the balance equation. If it fails, stop and ask why before reading anything else.
• Compare this month’s opening balance to last month’s closing balance. A gap means a missing statement.
• Recompute the management fee against collected rent and your contract percentage.
• Scan for charges against any unit that collected no rent this period.
• Match the owner draw on the statement to the deposit that actually hit your bank.

More guides on Learn, including what management actually costs.