All Forum Posts by: Melissa Ward

Good luck Terry!  (better late then never) :) 

@Cassidy Burns - congrats on your growth!  Please be sure to check back and give us feedback on whatever platform you select.

Hi @Jack Stanford - online rent collection, automatically adding late fees to rent, tracking income and expenses are among the top to do's for an online property management system.  You can get that done for less than $20 a month.  There are a lot of systems out there, take you time to make a decision that is right for you and will support you as you grow.

I think what you are looking to do is set up an "evergreen ad".  Meaning - you have a facebook ad that drives traffic to the web site, then you set up a retargeting ad that shows up only to people who clicked the first ad and did not take a desired action (fill out a contact form).  Usually ads need to be shown to people for a few days prior to them doing anything.  Facebook also has leads forms - where someone who is interested in your offer will click a button on facebook and their name and email address is saved in a CSV file.  You can download that file to connect with those people. 

There are a number of free or low cost systems available.  For 12 single family homes, you can spend less than $20 a month for online property software that will grow with your business. 

Excel can be tedious as you scale up (if that's your goal).  Also - be sure to back up your computer on a regular basis.  You can't afford to lose that spreadsheet. 

 You may want to take a peek at free or low cost cloud based software - $10 or $20 a month.  

Do you have a price point in mind?  Some software starts at less than $10 or $20 a month - it's worth starting now instead of having to transfer a large amount of data later.

Essentially a property is a property.  Items that change include how often you collect rent (daily, weekly, monthly) as well as a few other things.  There are a few online property management software services that can handle those variations.

No software is going to replace eyes on the ground.  Having a property management company do the labor is going to save you a lot of time and effort in the long run.  What's important is ensuring your property remains in good condition, has reliable tenants and is being kept up.  I wish we could automate that - but we can't (yet :) )

What are the most important features for your business?  Online rent collection, automatic late fees, online reporting, tenant access, accounting, etc.  Test a few systems to find your best fit.