Assuming I can find some property software that has the features I need, and that's a big assumption but I'll run with it for now, then the next thing I have to think about is the quality of the software. I think it's worth spending a little time on what I expect before getting down to business on specific property software applications.
I'm quite lucky in that I get along well with computer software. I use lots of software packages in my day job and because of this I've become pretty IT literate. I think it's important that all software has the following qualities. I'll jot them down as a list and then I'll add expand on each one below.
Easy to use
Reliable
Doesn't interfere with the rest of the computer
Easy to get data in and out in lots of different ways
There's more I'm sure but I can add them in when I think of them.
Easy to use and reliable
Ideally you should be able to hit the ground running and not have to bother with the manual. Especially if you're not new to property management and know the ropes of letting pretty well. The software should know what the landlord wants/needs and provide it in a clear and uncluttered way. I like fiddling to learn, other are different but the manual should only be needed as a last resort. For me at least.
Reliability is a must.
Crappy software that crashes is out the window. As is outdated interfaces. If the software looks good I like to use it. If I like using it I'll learn to get the best out of it. I'll even evangelize about it to other landlords. It's silly of me I know but I want modern interfaces. Something like the Office 2007 look and feel for example. I know it takes a bit of effort to implement such interfaces and while one could argue that the effort could have been spend on more features I prefer to think a polished interface is indicative of a polished product.
Doesn't interfere with the rest of the computer
If you've ever tried to uninstall Norton AntiVirus (although I've read the latest version is okay - too late for me Symantec, I'm on McAfee) then you'll know how much time and energy can be wasted, not to mention frustration and stress levels going through the roof, on removing poorly written software or dealing with its side effects. Software that interferes with the computer is such a problem for most computer users. One of the main attraction for me of web apps, like Google docs, is they pretty much leave your computer alone. Once you set up an account you're set and they back up your data too so no need to worry about your hard drive crashing. Speed can be an issue but if the web software is developed correctly then it's not really a problem. I think I'll come back to this type of online software application more in future posts.
Finally, I don't want to be retyping lots of data. A good Import facility is essential. I guess many of us have lots of financial records in Excel. Wouldn't it be great to be able to import it into a property management system and let that do the tax calculations and electronically submit the return? I'm sure MYOB or Quicken can do that already but I need the property management side catered for to. But, if it can't do the tax itself maybe it can export the financial data in a format the big accounting packages can read. Being able to get your data out is important too. Not just for the purposes of the tax example but also if you decide to change your management software a year or two down the tracks.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
What is good Property Management Software?
Managing property in your spare time is fine if you have 1 property. Or 2, or maybe even 3. If you’re organised and have good quality properties with good quality tenants then you could even manage more, I’m sure. I added the caveat about good quality properties and tenants because I've found it to make such a difference. When I first started out some 10 years ago I bought cheap houses. This was a good idea as it allowed me to get started and the rents gave a good yield in percentage terms at least. But as you can probably guess properties at the lower end of the market are often run down and need a lot of maintenance. much of this is big jobs like damp courses and electrical work but even after they were done I found the houses still had lots of niggling issues that tenants were only to eager to tell me about. On top of that, the type of tenants made a big difference too. Tenants on social security often had trouble paying. This wasn't so bad when the local authority paid me directly (although any changes in the tenants circumstances usually meant a 4-6 week payment break while the paperwork was done) but when they started to give the money direct to the tenant and expected them to pass the money onto their landlord things became difficult for a while. Suffice to say, it only takes a few troublesome properties like these to consume lots and lots of the landlord's time. A good property management system can't do much about these problems but it can help with many other time consuming chores. Fortunately, I've been lucky and persistent and have been able to get on top of these initial difficulties. I've grown my portfolio to over 10 properties. Nothing earth shatteringly amazing about that but I'm pleased with it and the money it provides, But I've reached a stage where the time I'm spending administering the properties is too much. I want to free up some time. This is where I hope a good piece of property software can help me by taking away some of the administrative burden. I was going to talk about what I want from good software in this post. I use computer a lot at work and I think I know, or at least I'll presume I know, what make a piece of software standout about it's competitors. However, while i think this is worth discussing it's probably a better idea for me to try and spell out exactly what I want a property management software system to do. Thinking out loud....
I want my tax worked out for me. Ideally I'd also like to submit my return directly from within the software. Click...there it goes. No hassle working out the numbers or deciding what goes where. I expect there'd be a bit of this but if I've kept accurate records all year I can't see why this should be too difficult. I could submit my full return as as the Land and Property supplements are the only extra pages I need. Everything else is sorted out by my employer.
I want to be reminded when things are due. CORGI certificates, rent payments, tenancy agreements that need renewing, etc, etc. I want to be told when I have to do something rather than look it up. I also need to be told when things are overdue. Especially rent. If I could put all these things in a calendar and be reminded a month in advance that the insurance was due on such and such a property that would save me the job. If I told the system how much rent someone was paying and the payment schedule, monthly, weekly etc then the system could prompt me to 'tick off' the payment once it was received and it would track this as income and put it towards my tax calculation too.
It would be handy to keep names and addresses in the same place but that's not essential. But if I could take the details of tenants and produce tenancy agreements or S21's or letters or whatever type of standard correspondence I might need then that would be a time saver. It could be handy too having a record of the correspondence between yourself and a tenants if anything nasty turned up. Maybe being able to record other conversation in person or via text or third parties might be handy too but this might be going a bit far.
If all the financials are in there it would be nice to get some reporting out of it on profitability and yields etc. Charts are nice but not essential though.
I have a lot of information already in several spreadsheets. be nice if I could just import it without having to retype it. I'm straying now from the core essentials into the nice to have's. Tax, calendars and reminders and document generation are the key areas I think.
This has become quite a long post. Next time I'll go over how the property software should behave if it's to be considered good software.
I want my tax worked out for me. Ideally I'd also like to submit my return directly from within the software. Click...there it goes. No hassle working out the numbers or deciding what goes where. I expect there'd be a bit of this but if I've kept accurate records all year I can't see why this should be too difficult. I could submit my full return as as the Land and Property supplements are the only extra pages I need. Everything else is sorted out by my employer.
I want to be reminded when things are due. CORGI certificates, rent payments, tenancy agreements that need renewing, etc, etc. I want to be told when I have to do something rather than look it up. I also need to be told when things are overdue. Especially rent. If I could put all these things in a calendar and be reminded a month in advance that the insurance was due on such and such a property that would save me the job. If I told the system how much rent someone was paying and the payment schedule, monthly, weekly etc then the system could prompt me to 'tick off' the payment once it was received and it would track this as income and put it towards my tax calculation too.
It would be handy to keep names and addresses in the same place but that's not essential. But if I could take the details of tenants and produce tenancy agreements or S21's or letters or whatever type of standard correspondence I might need then that would be a time saver. It could be handy too having a record of the correspondence between yourself and a tenants if anything nasty turned up. Maybe being able to record other conversation in person or via text or third parties might be handy too but this might be going a bit far.
If all the financials are in there it would be nice to get some reporting out of it on profitability and yields etc. Charts are nice but not essential though.
I have a lot of information already in several spreadsheets. be nice if I could just import it without having to retype it. I'm straying now from the core essentials into the nice to have's. Tax, calendars and reminders and document generation are the key areas I think.
This has become quite a long post. Next time I'll go over how the property software should behave if it's to be considered good software.
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