Property Management software
Hello Everyone
I currently reside in Los Angeles but I am buying my second investment property in the Houston, TX area. It is a 4plex.
I wanted to get your opinion on the various property management software / online portals. I want to try to manage it myself if I can. There a few that offer pretty much everything from rent collection, to having pre-screened contractors and handymen available for fixes, etc, which can all be dispatched online.
Does anyone have any experience with any of these sights or offer any insights or suggestions?
Truly appreciate any input.
Thank you.
Hey Varouj,
I have looked into them and for me (2 properties / 7 doors) it didn't seem to make sense. My inclination was to sign up to get the systems in place so I can easily grow into them, but it didn't seem to provide enough benefit to justify the associated costs. From my research it seemed as if the two leaders were AppFolio and buildium but the price reflected this. For my small size it seemed unnecessary and I didn't see the benefit in the small companies for a small time guy like myself.
What I do is I can collect rent through Venmo (free), I have a tennant application embedded into my website (cognito forms...also free) I screen tennants through mysmartmove.com (Transunion's company gives you credit report, background, criminal, eviction etc. and tennant pays for the screening so also free.) I track everything in an excell spreadsheet that I modified from a template i found online (also free)
stessa.com is free app for tracking expenses that links directly to your bank account.
As I scale I plan to move into a software but as of now I am fine with what I have and as you can tell I like free.
I agree with @Drew Berman; free is best for me! I used to use Cozy.co as a payment and issue reporting portal for my tenants, but I didn’t like what apartments.com did with it when they bought them out.
Before I had my real estate license, I’d only post my rentals to Zillow. I use Zillow to find tenants, conduct the background searches, and for rent payment.
I use Stessa to track my portfolio personally (i.e. I don’t use Stessa’s rent payment platform).
As far as reporting issues and hiring contractors, I don’t have a fancy method/platform. I just have my tenants email or text me and then I’d find someone on my own. At this point I have a list of people I use for most issues in my area.
Hey Varouj,
I've been using Innago for some years now, been a great deal for me. Completely free, tenants just have to pay fees for ACH/card payments and screening. I definitely think it's a good solution for smaller portfolios!
If you plan on sticking with a 4plex, than any suggestion above is great. If you plan on growing and making this a business, start with property management software ASAP. I use Buildium (though I've sort of out grown it). It's worth the price. Plus as you grow you have all your old data and you have the systems in place from the start.
The only way I'd suggest using no property management software and just using excel or whatever to track rent income is if you just had a few single family homes or something as a hobby.
@Varouj Asdourian I second James' comment from earlier and use Innago. It's free for me, the only fee is for my tenants when processing payments.
I agree with the advice to use property management software from the start, as it will allow you to grow your portfolio more seamlessly. Regarding which one to use, it depends on what your priorities are when it comes to features. For me, I prefer to use something with really strong accounting capabilities that also allows you to screen tenants, collect rent, and track your income and expenses. This way, all of your data is in the same place and easily accessible.
I personally use tenant cloud. I management my rental unit here in Houston using it. It has free ACH transfers and has a lot of what you need on it. Feel free to DM me if you want to chat more about Houston rentals! @Varouj Asdourian
Thanks!
Stessa- expense tracking internally
Avail.co- applications, rent collection, work orders etc. (free to landlord)
Looking into this, myself.low-friction rent collection and low cost are the must haves. Not sure what else I should be looking for.
anyone tried Azibo? It is free, which is nice.
Quote from @Varouj Asdourian:We are testing Buildium right now. Avails user interface was not user-friendly at all for rental applications. I had some tenants give up because it was not working. Zillow rentals is okay for applications but limiting.
Hello Everyone
I currently reside in Los Angeles but I am buying my second investment property in the Houston, TX area. It is a 4plex.
I wanted to get your opinion on the various property management software / online portals. I want to try to manage it myself if I can. There a few that offer pretty much everything from rent collection, to having pre-screened contractors and handymen available for fixes, etc, which can all be dispatched online.
Does anyone have any experience with any of these sights or offer any insights or suggestions?
Truly appreciate any input.
Thank you.
I plan to try Hemlane when I start managing my 2 rentals. Although there is a cost they have 3 different plans depending on your needs. I looked at all of the above and Hemlane seemed to have all in one management software. It is substantially less costly than a property manager.
RentMarble has an easy to use platform for newer investment home owners. Its an online service that covers listing and advertising, rent collection and maintenance dispatch for a monthly subscription fee.
Other options out there include some of the ones already mentioned: RentReadi, Buildium, Avail, TurboTenant and Appfolio.
Each come with pros and cons so its up to you to see where the priority in workflow is for you!
#2 Managing Your Property Contributor
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#2 Managing Your Property Contributor
- Property Manager
- Royal Oak, MI
@Varouj Asdourian upgrade to BP Pro membership for free access to RentRedi software
Since Innago is free and has some great features I'd go with that.
@Varouj Asdourian using housie.io they do all of the above and like their 3D tour it’s more interactive and transactional
Innago is the one for me. Love their customer support and how using it is free for landlords/property owners.
Quote from @Varouj Asdourian:
Hello Everyone
I currently reside in Los Angeles but I am buying my second investment property in the Houston, TX area. It is a 4plex.
I wanted to get your opinion on the various property management software / online portals. I want to try to manage it myself if I can. There a few that offer pretty much everything from rent collection, to having pre-screened contractors and handymen available for fixes, etc, which can all be dispatched online.
Does anyone have any experience with any of these sights or offer any insights or suggestions?
Truly appreciate any input.
Thank you.
tons of great recommendations in here. Innago, Rentredi are names that come up a bunch.
a slightly different approach is to use something like hemlane that is a solution that sort of sits between self-management and property management. you could check that out.
this site has a bunch of other resources you could look into: https://everyreitool.com/categ...
I have used avail.co for 4 years now and love it. They have a free option, but I ended up upgrading to the paid. I have all the payments, maintenance requests, and lease renewals go through the site. They assist with getting the listings on to various real estate websites and have tenant screening tools. I manage 4 properties through them currently and will be adding another one shortly. My tenants seem to find it easy as well.
I'm using Innago for a couple of years now and hate it. Looking to switch so checking this thread for better choices
BiggerPockets also has a list of useful software applications for managing properties here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/property-management-tools
Quote from @James Herald:Hi James,
Hey Varouj,
I've been using Innago for some years now, been a great deal for me. Completely free, tenants just have to pay fees for ACH/card payments and screening. I definitely think it's a good solution for smaller portfolios!
Do you still like Innago? I see it is free. I have Hemlane but for their basic services and cost I am switching.
Quote from @Varouj Asdourian:
Hello Everyone
I currently reside in Los Angeles but I am buying my second investment property in the Houston, TX area. It is a 4plex.
I wanted to get your opinion on the various property management software / online portals. I want to try to manage it myself if I can. There a few that offer pretty much everything from rent collection, to having pre-screened contractors and handymen available for fixes, etc, which can all be dispatched online.
Does anyone have any experience with any of these sights or offer any insights or suggestions?
Truly appreciate any input.
Thank you.
Hello Varouj,
I am using Hemlane but also looking to switch. I only have a Duplex. I am looking at Doorloop and Innago. The Innago attraction is that it is free. I am still researching.Have you had any luck finding something?
Hey @Darrell Kirby, we're active here on BP. Happy to answer any questions you have. Feel free to dm me if you want to schedule a chat.
Hopefully James can share some insight about his experience as well. As you can imagine, I'm a bit biased :)
