All Forum Posts by: Collin Meadows

 Say more.... :D 

What would you want to see/ have that you do not currently?

Hey! Does Buildium not integrate with Quickbooks?

Also, glad to see another West Virginian respond! You are just down the road from me!
 

 These types of niche problems make for great solutions that truly make an impact! The hardest thing about this would not be the technical solution but rather the changes in the actual regulations within each of these local jurisdictions. It is an interesting thought though, and I am sure one that would be great to have solved with technology! 

This is not already done?.... Wow.

So when you think of this, are you thinking it would get a certain email address? Or this platform would sync with the email provider (say Gmail) and then add them to the PM software? I just want to understand what you are thinking!

Thanks!

 Hey Drew!

Thanks for reaching out! I agree with that viewpoint! I have seen that as well. As I described in my previous reply (which I posted just minutes ago, so I am sure you have not read), I am not necessarily looking to produce a full property management solution - you are right, there are plenty of those. I am looking for problems, frustrations, and issues from landlords and property managers which I can make less problematic by developing a niche solution for. If I can save someone 10 hours a month in exchange for $10/mth, its a no brainer!

To answer your questions though:

1) I want to show immediate value. We will not require heavy onboarding, etc, but we will offer a free trial. You sign up, see the value, time savings, and impact that it can have on your business. We also will not be charging a ton for users. I want to produce something in this space that helps solve apparent problems and produce a cool product. I dont need to become a millionaire on this thing, so I am fine producing a product at a low cost, which provides tremendous impact.

2) So, this is actually where I shine. I love building technical products and often times build them for less technically savvy users. As such, I want to build it in a way that onboarding is effectively useless. The products I build are simple, feel familiar, and get their job done. By leveraging modern technology and automation, I have been able to solve this time and time again!

So, let me ask you more directly, what are some problems or issues that you deal with on a day to day basis or week by week basis, that you have designed a hack for or that the process just feels out of whack?

Thanks!
Collin M

Hey Christian! 

Thanks for your response! I completely understand that there are a lot of tools in the space! I too have evaluated quite a few of them! I appreciate you sharing the Excel spreadsheet! If you could send it to me here on BP, that would be great (DM is fine!). 

What I wanted to figure out is, what are the current struggles people are having. I don't want to produce a product like what is out there, but rather produce a solution to a problem people are having. There is a big difference in adding to a crowded space and finding that space that others have ignored because it was too small, didnt really matter, etc. But I am sure you would agree, if you could pay $10/mth on something that saves you 10 hours of work a month, it is well worth it!

I am here looking to understand these problems. If they do not exist, which I do not believe is the case, I can pack up and keep building my own products. But being new to BP, I wanted to reach out and hear about what other real estate investors are having issues with and looking for a better solution on!

All that being said, please send me your spreadsheet! This would help me in more than one way, and I am very interested to see what you found.

Also, writing down - recommendation engine for property management software on the idea board. Revenue generation model - affiliate marketing/ referrals. ;) 

Thanks!
Collin M

Hey all!

I am a Software Engineer with a history working in startups building technical products that customers love. 

What I have come to find in the rental management space, is there are a lot of tools that we as landlords need, yet no single platform that does all of these things really well. Heck, Brandon Turner even mentions in one of his books how these software products were clearly produced by people who were not, themselves, landlords. 

So, as is typically my first approach, I wanted to ask all of you. What would you look for in a product to ease your work? What are your biggest struggles? What is a process you hate doing, but have to do it?

Let me hear it! If we get some good thoughts, we can get some people together to beta test it and really build it out!

Thanks!

Collin M

Hey!

I live in and invest in West Virginia as well. Feel free to reach out if you ever want to connect!

Hey @Carissa Clayton!

Going to piggy-back off of @Derrick E. as well. Let me know if you move to the selling side of things. I would be interested in looking into it as well.

Sorry to hear about the luck here. For anyone looking for a good management company along I-64, check out Meeks Rentals & Leasing (https://meeksrentals.com/). -- In case you found yourself here as well.

Hey! 

Check out Meeks Rentals & Leasing, LLC (https://meeksrentals.com/). They are a local Property Management company based in Hurricane, WV and have extensive experience.

I hope that helps!

Thanks!
Collin M