All Forum Posts by: Connie Chan

@Jaret Walker What are you using now? I think prop mgmt software really depends on how many units you have, how many features you'd like (expense tracking, chat, just rent collection, accounting, maintenance requests, etc), and whether or not you want to pay for the software.

For me, I was looking for something that supported multiple users (so my husband mom and I can all manage the rentals together), had chat built into it (again because my family co-manages it's a lot easier to keep everyone on one page here), and also had payments for rent and reimbursements. I didn't want to have to have separate apps for rent and accounting and expenses. It's a lot easier for me to have it all just in one place and have the numbers automatically tracked. I also really valued a professional mobile app -- some of my younger tenants have said that they wanted that and that it'd help them pay more on time. So I ended up choosing Tellus and it's been great! Free and every feature I'd need, there are a lot of features I haven't even used. I recommend checking them out.

I think if you're managing hundreds of properties that AppFolio is a good choice. I've heard that many professional managers use them and that the software is more intuitive than some of the older options. It also lets you have a white listed portal on your own property management website I believe where you can use your own logo so that your clients see that you're investing in the tenant experience. 

I use Tellus rental app -- it's also free like the other solutions here but the tenants really like it because it gives them rent notifications and the autopay is an option that they can turn on or not. Also they use it for bill splitting amongst themselves I believe 

It has a lot of cool features in it, like expense tracking, tenant communication all of it helps me be a better landlord and keep things organized.

If you're looking for a great mobile solution, highly suggest Tellus. 

@Sabrina Long I learned that FICO scores sometimes don't differentiate the reason why the person has low credit. For example if they splurged and bought a fancy car when they couldn't afford it vs. having a one-time medical emergency that wiped out their savings. So I think the FICO score is just one of many ways we can gauge whether or not a prospective tenant will have the funds to pay for rent. If the FICO score is low and you really like that candidate you can ask them if they have an explanation for why the score is low and if they have proof to back that up. 

@bellman tumasang Yes, I have the rent go to my bank account. You can even set a different bank account per property. When you pay the property management fees to your manager, both you and your manager would see what you got paid because there's a list of all transactions and payments sent through the app. I don't know if there's a demo available.

@Lynnette E. I use the Tellus rental app to manage mine and it has a free tenant screening feature. It's a comprehensive report that covers a lot more than just a person's credit and criminal history. 

@Bellman Tumasang I believe the Tellus rental mgmt app supports the situation you're describing. You can have the rents go to your bank account and then just have autopay set up to pay your property manager. (and the property manager can send reimbursement requests for the one-off situations)

Maybe check out the free tenant screening options? Unless you're using the payment as a screening mechanism. I use the free ones to get more leads in the door. I find that the quality of report is just as good. But it doesn't filter for the people that wouldn't apply if they had to pay. 

@Gp G. The Tellus rental management mobile app just released cash out equity for rentals recently. They use a unique process that doesn't focus on the credit score at all but instead is based on how rentable your property is. So as long as you have rentals that are decent, they can lend against that. It's fast to get a response, I think their turnaround is just a day and there are only a few questions. I think they'd be fine with a LLC, worth a try to see!

I always make sure mine has late fees spelled out and also rules on what pets they can have and how many visitors and for how long those visitors can stay. It's best to use one from Nolo or BP since each state has diff rules.