Since different property owners have different needs, there are hundreds of different software programs available today. Some are designed for comprehensive property management companies and others target a specific niche in the industry. The information below describes some of the features to consider to ensure your property management software meets your needs.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
What Is Property Management Software?
Application Categories
What Type of Buyer Are You?
Market Forces and Trends
Benefits & Potential Issues
What is Property Management Software?
Property management software streamlines the wide range of tasks that a landlord or property manager needs on a regular basis. Specific features include some combination of rent collection and notices, tenant screening, work order management, integrated marketing, budgeting and forecasting, website integration, and more.
Application Categories
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Property accounting |
Tracks individual customers and units, distinguishes between multiple properties, approves leasers, and handles other specific challenges too complicated for a generic accounting program. Functions may include online payment, rent and deposit information tracking, automatic late fee notices, and generation of common area charges or allocated utility bills. Example vendors include AppFolio Property Manager, DIY Real Estate Solutions, SKYLINE, and Property Boulevard. |
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Tenant & lease tracking |
Allows landlords or rental property managers to automate and track the leasing process from beginning to end. Functions include: tenant screening, move-in, rent/utility payments, maintenance, vacancy planning, move-out, and make-ready. Example vendors include Buildium, Spectra, Rentec Direct Property Management, and AssociationVoice Building Edition. |
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Budgeting & forecasting |
Helps you develop accurate operating budgets and calculate future property values. Uses historical lease and financial information to make automatic budget projections for revenue and expenses, accounting for CPI increases, inflation, market rates, and tenant improvements. Key features include assessment and analysis tools, tax planning, and scenario planning. Example vendors include Buildium, Propertyware, and Rent Manager. |
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Building maintenance |
Tracks work orders, schedules preventative maintenance, and communicates with maintenance staff. Applications can automatically create schedules and alerts and generate work orders, and some systems let tenants make maintenance requests online, expediting service. Example vendors include HippoFM, Maintenance Connection, and Bigfoot CMMS. |
What Type of Buyer Are You?
Residential, commercial, condos, apartments, manufactured homes, student housing, and mixed-use portfolios all have different needs, and different programs have features dedicated to a particular niche. So before evaluating software, you’ll want to make sure you know what type of buyer category you belong in:
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Niche-use buyer. A property owner who deals exclusively with apartments will have different needs than a landlord with eight single-family dwellings. If your company manages only one kind of property, a program targeted to that niche generally provides better value for money.
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Integrated suite buyers. If your company manages multiple different kinds of properties, you’ll want a robust software system that can handle the needs of each.
Property managers should identify which products are best rated for the type and the number of rental units they manage. For example, if you manage offices and retail properties, you should refer to our commercial property software guide. If you lease long- and short-term vacation rentals, you should view our vacation rental property software guide. Condo or home owner associations (HOA) should refer to our HOA software guide.
Managers should also consider the following:
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Will you accept government subsidies (Section 8 certificate and voucher programs) as partial rent payments?
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Do you need asset tracking to keep track of appliances, furniture and other property assets?
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Will you need a customer relationship management (CRM) application to manage marketing campaigns and recruit prospective tenants?
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Do you run a website? Do you require a prospect portal to post photos, brochures, and floor plans online to attract prospects?
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Will you require a resident portal so that residents can communicate with your management team, make online payments, renew leases, and place service requests?
Market Trends You Should Understand
There are two main trends affecting the development of property software:
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Software as a Service. Many industries, including property management, are moving away from locally installed software toward web-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) modules. SaaS significantly reduces installation costs by eliminating the need for an on-premise, dedicated IT infrastructure. That means there’s no need to manage upgrades or maintenance in house; the vendor hosts and handles it all. With SaaS modules, property management staff can also access the software from anywhere with an Internet connection.
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Online tenant services. Going hand in hand with SaaS, renters increasingly want to receive rent reminders via email. They also want access to web-based interfaces where they can pay rent, file maintenance requests, submit their notice to vacate, or search the property handbook for the information they need. A software system that supports these needs becomes increasingly critical, especially if you manage more units and more properties.
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Automatic vacancy posting.These days, the Internet is the first place people go when they’re looking for a new place to live. Therefore, more property management systems are letting you post vacancies to sites like Craigslist, Rental.com, and Apartments.com, using the information already in the system. All you have to do is click a few buttons, and the listing is posted to half a dozen places, helping you fill vacancies with a fraction of the amount of work.
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Paperless property management. Like all businesses, property management is trending toward the paperless. The right software lets the user store documents digitally and allow for digital correspondence, resulting in fewer lost documents and faster retrieval of information.
Benefits & Potential Issues
The primary benefits of a property management program are to increase efficiency, improve collections, and enhance the quality of service provided to the tenant. Increased back-office efficiency streamlines the administrative tasks associated with rent collections, lease management, and maintenance orders, which in turn reduces staff requirements over the long term. Online services and faster turnaround times and maintenance requests will also help to reduce turnover, the greatest expense associated with property management.
The cost of the software pales in comparison to the savings, which is why most companies prefer to use an integrated property management system than separate programs—or worse, a manual system.
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