Tracking Rental Property Obligations: Mortgage, Insurance, and Utilities
Obligations in Estavo cover every recurring financial commitment tied to a rental property — mortgage payments, insurance premiums, utility bills, HOA fees, and home warranties. Set up an obligation once and Estavo auto-generates a draft transaction on each due date, flags upcoming renewals before they expire, and keeps your ledger current without manual monthly entry.
This is one of the most time-saving features for self-managing landlords with multiple properties, where tracking a dozen recurring bills across different due dates is genuinely hard to do in a spreadsheet.
How the Obligation System Works
ObligationTemplate → draft Transaction (on due date) → confirmed Transaction (you review and accept)- You create an ObligationTemplate with the recurring schedule, amount, and type
- Estavo generates a draft transaction in your Money ledger on each due date
- You review the amount (adjust if your actual bill differs), then confirm — it posts to your official ledger
This isn’t a simple “recurring expense” checkbox. Each generated draft is a real transaction you review before it’s final. This catches month-to-month amount changes (your electric bill varies by season, your insurance premium changed at renewal) before they enter your records incorrectly.
Setting Up an Obligation
Open the property
From Portfolio, click the property this obligation belongs to.
Click Obligations → Add obligation
Select the type and fill in the schedule
See the type-specific details below.
Save
Estavo begins generating draft transactions starting with the next upcoming due date.
Obligation Types: Field-by-Field Setup
Mortgage
Mortgage Obligation Setup
Your monthly mortgage payment to the lender — principal, interest, and escrow combined.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Lender name | Your bank or mortgage servicer (e.g., “Wells Fargo Home Mortgage”) |
| Monthly payment | Your full monthly payment including P+I+escrow |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Loan origination date | When you closed on the loan |
| Loan maturity date | When the mortgage is paid off — drives urgency alert as payoff approaches |
| Interest rate | For your records — enter your current rate |
| Category | Mortgage interest (IRS Schedule E Line 12) |
Interest vs. principal: Your total monthly mortgage payment includes both deductible interest and non-deductible principal repayment. Only the interest portion is deductible on Schedule E. Record the full payment amount here and flag the split for your CPA — they’ll use your amortization schedule to separate the two at tax time.
Confirming Obligation Draft Transactions
When an obligation’s due date arrives, Estavo creates a draft transaction in Money with:
source: obligation_autostatus: Draft- The amount from your obligation template
To confirm a draft:
- Go to Money and filter by Status: Draft
- Click the transaction
- Adjust the amount if your actual bill differs from the template amount
- Click Confirm
The transaction status changes from Draft → Confirmed and counts in your ledger, P&L, and Schedule E reports.
To skip a payment (e.g., an annual obligation that only generates one payment per year, and a spurious draft appeared):
- Open the draft
- Click Skip — the draft is discarded, nothing is recorded
Draft transactions do not appear in P&L reports or Schedule E exports — only confirmed transactions do. Make a habit of confirming (or skipping) drafts regularly so your reports reflect reality.
Urgency Alerts in Today and Portfolio
Obligations with a policy end date show urgency indicators throughout Estavo:
| Days until expiry | Badge | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| > 30 days | None | Doesn’t appear in Today |
| 8–30 days | Yellow Urgent | Today view, Portfolio card, obligation detail |
| 0–7 days or expired | Red Action required | Today view, Portfolio card, obligation detail |
Pausing or Deleting an Obligation
Pause: Open the obligation → Pause. No new drafts are generated while paused. Resume when you want to restart the schedule.
Delete: Open the obligation → Delete. Removes the template and stops future draft generation. Confirmed transactions already in your ledger are not touched.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between an ObligationTemplate and an ObligationPolicy?
An ObligationTemplate is the recurring schedule — it defines how often drafts are generated and at what amount. An ObligationPolicy is the active contract or coverage term with start/end dates (insurance policy, mortgage term, warranty coverage). In practice, most obligations have both: you set the payment schedule (template) and the coverage term (policy). The policy end date is what drives urgency alerts.
Can I set up obligations that I’ve been paying for years?
Yes — just set the schedule start date to the original start date. Estavo won’t retroactively generate draft transactions for past periods; it generates drafts from the next upcoming due date forward. Import past transactions via CSV if you want historical expense records.
How do I handle a mortgage with an escrow account?
Record your full monthly payment (P+I+escrow) as a single obligation under the Mortgage type. At year end, your mortgage servicer sends a 1098 showing the interest you paid — that’s what goes on your Schedule E. Your CPA handles the escrow allocation. Record the full payment for bookkeeping; leave the interest/escrow split to tax time.
What if my insurance is billed semi-annually but I want to track the monthly cost?
Set the schedule to Semi-annual and enter the semi-annual premium. Estavo generates drafts every 6 months matching when you’re actually billed. If you want a monthly expense for cash flow tracking purposes, set the schedule to Monthly with one-sixth of the annual premium — but your CPA should confirm how they want it categorized.
Can I track both building insurance and liability insurance separately?
Yes — add one obligation per policy. Name them clearly (e.g., “Homeowners Insurance – State Farm” and “Liability Umbrella – Nationwide”) so you can tell them apart in the Money view and on reports.