All Forum Posts by: Jason Turgeon

@Garrett Z. I don't work with a bookkeeper, but it shouldn't be too hard to give a bookkeeper access to it. But I think that most bookkeepers are probably used to quickbooks so you might have a hard time convincing them to use something else.

Right now I have 4 units under management and 2 units that I self manage. I have to manually re-enter the info from the managed units when I get my statements every month, which is a bit of a bummer. But it is kind of nice as it forces me to really examine all the charges. It takes me maybe 1-2 hours/month to do my books at this point. It feels like it should scale pretty easily, and you should be able to hire either a bookkeeper or some kind of virtual assistant to help out. For the most part, everything is electronic and pulled in automatically for the properties I self manage and all the accounts, so it is just a matter of categorizing everything appropriately. 

 Glad I could help!

@Kenneth Jenkins Sounds like you might like the level of customer service you get from REI Hub. Or you might be so big and complex that you want to check out Digb, which is run by CPAs who are really in it for the tax prep business. That product looked compelling, but their signup process wasn't great and I couldn't actually get them to let me try it out. The owner is here on Bigger Pockets, although 5 days before tax day is not the ideal time to reach out to a tax professional.

@Greg Soon I hadn't seen Azibo. It's amazing how many of these competing products there are. It looks like it is trying to be another Stessa type product. I'm always skeptical of the free services, as I've said multiple times here. Free to you means that you're the product, not the consumer. They are really working on selling you stuff. But try it out, only you can decide if you like it. 

I will note that they partnered with the Real Estate CPA. I am a past customer of theirs. Working with them was not something I would recommend to other investors. I'll leave it at that. 

Glad it was helpful. ReiHub caps out at $80, cheaper than quick books and way better than Stessa. But only you can decide if it's worth the extra price bump over Stessa.

@Kenneth Jenkins glad it was helpful. I have one property in the North End of Detroit and another on the edge of Islandview. Hoping to unload the Islandview one in the next year or so if you're interested. 

One last note. As I've been reviewing these, I've kept an airtable list of the various features for quick comparison. Mostly I just wanted to have an excuse to try airtable. Maybe it'll be helpful to you. I don't intend to keep this up as products are updated.

https://airtable.com/appQfAgO7szJR58b2/shrZwR7x8Zpd2zkpJ

One last note. As I've been reviewing these, I've kept an airtable list of the various features for quick comparison. Mostly I just wanted to have an excuse to try airtable. Maybe it'll be helpful to you. I don't intend to keep this up as products are updated.

https://airtable.com/appQfAgO7szJR58b2/shrZwR7x8Zpd2zkpJ

There's one last product to discuss. Hopefully I haven't missed any, because I am ready to never think about property management software again!

This one is appropriate to leave for last, both because it is not all the full-featured and because it starts with the letter Z. It is, of course, the Zillow Property Manager (https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/).

It's not a real review, because I didn't try it out. It barely qualifies to be on this list given the paucity of features, but since Zillow has such huge market reach it's worth mentioning. Let's be clear. Zillow Property Manager mostly exists to get you to list your properties for rent on Zillow, and nowhere else. To that end, it is free. And while it offers a marketing tool that will get your units on Zillow, plus a tenant screening tool, basic e-signature for leases, and ACH payments, you probably shouldn't be using it. This is a tool for people who maybe have one or two units and don't intend to grow, not people who are serious about managing a real estate business. 

Compared to offerings that cost as little as $12/month, this thing barely has any features at all, and is not at all poised to help you grow. If you live in a duplex and want to rent out the other unit and not spend any money, this is a nice option. But for everyone else, level up and pay for a more professional tool. 

Next up on the review list is Lease Protector (https://leaseprotector.com/). This is an app-based product that is much more focused on the management side than the other stuff. 

I'm including it here mostly to try to be complete. It doesn't market itself as a true accounting platform, and that was my primary need. But it does offer some reporting features on expenses.

This product is a bit different than most of the others. For one, you can tell by the name that it's not really a management product. So it's somewhat unsurprising that the very first feature it advertises is one I haven't seen elsewhere - the ability to do move in/move out inspections with photo documentation and generate custom invoices and security damage deposit invoices with photo backup. If that's what you're looking for, this is pretty much the only game in town. After that, it has a handful of more standard property management features like maintenance requests, invoicing, rent collection, e-signatures, and basic reporting.

Another place where this differs from most others is that it is entirely app-based. I suppose for the core functionality of taking before/after photos and dealing with security deposits, that makes sense. But I don't know if I am on board with that as a total property management solution. Using a phone or table for everything is not always the most efficient method. 

Pricing is a bit high for the feature set at $23/month standard (with additional fees for many items) and $39/month unlimited with no additional fees. But if you want the very specific tools they offer, it might be worth a look.