u/Cease_Cows_

New landlord here and I'm trying to set up my bookkeeping as well as I can. I'm in the closing process on a 2 family property and I'm trying to figure out how best to categorize closing costs. Right now I'm using the free version of Baselane and the closest category option I see is "Down Payment" which seems different than things like lawyer fee, title search, etc. Is there a best practice around categorizing closing expenses?

I've got this all in a spreadsheet as well but I'd love to make sure it's tracked somehow in my bookkeeping software so that I can get an accurate running picture of the all-in performance of the property.

We're in a really frustrating situation with our 3.5 year old. About 6 months ago I would have said she was about 90% potty trained. Basically rock solid during the day but still wore a diaper at night. Since then she's had a major regression and the hardest part about it is she absolutely does not notice when she's had an accident and when we realize it, she simply does not care.

She's always been pretty strong willed about using the bathroom (especially compared to our older kiddo who basically potty trained himself). We're really unclear about what to do at this point. It seems like a major step back to put her back in diapers but she's having 3-4 big accidents a day (pee and poop), and doesn't even notice until we smell something or see a puddle, and we're having a hard time cleaning up after her constantly.

Any advice at all would be super appreciated.

We're about closed on a duplex with existing tenants. By all accounts they've been great, both have been in place for 3 years. I'm happy to inherit them.

This process has been really involved for them though, there's been a few different walk-throughs (other interested buyers plus me), we had a thorough home inspection, and the bank appraisal needed to come in. I feel bad for how often they've had their space invaded over the last couple of months.

I had the idea of buying each of them a gift card to a local restaurant to say thanks for their patience with this process, and smooth over any possible annoyance. My mentor is very much a "do only what what you are legally obligated to do" kind of guy and is very much against it, saying it sets a bad precedent for any other time I need to get into the units. To me this feels different than just a standard "need to get in quick to make a repair" kind of situation.

Any thoughts? Is this a dumb idea?