Which Property Management Software do you use?

Which Property Management Software do you use?

Investor · Diamond Bar, CA · Member since 2019 · 10 posts · 10 votes

Hi BP

I am a newbie currently looking for a property management tool to manage my first Triplex that I recent house hacked. Appfolio, Buildium, and Tenant Cloud, so many out there but not sure which one is best for starters like me? My goal is to purchase another duplex or two in the near future and would like to prepare for what's coming

Which one do you used? Any recommendations? Love to hear from all of you? Thanks

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Member since 2018 · 100 posts · 94 votes
7y

Hello @Kwun Ho

If you need to use both a property management software and QuickBooks, take a look at TenantCloud. With a TenantCloud account, you can synchronize all transactions with your QuickBooks account. 

Makes the whole process so much easier!  

See this reply in the discussion

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  • Specialist · Santa Barbara, CA · Member since 2017 · 38 posts · 21 votes
    7y

    I personally wouldn't recommend Appfolio unless you had 50+ units. It is typically geared towards larger portfolios and the price point may be a bit high.

  • Investor · Pawleys Island, SC · Member since 2015 · 324 posts · 385 votes
    7y

    buildium and appfolio are probably not cost effective for 1 triplex.  I would go with excel or quickbooks.

  • Real Estate Broker · Watertown, NY · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    @Kwun Ho -  Try Cozy.co.  I believe it's free to use.  Once you start acquiring more properties, I'd look into Buildium.

  • Investor · Diamond Bar, CA · Member since 2019 · 10 posts · 10 votes
    7y

    @Jamison Conti

    Thanks for the input Jamison, will definitely stay away from these named software until I am able to scale

  • Investor · Diamond Bar, CA · Member since 2019 · 10 posts · 10 votes
    7y

    @Anna Buffkin

    Thanks, looks like I would need my wife's help to keep track of my income and expenses in QuickBooks until I am able to scale to more units

    Thanks

  • Investor · Diamond Bar, CA · Member since 2019 · 10 posts · 10 votes
    7y

    @Michael Ablan

    Thanks Michael, Cozy looks promising, I will take a look

    Kwun

  • Member since 2019 · 1 post · 0 votes
    7y

    @Kwun Ho

    Cozy is perfect for the two rental properties I have! Makes everything so easy! Good luck!

  • Investor · Green River, WY · Member since 2017 · 122 posts · 59 votes
    7y

    @Kwun Ho most have free trials or a free tier, I suggest you try a few out and see how you like them. QuickBooks can be hard to get going at first.

  • Rental Property Investor · Oahu, HI · Member since 2017 · 12 posts · 11 votes
    7y

    @Kwun Ho

    I used Cozy online rent collection.

  • Investor · Diamond Bar, CA · Member since 2019 · 10 posts · 10 votes
    7y

    @Mo Petersen

    How is your experience with Cozy so far? I read some review online that there is a problem with this service where their EFT processing is super slow

  • Member since 2018 · 100 posts · 94 votes
    7y

    Hello @Kwun Ho

    If you need to use both a property management software and QuickBooks, take a look at TenantCloud. With a TenantCloud account, you can synchronize all transactions with your QuickBooks account. 

    Makes the whole process so much easier!  

  • Rental Property Investor · Oahu, HI · Member since 2017 · 12 posts · 11 votes
    7y

    Aloha Kwun, You will receive your rent payment deposit to your account around 7 days later.  I have been using Cozy for few years.   For the monthly rental reconciliation, I can export a spreadsheet from Cozy to reconcile with my excel spreadsheet and bank statement to pay my GE taxes.  

    I also use Quick Book Self Employed to keep tract of my milages.   

    Mahalo, Mo

  • Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2015 · 21 posts · 8 votes
    7y

    I haven't tried any of the others mentioned yet, but I just started using Stessa and it seems pretty good for being free. I would check it out.

  • Rental Property Investor · Huntington, IN · Member since 2019 · 12 posts · 8 votes
    7y

    @Kwun Ho, I have recently started using Innago and really like it so far. It is completely free to use and their customer support has been fantastic. I looked at the others that have been mentioned here and this one seemed to fit our needs the best.

  • Rental Property Investor · Canton, OH · Member since 2014 · 74 posts · 28 votes
    7y

    I’m in the same boat. I have 70 properties and have outgrown my spreadsheet. Not sure which to use.

    Anyone in the same situation please share

  • Rental Property Investor · Montgomery, AL · Member since 2019 · 3 posts · 3 votes
    7y

    @Kwun Ho

    Another newly developed app that I am using is Avail.co. it's great for one or even 50+ properties as it streamlines a lot of the process, even property maintenance between you and the tenant(s).

  • Investor · Diamond Bar, CA · Member since 2019 · 10 posts · 10 votes
    7y

    @Mo Petersen

    Sound great, looks like I might go with this route, thanks

  • Investor · Diamond Bar, CA · Member since 2019 · 10 posts · 10 votes
    7y

    @Harold Albertson

    I will check it out, thanks for the tip

  • New to Real Estate · Olympia, WA · Member since 2019 · 9 posts · 4 votes
    7y

    @Kwun Ho

    I'm using Cozy...rent payments take 5 business days to transfer for free or you can pay to expedite it

  • Rental Property Investor · Findlay, OH · Member since 2017 · 27 posts · 12 votes
    7y

    I used to use tenant cloud but it had some limitations with short term rentals lease creation. In all it didn't seem polished or very flexible to me. (this was ~2 years ago). I switched to Buildium and haven't looked back. Downside is that there are some startup costs and you will need a business checking to accept payments. 

  • Rental Property Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Kwun Ho:

    @Jamison Conti

    Thanks for the input Jamison, will definitely stay away from these named software until I am able to scale

    Ignore that advise. Start using property manager from day 1. It’s worth it. Trust me. 

    Start running your triplex with the concept of “how would I do this if I had 1000 of them”. You don’t want to cobble in new work flow as you grow. 

    Buildium for a few units is cheap. Get it.  

  • Rental Property Investor · Canton, OH · Member since 2014 · 74 posts · 28 votes
    7y

    @Cody L. Buildium or AppFolio. Why?

    75 homes

  • Rental Property Investor · Chicago, IL. · Member since 2019 · 20 posts · 6 votes
    7y

    @Tony Guardado I think it depends on what's important to you. Buildium's a very robust and simplified system. They're strong on everything with exception to Maintenance Management and reporting in my opinion. To be more specific, I don't agree with their system architecture when it comes to work orders. Example: A tenant submits a "task" but a system administrator (you or an employee) has to then create a work order from scratch, reassociate the work order back to the tenant task and then assign to a technician. That is a lot of time and clicking for one work order. Now, their maintenabce categories are also limited. If you expect to have SLA's associated to the maintenance category, that's not possible. And finally, the Maintenance tasks don't include tenant preferences for when the technician should come to complete the task. A scheduler will have to contact the tenant just to schedule the work order. There's absolutely no automation in this process.

  • Rental Property Investor · Canton, OH · Member since 2014 · 74 posts · 28 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Henry Massey:

    @Tony Guardado I think it depends on what's important to you. Buildium's a very robust and simplified system. They're strong on everything with exception to Maintenance Management and reporting in my opinion. To be more specific, I don't agree with their system architecture when it comes to work orders. Example: A tenant submits a "task" but a system administrator (you or an employee) has to then create a work order from scratch, reassociate the work order back to the tenant task and then assign to a technician. That is a lot of time and clicking for one work order. Now, their maintenabce categories are also limited. If you expect to have SLA's associated to the maintenance category, that's not possible. And finally, the Maintenance tasks don't include tenant preferences for when the technician should come to complete the task. A scheduler will have to contact the tenant just to schedule the work order. There's absolutely no automation in this process.

     What are you using ?

  • Rental Property Investor · Conover, OH · Member since 2016 · 55 posts · 48 votes
    7y

    @Kwun Ho. I use LandlordStudio. It’s cheap and easy to use. Plus it’s easy to add new units if you keep growing.

    You can track all expenses and take pictures of your receipts that get stored on the cloud.

    You can use it for single units, multi-units, or apartment complexes.

    Organizing receipts and mileage information used to be challenging, not anymore. I buy something and the expense is in there before I get to the car.

    Good luck!

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