Property Management Software recommendations?

[Lisa99]

Hi all. Hard to believe I’ve been retired for 5 years. Seems like yesterday that you guys were holding my hand as I was leaving Ameriprise.

DH and I are looking at buying a rental property to add an income stream and to give us more levers to pull in managing income vs taxes. We had rentals pre-retirement but it was a passive investment that we divested when we retired.

We want to actively manage so I’m curious what property management software, if any, others with rentals use. I’d like this venture to be as automated as possible from taking applications, to credit checks, receiving rent, etc.

 

[pb4uski]

I dunno... that all sounds like w*rk to me.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Hi all. Hard to believe I’ve been retired for 5 years. Seems like yesterday that you guys were holding my hand as I was leaving Ameriprise.

DH and I are looking at buying a rental property to add an income stream and to give us more levers to pull in managing income vs taxes. We had rentals pre-retirement but it was a passive investment that we divested when we retired.

We want to actively manage so I’m curious what property management software, if any, others with rentals use. I’d like this venture to be as automated as possible from taking applications, to credit checks, receiving rent, etc.

My DW is in the rental/leasing business and is involved in the management of 1000s of houses over many states. They use "Propertyware" which she loves. I don't know a lot about it, but from the sounds of it, you can do almost all of the management procedures you need with it. I know a couple of people who she w*rked with that started their own rental biz and also use Propertyware.

They also use "Tenant Turner" which is a showing software/lock box system that alleviates the need of having an agent show the house (tenant screening tool) and that has been a big time saver for the agents/managers.

 

[Fishingmn]

I have 8 rental properties and have been using Quicken's Rental Property version for 10+ years. Works well for what I use it for - tracking income & expenses and linking to my bank.

It's not an all encompassing solution for things like applicant tracking, background checks, automated rent collection or maintenance requests but I don't really need those or have other things I use.

 

[Winenot]

We have two rental properties and use Quicken Home, Business & Rental Property for tracking. I don't have any experience with other programs, but Quicken seems to be more than adequate, especially if you have only a few properties. It tracks tenants, rents due and any recurring expenses by property so you have a breakdown come tax time. We have our accountant deal with depreciation so I'm not sure if Quicken will track that as well. There is also a print function for tenant statements and receipts. Quicken is an annual subscription service now and I believe we pay around $100 per year. I like Quicken because all our financial tracking is in one place -- my husband still has a small, seasonal business, plus we use it for personal budgeting, expense tracking, investment performance, etc.

 

[Sunset]

I just use a spreadsheet to track expenses, income, and depreciation.

If I wanted to have hands off, I'd invest in REITs, or pay property managers.

I have noticed that having a rental in retirement is not a great tax benefit as the capital gain is sudden and all at once, unlike a large stock holding, where you can sell off a little every year.

When we ditch our rentals, I'm sure we will get hit with NITT and extra medicare payments plus of course shoved up into a higher tax bracket. People might say do an exchange, but I want the $$$, not another rental.