All Forum Posts by: Jason Hartley

Hey Chris, I can say I'm very happy with Rentec, and was displeased with both the product and support when I tried Buildium.  I find doing stuff in Rentec is so much faster once you get used to the right-click menu.  It acts more like an application than a web page.  One or two clicks and a couple seconds vs many menus to navigate through and minutes with Buildium to accomplish a similar task.  Also, Buildium is now focused on property managers and IMHO no longer cares about private landlords.  This is evident in their recent pricing changes and annual price increases.  I strongly believe that their "core" pricing will be going away very soon and the only pricing available will be their pro pricing.  So if you care comparing pricing, I would use $150/mo as a minimum price tag for Buildium.

They both offer free trials though, so give em both a shot and see which works best for you.  Everybody works different and your experience may be different than mine.

Hey Sam,

If you do demo Rentec, check out their schedule-e assistant report.  Basically, come tax time, I print this report which aggregates everything and I hand it to my CPA.  And like magic, taxes are done!  (I'm sure my CPA does something, but I don't really know what since I provide all the numbers, lol)  You're gonna love it if you are using spreadsheets today!

Craiglist is still my goto advertising site.  My management software posts my listings to all the other locations too like Zillow, Trulia and the rest as well.  Between those I get plenty of leads.

If you can get enough liability insurance, and the #'s work out, then I would go for it.  You should also require that your tenants carry liability and include you as an additional insured too so their insurance takes the brunt of any claim if there was one.

@Derek Gendig, I use Rentec Direct's platform and it has built in text messaging support.  I actually just started using it and it's very convenient.  And you are right, while I can wait days for an email reply, I usually get responses to my txt messages in less than a minute.  Such a time saver!

I'll second what Mike said about Ring Central too, it's a cool business phone app.  Not so sure about txt messaging using it though.  I want my tenant messages to be in my software, not the phone system.

http://www.rentecdirect.com is their website.  

Another +1 for Rentec Direct.  I've used it almost five years and LOVE both the software and their support.  When I call I always talk to somebody in Oregon and they are great to work with.  As Scott said, they have a free version and a free trial of their pro version (the version I currently use).  It's worth checking out.

Hey Daniel, I believe it does track ownership, but I'm not sure if it does split ownership as I don't use it that way.  I'd call them, they always pickup the phone when I call so getting answers is always quick.

It depends if the lease has an assignment clause in it.  Make sure it does so the previous owner can assign the lease to you.  Then it should still be binding.

Lots of people suggest cozy, it's free to landlords I guess.  I use Rentec Direct, which does automatic ACH for me too and it's been bulletproof too.  It costs a couple dollars a month though, but I trust it.

@Samantha L. @Geoffrey Serdar Look into Rentec Direct.  Same features of Appfolio but a fraction of the cost.  I've used them for over 4 years and both the product and support have been perfect for me with a smaller portfolio.  I saw in one of their product update announcements sometime in the last year that they also offer a free website to all their users too.  I bet you would like em..

http://www.rentecdirect.com

Another slightly less expensive solution is buildium, but they recently raised their prices to be almost as expensive as AF now.  There's also some free ones out there, but frankly I don't trust free.  My data is worth more to me than a "what if" the free company can't afford to keep the doors open.