All Forum Posts by: Bill P.

Steve-

It's hard to have empathy with someone that wants to just kill the cat. I can appreciate your frustration but this post is a good example of why we should re-read anything done in anger the next day before we hit "send" or "post".

The internet has been a great equalizer in regards to real estate. Craigslist, FSBO, Trulia, Zillow, etc. But it still takes someone who knows how to market their property correctly. I see FSBOs all the time but they change to Realtors after 1 week because they didn't get any traffic and got scared. That's why Realtors are going away. But I do feel that the commission percentage may drop as the listing agent starts getting less money for simply listing the home. The power should be reserved for the selling agent. Cultivate buyers, not listings.

@Gita Faust

As someone who owned their own public accounting firm, I can tell you that the RentecDirect PM version has a lot of features but it really does not have the advertised full accounting function.  Really no balance sheet of cash flow statement. In regards to their services, they have partnered with other vendors to provide some services. I am in my 30 day trial period and find the program lacking. However, I haven't found a better one yet.

I have also used 123Landlord.com and it does not satisfy anything more than keeping track of rent income and expenses. Cute but minimal.

I am starting my trial period for Buildium on Monday 9/15 and will have more to report then.

Lisa-

Thanks for the input about Appfolio. I had also heard bad things about the support and the lack of undo and delete. Couple that with their pricing and I have removed them from my selection process a few months ago. Thanks for the post.

Rob-

I agree with your Yardi and Buildium comments. Funny thing is that Rent Manager is based just 2.3 miles from my house. Small world but I haven't contacted them yet but will do so soon.

Kyle-

I will be IMing you and would be willing to be a beta tester and put a couple SFH in the program to try it out. Thanks

Dawn, Buildium is one the two packages that I am seriously considering and will be using a trial period later this month. Thanks for the input.

This blog is not so much of the normal type of blog where I give a narrative on a subject. Instead, it is a request for feedback in regards to property management software (PMS)for rental property. Currently, I am using a couple of products that I cobbled together to make my process easier (or at least it is to me!). I am using one provider to process auto-debits for monthly rent, another provider to do backround checks, my accounting software to do the books and reports and the trusted Excel spreadsheet to keep my overall picture.

So my goal is to have a single PMS in place by 2015 that will allow me to have everything in one application. I have done exhaustive research and found 12 viable candidates and have reviewed all of them. I am not listing them here becuase I don't want to skew your feedback. I have run trial properties through 3 of them and I am currently beginning my trial on 2 more this week.

However, while my usage in a trial is important, it can't replace the experience that I am sure some folks may have on their favorite software package. Therefore, I would appreciate some guidance on what you beleive is a great PMS application. Please give the positives and the shortcomings. Include things you wish it had and things you wish you knew before you committed to the package. Talk about their customer support and anything else you wish to include.

Thank you in advance for your help as I value your experience and opinions on this subject.

Currently, I give them the option of either mailing me the payment to my PO Box, depositing it directly into my property account using specialized deposit tickets or paying through my online portal.

We are trying to move everybody to the autodebit process but some people simply do not have a checking account.

Ditto, it has certain efficiency points as Anson said.

BP sure has changed since the early days of following Pinnacle Development Corp. Great stewardship!

Welcome to this site. We've had a great working relationship on the "other" site, and I expect it to increase over here as this is a real "real estate" site.