Investor · Broomfield, CO · Member since 2010 · 187 posts · 54 votes
I've been exploring two of the most popular free property management software. For those of you that are using the ones listed below, what are the pros and cons of each? Which one would you say is the best overall and why? Thanks for your help!
None that I've encountered plus the customer service is really quick to respond which is not typical for this category of software! haha
My husband has been using it for about a year, I joined a few months after and added my own rentals, and my husband also lists me as a co-manager of his homes. the app support multi-user which comes in handy when husband takes a picture of a receipt and I can see it on my side, too. Oh and it captures tenant chat with read receipts because some of my tenants prefer to message me instead of email. basically it covers everything I need. I don't have 100+ units so I'm not looking for something like appfolio or buildium, I just want something high quality that tenants will find professional, that backs everything up, lets me download my data if I ever need to, etc. And Tellus fits that, plus it's free! you can see the feature list at tellusapp.com, I'm probably forgetting a few.
The real problem with all these software vendors is that their missing out on a HUGE opportunity. I would LOVE a service that created a network of boots on the ground people that you could hire on demand. I've suggested this to Cozy, but it just went nowhere. I'd be like an UBER model that would allow you to hire property managers or other boots on the ground folks for miscellaneous tasks.
I've tried Cozy and Stessa. I use Cozy for screening/rent collection and Stessa for all of my management. Stessa lets you do everything through either an APP or the website. Another feature that I like is that it lets you have multiple portfolios. For example, Partner A and I own 9 properties together and I own 3 on my own. I can set up the portfolios so that when I login it shows all of my properties broken into two portfolios. I can then limit her access to just her portfolio, so when she logs in with her login she can only see the properties we own together. If you wanted you could further limit what she can do (read only/edit). Since Stessa is still relatively new and free the developers are open to input. They have a forum setup where you add features you'd like to see and so far everything I've put on there has been added pretty fast.
I haven't tried any of the paid management programs due to not wanting to pay those extra fees.
I had used Cozy previously. I found it good for rent collection, but was not satisfied with still having to have separate solutions for leases. It makes sense to me to have a solution that handles my needs end to end.
I’ve no experience using Hunt and know little about their product.
Ultimately there’s 100 different solutions or ways to do it yourself. I’d start from a point of what do you need done(literally create a detailed checklist), and then choose the tool that best meets your needs.
@Gary Abner - Trying to only answer the question and not be promotional here. I use Avail. In full disclosure, I now work at Avail as well (got the job after I switched).
End of the day, there are lots of solutions on the market. It comes down to the type of tool and process that fits your business best that's important. Hope that helps!
I'm also looking for a property management software. I'm located in PEI and own two duplexes. It might be overkill now, but I'd like to get used to a software before I add more units. Most of the ones listed have hefty monthly fees or fees per item you use. Does anyone have any low cost or free recommendations?
In my research, I found TurboTenant, which is free for the landlord but has applications fees for the tenants. Anyone use this before?