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Tellus Property Management App: BiggerPockets Review
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Tellus is a mobile app available for both iOS and Android. The app has three main prongs: Invest, Save, and Manage. The Invest and Save functions offer high-yield cash accounts, investment options, and loan applications. For purposes of this review, we’re going to focus on the Manage system.
Quick facts
Create a listing for vacant properties within Tellus and the app will push it to 16 rental listing sites, including Zillow and Trulia.
SCREENING
Once tenants have applied, Tellus offers screening paid for by the tenant—via a partnership via Naborly—generating a report that includes background checks, rental and eviction history, credit reports, criminal records, and employment and ID verification.
RENT COLLECTION
NOTIFICATIONS
EXPENSE TRACKING
An expense-tracking feature allows users to take photos of receipts and upload them to cloud storage while also integrating them into expenses calculations.
REPORTS
Tellus can also generate financial reports and work orders—which tenants can also contribute by submitting maintenance requests. Since it is mobile, you do have to review the reports on your phone or send yourself the PDF files. The reports can present expenses by property or unit and include receipt photos uploaded into the app.
Forum user Connie Chan refers to its co-managing capabilities as “like Google Docs for rentals. My mom can go to Home Depot to rekey something, then take a photo of that receipt and attach it to one of my rentals and I can see it on my dashboard and financial reports.”
There’s also a chat function for documented discussions with tenants, property managers, and work providers, with the ability to create multiple separate group chats. Chan also recommends the chat feature, saying, “I used to manage things by email but one of my tenants started texting and adding me on Whatsapp etc. and it just became a mess to communicate with her and her husband especially when trying to coordinate a repair. Sometimes they'd email my husband instead of me, sometimes they don't use the same email thread, etc. Now I just type the messages in the chat part of Tellus and everyone who is part of that lease can see the message and chat history and I also have a record of what was said with read receipts... I appreciate having easily accessible records of past communication.”
Pricing
PROS
- Did we mention it’s free?
- Can have multiple users.
- No unit minimum.
- Forum users like the ability for tenants to set up autopay for rent.
- Mobile interface means you can access it anywhere.
- Customer service receives praise in forums, and newer software usually means faster changes and adaptations.
CONS
- Since it’s relatively new, forum users are reporting that the software is still on the buggy side.
- Forum users have reported some frustrations with the interface.
- To maximize the features, your tenants also need to download and use the app, which may be an issue for lower-income, older, or less tech-savvy tenants.
- One forum user raised some concerns about their terms of service requiring access to your phone contacts.
Tellus and real estate investors
Tellus not for you? Read more property management reviews.
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