Investors - Record Management Best-Practices?

Question

Hey BP!

I'm interested in learning more about how some of you in the community maintain records for your real estate portfolios.  For example, how do you track your properties, tenants, contractors, repair costs, overhead costs, leases, contact information, etc.  Do you track this in Excel, do you subscribe to an over-the-shelf CRM, or do you utilize another method?

I'm hoping to learn more about what systems some of you have had success with, as well as what has not worked out so well.

Thanks!

Jake

Jenell Poncabare · Answer

@Jake Mazur I have used Stessa and found it helpful for tracking expenses, tenants, tax docs for my CPA, etc. Here is the link https://www.stessa.com/ I also like that their team is really responsive if you see something that could be improved.

Kevin Liu · Answer

I would say depends on the size of your portfolio! Less than 5 properties you have no problem keeping documents on a Google Drive account. With more than 5 you can start thinking about CRM software.

Leases are your best friend, that should already include tenants, terms, dates, costs, addendums, clauses, contact info, etc. As long as you know where you lease is, that information should be present.

For maintenance, I would create an Expense spreadsheet. Each month track what properties had what type of maintenance calls, what vendor, how much the invoice was and date of approval. Add in any reoccurring overhead to the sheet as well.

Some good virtual management software that help with portfolio management: RentMarble, Buildium, Avail, RentRendi

Jake Mazur · Answer

Thanks for your reply, Kevin!  That makes sense that beyond 5 or so properties is where a CRM would really shine.