All Forum Posts by: Jasmine Delves

The right property management software will allow you to do almost anything without having to hire a PM. Especially if you are living there, you don't need to worry about hiring someone to carry out viewings, walk-throughs, and inspections. 

As software will allow you to automate tasks like online rent collection, reminder emails, etc. you may find that hands-on time managing the property is not as much as you may initially think.

I'm a big fan of self-managing where possible!

It's definitely possible to self-manage using the right software! It will allow you to track income and expenses, automate online rent collection and perform tenant screening checks, plus more. 

There are quite a few different ones out there (a quick search on here will show you lots of similar threads) so I'd recommend taking advantage of free trials, at least to get an idea of what the user experience will be like.

30% seems to be pretty common too.

There are lots of good options out there! What's your main priority in terms of features? Some are geared more toward tenant management for example, whereas others are extremely good on the rental accounting side. 

Some of them have free trials too so you can take advantage of those as well.

Property management software that has built-in rental accounting features (rather than Quickbooks plus another PM software). That way, you only need to use one program to collect rent, track your income and expenses, screen tenants, etc.

I'd recommend using purpose-built property management software instead. Venmo (or Zelle, PayPal, etc.) fees tend to be high and you are unable to block partial payments.

The benefit of using property management software is that the online rent collection features automatically link with the accounting and reporting features too, so you won't need to manually enter data to do your accounting. You'll also have access to other useful features like tenant screening and linked bank feeds.

I'd use property management software that has built-in accounting capabilities. That way, you only have to deal with one program. Some of them also allow you to give view-only access to your CPA so they can check out your financial reports and do their thing too!

Even better, look for a property management software that is integrated with accounting software like QuickBooks or Xero. That way, you can take advantage of all of the typical PM features you need like online rent collection and tenant screening while doing your accounting, generating financial reports, etc.

There are so many free listings sites out there so it's worth advertising in more than one place. Facebook (although you may have to deal with some time-wasters) is a quick and free way to get your listing in front of as many eyes as possible, so take advantage of that too!

I'd personally stay away from it and use purpose-built property management software instead. Venmo (or Zelle, PayPal, etc.) fees tend to be high and you are unable to block partial payments. 

The benefit of using PM software is that the online rent collection features automatically link with the accounting and reporting features too, so you won't need to manually enter data to do your accounting. You'll also have access to other useful features like tenant screening and linked bank feeds.