Property Management Software is for Property Managers

Property management software is typically tailored to the needs of landlords and other rental property managers, rather than for real estate developers. The needs of the latter are quite different from what is required to manage a portfolio of rented properties.

So what are the typical needs of property managers? We look at these, and how property management software helps with these, in the sections below.

Accounting for Rent and Other Property Related Transactions

Typically, a portfolio manager will be managing many properties, located at many places. The properties will consist of residential or commercial buildings each of which might have several units. Each unit might be rented out to different tenants.

The rents from each tenant could differ not only in amounts but also on their due dates. Keeping track of rent dues and payments month after month (or week after week) thus becomes a little complicated.

One solution is to generate a list of rent dues, showing amounts and due dates, every month or week. As each tenant pays the rent, the paid column in the list of dues can be updated. It then becomes easy to look at the blank paid columns and see which tenants are overdue with their rents. Late fees can be computed and billed by the software at periodic intervals.

Over dues can be highlighted further by color-coding. For example, bright red color might indicate over dues exceeding three months, light reds can indicate over dues for shorter periods. In this way, you can easily track rent over dues and take different kinds of actions depending on the age of the over dues.

In addition to accounting for rental, property managers also have to account for late fee dues and payments, payments for building, unit and appliances repair & maintenance, mortgage payments and any other transactions.

The accounting module of the property management software will have facilities for recording all the different kinds of property related receipts and payments.

Keeping Track of Tenants, Buildings and Units

Different kinds of information need to be maintained regarding tenants and properties.

• Tenants: Tenancy agreement dates, rent, other dues like late fee and repairs, contact details, employer details
• Buildings: Insurance, landlords, mortgages, maintenance, vendors
• Units: Tenants, appliances, maintenance, vendors

This module will have facilities for adding, editing and removing details under the above categories.

Mortgages and Maintenance

Property managers also have to keep track of mortgages on the properties. They have to keep track of due dates and amounts for servicing any mortgages, and account for incidental receipts and payments.

The properties also need to be maintained in good condition. Maintenance work would have to be identified and entrusted to selected vendors. The vendor dues will have to be recorded, and paid on due dates. Their performances have to be reviewed and recorded for future reference.

Good property management software will facilitate recording and monitoring all these.

Control Reports

Property management software becomes really useful through the reports they generate - both on-screen and printed.

Overdue rents, accounts, profitability, maintenance costs, etc provide the property managers actionable information and help them manage the properties in an effective manner. And that essentially is the objective of property management software.