Appfolio Owner Statement FAQs: Common Questions from ROOST Owners

This guide answers the questions we hear most often from ROOST owners as they review their Owner Statements. If you don’t find what you’re looking for here, please contact us — we’re happy to walk through any line item with you.

Q: When are my Owner Statements updated and available?

Owner Statements are updated in alignment with ROOST’s check run schedule and are available multiple times throughout the month—not just at month-end.

ROOST processes owner disbursements three times monthly: on the 10th, the 20th, and the last day of the month. After each of these check runs, a new Owner Statement is generated covering activity from the 1st of the month through that check run date (e.g., 1st–10th, 1st–20th, 1st–end of month).

There are a few timing adjustments to be aware of. If the 10th or 20th falls on a weekend or holiday, that check run occurs on the next business day. If the last day of the month falls on a weekend or holiday, the final check run is completed on the prior business day.

In addition to these rolling updates, a finalized, full-month Owner Statement is generated on the first day of the following month.

Practically, this means you can monitor financial activity continuously. After each check run, all receipts, vendor payments, and disbursements are posted, allowing real-time visibility into the current period. You’ll also receive an email notification each time your statement is updated.

Q: I see “Journal Entry (JE)” lines on my Owner Statement — what are these?

A Journal Entry (JE) is an internal accounting adjustment. Unlike a Receipt (rent received) or a Check (vendor paid), a JE doesn’t represent cash moving in or out of your trust account — it’s a bookkeeping entry that reclassifies, splits, or reallocates funds that have already been received or paid.

Common reasons you’ll see a JE on your statement:

• Mortgage principal/interest split. When ROOST pays your mortgage from your trust account, the lump-sum payment is split into principal and interest so each portion reports correctly on your Income Statement.
• Insurance premium amortization. A 12-month policy paid up front is amortized monthly, so each month carries only its share of the expense.
• Reallocation between properties. If a charge was posted to the wrong property, a JE moves it to the correct one.
• Escrow / reserve deposits. Funds set aside for property taxes or other future obligations are moved into a reserve via a JE.

Every JE includes a Description that explains its purpose. If one looks unusual or you can’t tell what it’s doing, contact ROOST and we’ll walk through the adjustment with you.

Q: I see “Transfer” entries on my Owner Statement — what are these and why are they there?

A Transfer is a movement of cash between two properties you own. Transfers don’t add or subtract money from your overall portfolio — they just shift funds from one property’s trust account to another’s.

Why transfers happen:

When one of your properties has a bill due but not enough cash on hand to cover it (e.g., a vacancy month, a major repair, or a property-tax lump sum), ROOST will pull from another property in your portfolio that has surplus cash. This avoids delays in paying vendors and avoids asking you to contribute funds out of pocket.

How they show up on the statement:

• On the property sending the funds: a Transfer entry posts in the Cash Out column.
• On the property receiving the funds: an offsetting Transfer entry posts in the Cash In column.
• The two amounts are equal and opposite — across your portfolio, all transfers net to zero.
• The Description column on each Transfer line tells you where the money went or came from (e.g., “Transfer to 123 Main St — HVAC repair”).

What this means for you:

If a single property’s cash position looks lower than expected, check the Transactions table for any Transfer entries — funds may have moved to another property of yours that needed them, not actually left your portfolio. Your consolidated summary on page 1 of the Owner Statement always shows the true net cash position across all properties combined.

If you’d like to reduce the frequency of transfers, maintaining a small cash reserve at each property (or making periodic owner contributions) gives each property the cushion to cover its own expenses.

Q: It looks like something was charged twice on my Owner Statement — what’s going on?

Almost always, this is the same bill shown at two different stages — not a duplicate charge.

ROOST’s Owner Statement tracks bills in two places:

• “Bills Due” is a heads-up section that lists vendor bills ROOST has received but not yet paid. It’s there for transparency so you can see what’s in the pipeline. No money has left your trust account yet.
• The Transactions area is where the bill posts once it’s actually paid. That’s when the funds leave your account.

So if you saw a bill in “Bills Due” on last month’s statement and now see the same amount in the Transactions section this month, you’re watching that bill move from scheduled to pay to paid. It’s one expense, shown at two different points in its lifecycle.

To confirm: check the vendor name and invoice date — the Bills Due entry and the matching transaction will line up.

Q: My Owner Statement shows a negative cash position or a heavy expense month — should I be worried?

A single rough month on an Owner Statement is usually not a sign of a problem — it almost always reflects the timing of large, lumpy expenses that hit in one month rather than being spread evenly across the year.

Common causes:

• Property tax payments — typically paid in one or two lump sums per year, even though they cover the full year.
• Major repairs or capital work — roof, HVAC replacement, plumbing emergencies, or a heavy turnover.
• Insurance catch-ups — when an annual premium is paid in full.
• Vacancy — no rent coming in, but mortgage, taxes, utilities, and lawn care still post.

What to look at instead:

The 12-month Income Statement smooths these timing distortions and gives you a truer picture of how your portfolio is actually performing. A single negative month on an Owner Statement, taken in isolation, is rarely the right view.

If your property runs negative enough that ROOST needs to move funds in via a Transfer or ask you to contribute, we’ll reach out before it becomes an issue.Disbursements

Q: My statement shows I have funds available, but I didn’t receive a disbursement on the last check run. Why?

The most common reason is that the tenant’s payment hadn’t cleared yet by the time the check run was processed.

Here’s how it works at ROOST:

• A receipt posts to your statement when the tenant pays — but the funds aren’t immediately available to disburse. ACH payments (eChecks) typically take a few business days to clear the bank, and physical checks need to clear as well.
• Once the funds have cleared, they become available for disbursement on the next scheduled check run.
• ROOST runs disbursements three times per month: the 10th, the 20th, and the last day of the month. Multiple check runs per month exist specifically to minimize the wait — if your funds clear after one check run, they’re ready for the next one a week or so later.

So if a tenant paid right before a check run and the payment hadn’t cleared in time, that money will go out on the following check run. Your Owner Statement will still reflect it as part of your available balance — it’s not lost, just waiting on the bank to release it.

If you ever want to know the status of a specific payment, contact ROOST and we can confirm whether it has cleared.Security Deposits

Q: How are tenant security deposits handled at ROOST, and where do they show up on my Owner Statement?

ROOST handles security deposits differently than some other property management companies, so it’s worth understanding clearly.

ROOST’s policy:

Ohio state law does not require property managers to hold tenant security deposits in a separate escrow account. Our policy is to pay security deposits out to the owner as they are received — they flow through to you as part of normal disbursements, just like rent. This keeps the funds working for you and avoids tying them up where you can’t use them.

How this shows up on your statement:

• When a tenant pays a security deposit, it posts as a Receipt in the Cash In column of the property — alongside the rent and other income for that month.
• It becomes part of that month’s owner disbursement.
• During the tenant’s occupancy, you will not see a separate “Security Deposit Held” balance on your statement, because the funds are with you, not in a ROOST escrow account.

What to expect at move-out:

• If the tenant is owed a refund at move-out, ROOST will issue that refund — and the refund amount appears as an expense on your Owner Statement, because the funds need to come back out of your account to repay the tenant.
• If the deposit is retained in part or in full for unpaid rent, damages, or charges, the retained amount posts as Deposit Forfeit income on your statement.
• Either way, the deposit eventually nets out — but the income (at move-in) and the expense (at move-out) can be months or years apart.

What about my 1099?

Security deposits passed through to you are not included in your ROOST 1099, because under IRS rules a deposit is not taxable income at the time it’s received. In AppFolio, security deposits are coded separately from rental income, so they’re correctly excluded from the 1099 calculation.

Only when a deposit is forfeited (retained for unpaid rent or damages at move-out) does it become reportable income — at which point it posts as “Deposit Forfeit” on your statement and is included on that year’s 1099.

Note: on your own books, the deposit cash you receive should generally be tracked as a liability (owed back to the tenant) rather than as rent income — until it’s either refunded or forfeited. For specific tax treatment, please consult your CPA.

Best practice for owners:

Because deposits flow to you as income but may need to be returned later, treat them as a liability you may eventually owe back, not as additional rent income. Setting aside roughly the deposit amount in your own savings until the tenant moves out is a simple way to avoid a cash crunch when a refund is due.

If you have questions about a specific tenant’s deposit or an upcoming move-out, contact ROOST and we’ll walk through the expected accounting.

Year-End Statement vs. 1099

Q: Why isn’t my Section 8 income included on my ROOST 1099?

It depends on which housing authority pays the subsidy for your unit, and the rules differ by authority:

• Springfield (SMHA) Section 8 income IS included in your ROOST 1099. No separate 1099 will be issued by Springfield — we report it for you.
• Columbus (CMHA) Section 8 income is NOT included in your ROOST 1099. CMHA issues its own 1099 directly. ROOST mails the CMHA-issued 1099 to our Columbus owners as a courtesy, but the income on that form is reported by CMHA, not ROOST.
• Other Section 8 authorities typically issue their own 1099s directly to you for the subsidy portion they paid.

Reconciling your year-end statement vs. your 1099:

Your ROOST year-end statement shows ALL income that flowed through your properties — including every Section 8 payment — because it reflects the full financial performance of your portfolio. Your ROOST 1099, however, only reports income ROOST is required to report to the IRS. That’s why the totals won’t match if you have CBUS units (or units in another authority that self-reports).

Q: My tenant prepaid rent at the end of the year — why is it included in my 1099 if it covers next year’s rent?

Short answer: the IRS treats prepaid rent as taxable income in the year it is received, not the year it covers — so it lands on the 1099 for the year ROOST (or the housing authority) collected it.

This rule applies regardless of:

• The period the rent covers. A payment received on December 28, 2025 for January 2026 rent is reported on your 2025 1099.
• The accounting method you use. Whether you file taxes on a cash basis or accrual basis, prepaid rent is reported in the year of receipt for 1099 purposes.

Why this can make your 1099 look “off”:

If a tenant pays early in late December, that income shows up on your 1099 for the year just ending — even though, on your year-end statement, it may appear as a January receipt for the new year. Likewise, if a tenant prepaid in the prior December, that income was already reported on last year’s 1099 and won’t appear on the current year’s 1099 even though the rent covered this year.

When reconciling, compare the calendar-year receipts in your year-end statement (by post date) to your 1099 — and remember to check the last few days of December and the first few days of January for timing differences.