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Hemlane Property Management Software: BiggerPockets Review

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Hemlane is best for real estate investors who own fewer than 100 rental properties and want to automate some aspects of property management, such as collecting rent and addressing maintenance issues, without hiring a property management company.


Quick facts

PROPERTY MARKETING
With Hemlane Basic, owners can advertise their property on 30 listing websites. These include Zillow, Realtor.com, and Apartments.com. Hemlane customers can track which sites generate potential applicants. And Hemlane provides a website for each customer’s unit that prospective tenants can check out before viewing a property.

TENANT SHOWINGS
Hemlane helps connect property owners with local agents and allows potential tenants to schedule viewings.

SCREENING
The app provides an applicant’s credit score, runs a background check, and makes a rental recommendation to the owner.

RENT COLLECTION
Owners can charge late fees and connect their bank account to Hemlane to let tenants pay their rent online. Owners can connect many accounts to the application. Hemlane doesn’t charge for payments made via ACH or bank transfer, such as a tenant paying their rent via their checking account. Owners can also decide if they want to collect rent through credit or debit card payment. If so, Hemlane charges a three percent fee per transaction. For example, Hemlane would charge $15 for a $500 rent payment. 

MESSAGING
Once a tenant is in a rental property, Hemlane allows the renter and property owner to exchange messages. Hemlane keeps a record of those communications. Hemlane reminds tenants of upcoming payments and gives them the option to split the rent between roommates. The app also lets tenants set up automatic payments and pay online. Owners can collect rent via bank transfer, and they have the opportunity to accept rent payments via credit or debit card.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
Hemlane also tracks a property’s income and expenses that occur through the application, such as rent payments. Owners can upload or add transactions that occurred outside of Hemlane. And property owners can use Hemlane to generate a profit and loss statement for each property.

MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT
With Hemlane Basic, tenants can submit and track maintenance requests through the application. Service professionals can access the property without the property owner or tenant. And owners keep these pros’ information in their Hemlane account for future reference. With Hemlane Smart, the app handles all aspects of addressing maintenance issues on a property owner’s behalf. The company coordinates with local service providers and tenants, providing owners with bids and letting them pick the provider they want to hire. Smart customers have access to a 24/7 call center for urgent maintenance issues.

LEASES & LEGAL ADVICE
During the application phase, owners using Hemlane Smart get leasing contracts for all 50 U.S. states. Property owners can also engage an attorney through Hemlane for legal advice. And they can allow for e-signing a lease agreement. Hemlane partners with third-party companies, such as Rocket Lawyer and zipForm, for some of these services.

Pricing

Hemlane has two pricing levels: Basic and Smart. Both tiers have a base rate that varies based on when a customer pays for the service. For example, the base for both Basic and Smart, billed annually, is $28 per month. Billing monthly, though, raises the base rate to $34.

Hemlane offers a one-month free trial for either package.

BASIC
$2 per rental unit per month on top of the base fee.

  • Marketing: Advertising to over 30 rental listing websites.
  • Tenant screening: Credit, criminal, and eviction reports.
  • Lease management: Document storage, lease renewal reminders, tenant communication.
  • Financials: Income and expense tracking
  • Online rent: Payments and automatic late fees
  • Maintenance: Repair request submission, tracking, and assignment.
ESSENTIAL
$12 per rental unit per month on top of the base fee.

  • All basic features.
  • Additional legal documents: State-specific leases, amendments, eviction notices, and discounted legal advice.
  • E-signature: Available for leases and other forms
  • Repair coordination: Coordinator to diagnose and troubleshoot requests, and work order management with your service professionals and tenants. 
  • Emergency support: Available 24/7.
COMPLETE
$32 per rental unit per month on top of the base fee.

  • All basic and essential features.
  • Repair coordination: Set repair price thresholds, manage approvals, and invoice and pay service professionals.
  • Network of service pros: List of service professionals for handiwork, electrical, plumbing, appliance repair, HVAC, and more.
  • Local leasing agent: Connect with a licensed agent for turnover coordination, property showings, inspections, and more. (Leasing fee is separate.)
TRANSACTION FEES
Hemlane does not charge a fee for ACH, or bank-to-bank, transactions. The company does charge a 3% fee on credit or debit card transactions. If a tenant uses ACH to pay their rent, the property owner pays no fee. If their tenant pays rent using a debit or credit card, though, the owner has the option to put this fee on the tenant or incur the fee themselves.

Pros and cons


PROS
  • Easier advertising of properties across many websites
  • Conducts credit and background checks of prospective tenants
  • Keeps record of tenant/owner communication
  • Allows for secure online rent collection, with late fees and payment reminders
  • Gives tenants a way to submit maintenance requests online
  • Identifies and solicits bids from service professionals for maintenance issues
  • Coordinates with tenants and service providers on addressing issues.

CONS
  • May not have service professionals available in all locations
  • Charges a transaction fee for credit and debit card processing
  • Limited financial tools and integrations.


Hemlane and real estate investors


The real estate investors who most often use Hemlane are those who own fewer than 100 rental properties. These owners can’t afford or don’t want to pay a property management company to manage their rentals. 

“Over 72 percent of rentals are not run by management companies,” Hemlane CEO Dana Dunford says.

Rebecca Pullen, an investor in Huntsville, AL, says her business falls in this group. “For us, Hemlane is the best middle ground to DIY vs. paying a property manager.” 

Pullen likes that Hemlane doesn’t force you to use it to address every maintenance issue. You can handle it on a case-by-case basis. “I love the feature to choose to have maintenance tasks handled by the Hemlane team when we are on vacation,” Pullen says.

Many Hemlane investor customers own rental properties in locations where they don’t live. The service bills itself as helping property owners find local professionals, from real estate agents to HVAC repair. But at least one real estate investor cautioned against relying on Hemlane to connect you to local pros.

“They were unable to find me a Realtor on the ground to work with,” investor Brian Olson of Aldie, VA, says. “I had two vacant properties so I ended up flying out there myself to put lockboxes on doors and find contractors to deal with turnover maintenance.”

Overall, though, Olson said he’s pleased with Hemline. “Great solution,” Olson said of Hemline. “Just not quite what they claimed in my experience. If you know that going in you should be in good shape.”


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