What is Appfolio like to work with?

[Ian Dyer]

If you have experience with Appfolio, what are they like to work with? We've heard from a couple of their salespeople, and they seem to have an attitude of "we're big and don't really need your business". I know that once we choose a company, we won't be working with their salespeople. So, I'd love to hear from anyone who is or was using Appfolio, to hear how they treat you once you're a customer. Are they responsive and helpful? Or is it more of what I got from the salespeople, "you need us, we don't need you" kind of thing? 

We manage or operate about 200 rental units. We're considering Yardi, Buildium, Appfolio, RentRedi, Rentec. We currently use Cozy/Apartments.com. We want to make the best decision, because we're likely to stay for a long time with the company we choose since it's a lot of work to switch. 

[Scott M.]

They all suck and all are great.  Meaning, no matter what route you chose you will be happy and sad.  We use Appfolio and have for about 5 or 6 years.  Prior to that Buildium and prior to that Propertyware.  And before that quickbooks/excel.  

None of these companies need you.  200 doors to the bottom line of all the companies you are looking at is meaningless.  

In addition, for the most part, all of them are similar.  They all offer rent collections, work order management, portals etc....how they do it is different.  Buildium, at least when we used it used happy.co for inspections.  Appfolio has their own system.  Happy.co was far better, frankly, anything is better than Appfolio's inspection module.  

And that is what I mean by the all suck and all are great.  You will love X in Y software and Z in A software.  Best thing to do is sign up for the free trials if they still offer those and really use the system on a portion of your homes.  Learn it, see what you love/hate and then decide what you can live with.

The grass is not greener on the other side, just a different shade.  

Appfolio is a 100% closed system.  So if you like to use API's or get data in/out using automation  or external tools you can't, at least not through an API.  Need to be more creative for that : )    They offer it in a level that cost 1,200/month.  You are not doing that with 200 properties.  

Building has an API.  This alone may make the decision for you.

Probably sounds like I am really talking down on AF but I am not.  I love it.  Our staff loves it.  Of those 3 we are glad we made the move.  We have learned what we like, what we hate and found work arounds for what we hate.  So now we have a great system and processes that all focus around AF.  

No matter what system you chose it will be wonderful for your and your staff.  Learn it and really use it.  It can do much more than most users know.  So dig in!