Do you know the difference between contingency reserves and operating funds?
Operating funds are monies that our property management and real estate business uses to fund our business. Operating funds are our money. Conversely, escrow funds are different. Escrow funds are monies that Nesbitt Realty is holding on behalf of tenants, landlords, buyers and sellers. Escrow funds are not our money, but they are monies that we are trusted to safeguard. At any given time, Nesbitt Realty has hundreds of thousands of dollars in escrow accounts.
In Northern Virginia, the Commonwealth of Virginia requires that all real estate licensees manage escrow funds in a particular manner. Most importantly the Commonwealth requires that escrow funds are properly accounted for at all times. In additional all escrow funds must be kept separate from operating funds. The biggest portion of our escrow funds are tenant security deposits, but also hold deposits for purchasers (and sometimes sellers) as we'll as contingency reserve funds for property owners.
Contingency reserve is a special type of escrow.
A contingency reserve account is money that is held in savings to pay for maintenance and other incidentals that occur during property management. Although the money is in our escrow account, the money belongs to the landlord. If the property management ends, that money is promptly returned to the landlord.
When a repair bill arises we use money in the contingency reserve account to pay that bill. When bills are paid in this manner the account is depleted. When the account is missing funds, at the end of the month when new rents are paid, Nesbitt Realty replenishes the count with money withheld from this rent. As property managers, Nesbitt Realty prepares a statement each month to show if/when money is depleted and how/when money is replenished into the contingency reserve account.
Landlords do not pay us money to set up the contingency reserve account. Instead, Nesbitt Realty withholds money from the first month of rent in order to set up the account.
Northern Virginia Rental Management Resources
Basics
Fundamental information about what management services in Northern Virginia.
Getting Started
Learn more about getting started with rental property management
Find A Tenant
Market your property to rent to find a dependable renter in Northern Virginia fast.
Accounting
How does Nesbitt Realty keep track of income and expenses for property owners?
Cost
A list of prices of property management services in Northern Virginia
Vetting
How Nesbitt Realty vets tenants for our clients.
Reserves
What is a contingency reserve account?
Territory
Where does Nesbitt Realty manage rental investments?
Clients
Who uses Nesbitt Realty management services?
Do you want know more about the community?
Nesbitt Realty's Guide to Real Estate is a handy resource for everyone who needs to review important real estate information about Northern Virginia and surrounding areas. The Guide to Real Estate provides information regarding what has sold and what is currently listed, and a couple of interesting facts that you may not be aware of. Also, our Guide has some aspects of living in Northern Virginia. As a matter of course, most of this is helpful for purchasers and sellers, but owners and renters will likely also find this data to be somewhat edifying.
Landlord Reference
a useful archive for property owners in Northern Virginia
- Before you put a renter in your property in Northern Virginia
- Collections and evictions
- Communications with the renter
- During the lease term
- End of lease term and what happens when a tenant breaks the lease
- How does the property owner get paid?
- How your rental manager handles the association and your community
- How your management company handles utilities
- How Nesbitt Realty & Management finds renters
- Insurance matters for rental investors using our rental management
- How Nesbitt Realty & Management manage keys
- Northern Virginia rental investor responsibilities
- Maintenance, repairs & inspections for your rental investment in Northern Virginia
- The move-in inspection
- Property management information form
- Selling a 1031 tax exchange & more
- Starting our management of your rental investment
- When landlords don't yet know their new address
- Vetting tenants in Northern Virginia