Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Issue #189

We Just Released the Trust Chart of Accounts Standards with NARPM.

An initiative we unveiled on the final day of the New Orleans expo could reshape how property managers track, report, and communicate financial data.

The final morning of the NARPM Conference and Expo in New Orleans had a different kind of energy. Not just because the closing keynote was around the corner, but because Brad Johnson (CEO of ProfitCoach), Wolfgang Croskey (CEO of Croskey Real Estate), and I were about to take the stage to announce something we've been working on for a long time.

We unveiled the NARPM Trust Chart of Accounts - a free, standardized accounting framework designed to bring real consistency to trust accounting across residential PM.

The categories span the full breadth of PM financial activity: assets, liabilities, equities, capital, income, expenses, and other. Sub-categories drill down further: cash and banks, receivables, payables, deposits, deferred revenue, transfers, and rental income. Most line items come with descriptions and guidance on whether they're required for accounting reporting purposes.

And guess what… we're not cashing in on this. It's free. On purpose.

"We want to help advance and move the industry forward by getting all of us onto a common set of standards. This is really an industry effort, and honestly, a labor of love for us." (← a quote from yours truly)

That part matters. In an industry where proprietary software and isolated financial systems have made cross-company comparisons (and acquisitions) a nightmare, a freely available open standard is a real shift.

Brad put it well on stage: without a standard trust accounting structure, we have a similar problem set to where corporate accounting was before it got standardized. Imagine trying to compare two businesses without GAAP. That's basically where PM is today.

Just as standardized corporate accounting created a common financial language across industries, the NARPM Trust COA does the same thing for property management - uniform definitions for portfolio, property, and trust accounting activity. The goal is a shared vocabulary not just among PMs, but legible to outside parties: rental owners & investors, auditors, and even potential buyers.

And that last group is where this gets interesting. Having your company on a common industry standard helps potential acquirers actually understand what they're looking at. People want to buy something they understand.

Beyond the financial and transactional benefits, this should have real downstream effects on the tech side. Wolfgang made the case on stage that the COA will accelerate and improve software development for PM platforms, particularly around system integrations, a persistent pain point for operators juggling multiple tools.

A standardized chart of accounts lets vendors build better, build faster, and make integrations easier. One of the biggest challenges in our space is that every tool wants to do its own thing. This gives them a common foundation to work from.

A few practical wins to expect from this:

• More granular line items for the common fixtures and repairs PMs handle every day

• Cleaner, more transparent expense reporting to property owners

• Easier benchmarking across companies (because we're finally measuring the same things)

Some context on how we got here: in 2018, NARPM released the original NARPM Accounting Standards in collaboration with ProfitCoach, which introduced a standardized corporate chart of accounts to help PMs analyze and benchmark financial performance. Useful, but feedback from across the industry made it clear we needed for the trust account side — especially something capable of covering the full operational cost landscape, not just an IRS Schedule E.

The new COA is the foundation for the kind of benchmarking that actually drives business improvement. Now we can speak the same language as an industry and perform better in our own companies. That's the whole point: making PM operators future ready.

Full documentation and additional info is at pmtrustcoa.com. Check it out.

-Peter

A maintenance debate I didn't expect to have (and really enjoyed) w/ Matt Tringali

Matthew Tringali is one of those guests who I always come away with a few new perspectives (even on stuff I thought I had figured out). He's a former PM operator, EOS implementer, and now runs BetterWho.

We got into the three biggest EOS failure modes (most companies solve circumstances, not issues), why your in-house maintenance billing rate has to be 3x labor or you're losing money, and a real debate on vendor marketing fees… are they a legit profit center or thinly-veiled kickback?

If you've ever wondered whether your operating system is actually working (or whether your maintenance department is profitable) catch this one:

(Also available on Apple Podcasts & Spotify)

Property Management Companies For Sale This Week

• Here’s a residential PM book of business in Delaware County, PA (asking $125k)

• A long-standing HOA management company in Coral Springs, FL (asking $275k, 1,333 units)

• Coastal STR management portfolio in North Carolina (asking $2M)

• Established residential PM firm in Palm Beach County, FL (asking $1.2M, ~278 units, $1.53M revenue)

This section is sponsored by Gusto. My PM company runs all of our payroll, benefits, 401k, and HR training (including for remote/global team members) through Gusto - and I can’t recommend it enough. Try it out.

Interested in sponsoring this newsletter? Get in touch to partner with Peter.

Industry News & Events

• Real to acquire REMAX.

• Rentec Direct (always liked that name) just launched an Open API. It’s available now to all clients at no additional cost(!)

• My own city of Columbus just passed another rental registry law (we already have one for the county). Low-IQ move which will worsen the shortage of housing.

• Trump admin wants to roll back “gender identity protections for people in federally funded housing and shelters.” As a fan of vulnerable humans being safe, this publication is against such rollbacks.

Closing Thought

A few quick things before you go…

• Last week’s issue went to 21,166 readers (49% opened, 3.4% clicked)

• The most popular link was about the Lazy Leverage Podcast on “GTD Meets AI” (107 clicks)

• Property managers: Your professional trade association is NARPM. You need to join if you’re not already a member.

• Did someone forward you this email? Subscribe here.

Software I’m using to scale my 700+ door property management company:

Note: These are affiliate links, but I’ve been recommending all these companies long before any financial arrangements came into place.

The content of this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. I may have consulting agreements with, or financial interests in, companies mentioned in this newsletter. Additionally, some of the links included in this newsletter are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links. Always perform your own due diligence before making any financial or business decisions.