what management software are you using and why?

Question

first post, hi! I'm Kyle.

Simple question, was wondering what software (if any) you guys are using to manage your properties? (And tenant relationships)

And why are you using? What do you like about it? Hate about it?

Thanks in advance.

Jason Miller · Answer

I'll agree with Dustan.  I would like software that allows me to track my PM companies (not tenants), maintenance expenses, insurance, taxes, vendors info that I deal with directly, year end reporting for taxes etc.  Almost all software is built for PM companies or owners managing their own properties.  I don't manage my properties, I hire that out and need a better way to track everything.

Dustan Marshall · Answer

not to high jack your thread but I am looking for the same thing.  I need software that will allow me to keep track of my properties as rent comes in for separate properties as well as track work orders and repair cost.  Ideally that can be exported to excel and sent to my tax advisor at years end!!!

Lisa Doud · Answer

When I was opening my company, I figured it was the best time to do my research I found that there were a lot of software venders out there, and they all were trying to get my business.  I used Buildium where I used to be affeliated, and I liked the fact that everything was online, maintenance requests were tracked from start to finish, and tenants could log in pay rent online as well as their trouble  tickets.  I also liked that I didn't have to mail out owner statements any more everything was done electronically.  I loved that we could set up our 5 day notices through the system, but the tricky part came when you got ready to send them out.  If you hit mail, you had to pay $0.67 per letter mailed out.  I liked that all the 1099 reporting was online, but they had a batch fee of $15, and $1.50 per owner in the batch...  Tenants could pay rent online but it cost $.$50 (4 day hold) $.75 (2day hold) $1.00,  per transaction per tenant.  Also it cost us the same structure when you paid owners....

So they had a Fee I want to say it was $125 for the number of units we had, and then they added all those other fees on top of it.  It just got to where we were easily spending around $200 a month.

When I did my research, I asked all the venders about their added on services, and extra costs associated with letter writing, 1099 processing fees, and I ended up going with appfolio because of the benefits it provides for the flat fee.  The only extra thing I pay for when I run  applications $15 per app is not bad when considering I am pulling rent bureau information as well as full credit, criminal, and tenant performance.  I love the fact that when I review an application, if I want the tenant to move in, all I have to do is hit move in.

Intergrated with appfolio is a wonderful marketing tool, and by clicking on the post to the internet button, they have about 70 different listing services that get the listings, and all you have to do is hit post to your website and the property is there.

Also in the 2 years I have been with appfolio, they are very good about feedback, and always ask how they can make their product better.  I have made suggestions along with a lot of other property managers, and they have implemented ACH/Credit card processing for Security deposits, They have also made it easier to track the last date as to when you changed the rent, but making you write in the price and as of date.  They have also incorporated a lot of commercial features like rent per sqft, when you got to pay bills instead of having to go to print checks, at the top of the bill you can pay it right from the bill.  They have added Online lease feature, where all you have to do is copy and paste your lease in to a template, and adjust your lease per each property and from the application all the pertinent information about the tenant is auto populated.  This has made our lease writing time go from 30 min to 5 min....  You know who important inspections are to a good property management company, and to incorporate online inspections with appfolio is the best thing they could have done. I currently pay extra for inspect and cloud, and as soon as appfolio has pushed out the update where I can now download the inspection in a PDF format, I will cancel the inspect and cloud service.

So to answer your question I like to know my fixed costs every month and appfolio charges $200 a month up to 200 units.  So if you are a small company with less than 100 units, I would still look at appfolio, but but also compare all the nickels and dimes you are being charged by other venders.

Victor Menasce · Answer

RentManager and Yardi.

We like RentManager and use it in our Arizona operations. Yardi is used by our accountant in Chicago and it works well. Yardi is generally more capable. The only downside to Yardi is that there are only two levels of user (restricted and super-user). In the case of our accountant, we can't be super-user or we'll see all his other client's files. So we are somewhat restricted in what we can do.