Is appfolio for landlords with 200+ units?

Question

Hi everyone, I have 18 units managed by my property manager (at 7% commission rate). Just heard about appfolio in podcast 36...I checked the website, the web-based tool seems very robust. Pricing: $1 per unit per month BUT $200/mo minimum. $200 is still cheaper than the 7% comm rate but the software won't answer calls about plumbing issues at 2AM... Any feedback about this software functionality? Do I need more units to make it worthwhile? Or should i stick to my current PM? Thx, Nico

Dean Meier · Answer

@Will F we did subscribe to Appfolio and fired the property manager. It was the best decision I've made since I started renting property in 1992. There is a for sure a learning curve and it's a bunch of work to get it implemented. Appfolio did a great job holding our hand through implementation. We drank the entire Appfolio KoolAid and developed systems around the platform. We forced all tenants to pay on line through the tenant portal. We had two that couldn't figure it out, so we asked them to leave. It has made rent week a snap. Other friends have seen the progress and want us to put their units under our umbrella now. Not sure how we can do that because no one I work with cares to be a real estate broker and in Minnesota it's required to have a broker's license to manage property. Score one for the brokers lobbying to protect their jobs while adding zero value to society. Anyway, if you need some help with implementation or have more questions, feel free to ask. It may seem like $250 a month is a lot, but it's way cheaper than trying to hire someone to do everything the software does. I would never go back.

Ahmad H. · Answer

@Nicolas VinotAppfolio seems to be for bigger players. You can start with Buildium, it only costs $40/month and lets you manage up to 40 units. Its not as sophisticated as Appfolio but they do have great customer service and their web-based software does the job.If your PM is doing a good job I would really stick with them. 7% is a good rate and like you said the software will only streamline processing new tenants, advertising for vacancies, and getting maintenance requests but it won't eliminate the need to do showings and respond to calls.

Ashley Ben · Answer

@Dean Meier what did you end up using? I use an alternative solution but always love hearing about the experience of others. If I find something better i'll move ;)

Ashley Ben · Answer

I did a lot of research and ended up going with Rentigo.com - I think they are fairly new but I am quite happy with them. They have property management + rent payment + maintenance management through the app. Their software is free and they charge commission but it's still cheaper than what you are paying. I don't think you need such a massive property management solution for 18 properties...

Brian J Peterson · Answer

@Nicolas VinotIf you've only got 18 units you should take a look at Tenant Cloud, you can manage up to 75 units at no charge per month.. I've never used this software so I'm not sure of it's what you'd be looking for.. It's worth a quick check, it may be what you're looking for, and for FREE it can't be beat! They generate their revenue via their Service Pro Members and other means..Best of Luck

Mike Dymski · Answer

Thanks. I won't be able to tweak anything in my 3rd party PM's AppFolio system. Plus, I will need to add in stuff I pay for myself (mortgage, insurance, admin, occasional contractor). Seems like many small and mid-sized investors (who pay for an accounting package) use QB and Xero. I'd rather not have to research this one because property accounting should be simple but it seems as though there is no slam dunk answer.

Dean Meier · Answer

@Mike Dymski, it looks to me like with some tweaking of GL accounts, Appfolio could be used for an accounting system. It is not meant to be used as one though. It was meant to be a property management system. Every transaction revolves around a building and not a company as a whole. I'm told it will upload to Quick Books. I can't say. We do a bit of hard money lending and to create company wide financials I need to make entries in to our GL software for rental income while billing out from the accounting software for interest etc. We use MYOB. It's clumsy but we're also not a billion dollar company so, it is what is. For sure I'm no accountant, any opinion I have about your question is really worth what you're paying for it 8^)

Dean Meier · Answer

@will F: in my experience you're never going to get exactly what you want. Even Appfolio has some things that I would change. However, they listen to the users and are constantly adding, adjusting. My biggest beef is with their inspections. You will see many people grumbling about inspections of one software or another. I don't like that there's no built in way for tenants to sign and inspection so we have to do a work around. Again, nothing is ever going to be perfect.When I see people complaining about Appfolio, it's usually because they're trying to bring the software in to their systems. My advice, would be to change the systems to accommodate the platform and you'll have a great experience. In summation, having a software that does everything this one does (so far it has done everything they've promised) is way better than not having it. Just the ability to collect rent on line and have it automatically recorded to the building / tenant ledger saves a ton of time.

Will F. · Answer

I'm hesitant on pulling the trigger with any one software because I feel like I will invest a lot of time into learning the system, setting up accounts with my banks and tenants, only to find that I'm not satisfied and then want to change.

Mike Dymski · Answer

@Dean Meier My 3rd party PMC uses AppFolio and it does not work for my accounting needs (lender reporting, T12s, rent rolls, aggregated company reporting, metrics, budget comparison)...it's for management, not accounting. What do you use for accounting?