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Rental Property Spreadsheet: What to Track for 1–10 Rentals
If you own a handful of rentals, you don't need property management software to know whether each one makes money. A well-built spreadsheet does it, costs nothing per month, and hands your tax preparer clean totals in January. The trick is tracking the right things from day one.
Not tax advice. Categories below follow the lines on IRS Schedule E as a convenience. Ask a tax professional how they apply to you.
The five things a rental property spreadsheet must track
- Income per property: rent, late fees, pet fees and other income, by month.
- Expenses by category: mapped to the Schedule E lines your preparer uses (advertising, cleaning and maintenance, insurance, legal and professional fees, management fees, mortgage interest, repairs, supplies, taxes, utilities, other).
- Repairs vs. capital improvements: a new water heater is usually an improvement (depreciated over time); fixing the old one is usually a repair. Track them separately.
- Mileage: trips to the property, the hardware store and showings add up.
- Profit per property: income minus expenses, monthly and yearly, so you can see which door carries the others.
A simple layout that works
| Tab | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Properties | Address, purchase date, units, rent per unit |
| Transactions | One row per income or expense: date, property, category, amount, payee, receipt link |
| Mileage | Date, property, purpose, miles |
| Improvements | Date, property, item, cost (kept separate from repairs) |
| Dashboard | Monthly and annual totals by property and category |
Everything flows from the Transactions tab. You enter each item once, and the dashboard sums it by property and category.
Common mistakes
- One tab per month: it looks tidy but makes yearly and per-property totals painful. Use one transactions list instead.
- Mixing properties: always tag the property, even for shared costs (split them).
- No receipt trail: add a column for the receipt file name or link.
- Lumping improvements into repairs: it changes what you can deduct this year.
Free software vs. a spreadsheet
Free landlord apps handle basic income and expense tracking, but several put the Schedule E report behind a paid plan (often $12–$15 a month). A spreadsheet gives you that summary with no subscription, works offline, and keeps your data in a file you own.
A ready-made tracker (Excel + Google Sheets)
The Key & Kit Rental Property Income & Expense Tracker is set up for 1–10 rentals: a single transactions list, Schedule E line mapping per property, monthly and annual dashboards, mileage and receipt logs, and a capital-improvement log with a plain-English repairs-vs-improvements guide. It uses only functions that work in both Excel and Google Sheets and includes a sample-data file. One-time $19 (20% off with code LAUNCH20 through Nov 10).
Tracking rent per tenant too? Pair it with the rent ledger template.
Frequently asked questions
What should a landlord track in a spreadsheet?
Rent and other income, expenses by category, repairs separately from improvements, mileage, and profit per property.
Is Excel or Google Sheets better for rental property tracking?
Either works. Google Sheets is easier to share with a partner or preparer; Excel works offline. Choose a template that supports both.
Can a spreadsheet replace property management software?
For 1–10 rentals, often yes for bookkeeping. Software adds online rent collection and tenant screening, which a spreadsheet doesn't do.
Do I need a separate spreadsheet for each property?
No. One file with a property column on every row is easier, and the dashboard can split totals by property.
Key & Kit templates are organizational tools, not legal or tax advice.