Do you know real estate management is one of the fastest-growing industries today? Nearly 10% of its market increases every year, making property investment a reliable income source. As more people are investing in the housing market, the need for managing property efficiently is increasing. It’s obvious that with all the positivities comes challenges. Mainly, how to keep track of your properties, tenants, profile, etc. This problem has given rise to so many real estate management software solutions. Out of many, the most popular one is Appfolio Property Manager.
Real estate owners need to make the most out of their business as the land prices continue to rise. With software like AppFolio property management, they can stay at the top of their game for a little investment. Its features like tenant management, online payment, communication, etc. have made this software one of the best in this field. We’ll be discussing all the features in this guide. Apart from that, this blog will also cover pricing, reviews, pros, and cons of the software.
Read the complete article to know how AppFolio can make property management easier.
What is AppFolio Property Manager?
So, the first question that probably arises in our mind is – what is AppFolio Property Manager? It’s nothing but a cloud-based software designed for real estate management. Since it’s a subscription service-based product, you have to pay monthly to access its unique features. This means, there is no option for buying the software upfront. Well, it’s fair enough as property managers of all sizes can benefit from it.
When you purchase the monthly subscription of AppFolio management software, you don’t have to do the legwork. Instead, the software works for you. It’s an all-inclusive platform that oversees all essential tasks related to property management. For instance, portfolio handling, rent collection, or any other outstanding work.
Furthermore, AppFolio is a cloud-based software, you can access it from anywhere anytime. Plus, it also makes your data secure. Once you perform an AppFolio property manager login, you gain access to a wide range of its features on the dashboard. You can also download the software’s app to take it to a whole new level.
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Key Benefits of Using AppFolio Property Manager
AppFolio can help you in dozens of ways, from tenant application to communication and maintenance to even property listings. It’s especially beneficial when you have several real estate assets under your belt. By simplifying minute to major tasks, you can save a huge amount of time. Here are the other key benefits of AppFolio:
- Streamlines various processes through automation
- Promotes easy communication with tenants, owners, and vendors
- Provides efficient maintenance management for prompt issue resolution
- Features a comprehensive tenant screening for mitigating risks
- Automates financial management for accurate accounting
- Optimizes leasing processes to minimize vacancies
- Improves owner and vendor relations through specific portals
- Contains a centralized document management system for easy access
- Helps property owners make informed decisions with its insightful reporting and analytics tools
- Can be scalable to support business growth
Let’s Understand AppFolio Features In Detail
Now that you know about the benefits of the software, let’s dive into key AppFolio features. So, to make it easier for you to grasp the platform’s various properties, we’ve put them in specific categories. Let’s check them one by one.
Resident Management Features
One of the key AppFolio properties is managing tenants in one place. It is considered one of the most time-consuming tasks of property management. Keeping all resident details, maintenance records, and communication in a designated portal simplifies tenant management.
1. Online Resident Portal: The software makes sure it’s convenient for tenants to pay their monthly rent on time. Moreover, residents can submit requests for maintenance and check their rental documents, all in one place. To enjoy these benefits, residents have to create their profile in the AppFolio resident portal.
2. In-App Communication: Communicating with all your tenants via email, phone, or text is intimidating. Worse, it’s even difficult to keep track of what’s discussed. Chances are that phone agreements can get messy and remembered differently by both parties. As a solution, the AppFolio property manager has an entire communication feature in its module. Every discussion with your tenants is stored in one portal, for everyone to see.
3. Maintenance Dashboard: Frequent repairs and cleanliness of a property require timely maintenance. AppFolio offers the possibility to view all the maintenance-related details in one platform. You can find various information like schedules for any service or approved vendors in the dashboard. This makes understanding what’s going on in the property much more accessible. You can also track the progress of the job on the software. Above all, AppFolio’s maintenance call center is on another level. When tenants call with problems, this feature can automatically dispatch vendors based on the provided information. Paying them for their service is also automated, saving you a lot of hassle.
4. Data for Property Inspection: Every inspection data will be available to find in one place to keep yourself up-to-date, including:
- a) Property descriptions
- b) Estate’s photos
- c) Maintenance records
- d) Task lists, etc.
Applicant Management Features
This category of AppFolio features simplifies the process of rental application. You can view all applications or sign rental contracts online in one place. All these applications are also sorted properly in the platform.
1. Online Rental Applications: AppFolio conducts the entire application for renting. You can also choose to keep only the necessary information you need the tenants to submit. Moreover, you’ll also get an application list, already filtered to your needs.
2. Online Lease Agreements: Once the tenant is chosen for a particular property, AppFolio begins its procedure automatically. All the details from the application, present in the software, will be transferred into an online lease. However, you can customize the lease the way you want. Accordingly, both parties can sign the contract online, without needing to meet in person.
3. Tenant Screening: Credit history, criminal records, or eviction history are a must to check before renting an apartment to a stranger. Many property owners have these standards they want their tenants to meet. AppFolio property manager screens tenants to filter applicants before the selection process even begins. This software can make it so easy for you to save yourself troubles in the future.
4. AI Leasing Assistant: There are also advanced AppFolio properties. One of them is artificial intelligence assistant. Even though it’s optional, you can get it to save yourself a lot of time. The AI assistant handles communication on your behalf when letting out a property. It can schedule property viewings and respond to inquiries.
Communication & Services
AppFolio management software offers various features to provide exceptional services through its modern communication tools.
1. Email and Text Templates: Property managers can use templates for text and email to communicate with tenants, vendors, or owners. You can convey various messages using them, including rent reminders, lease renewals, etc.
2. Owner Portal: The AppFolio owner portal has a separate dashboard for individuals owning one or many properties. Owners can use this space to view their financial reports or track rental income in real time.
3. Vendor Portal: Furthermore, the AppFolio vendor portal is a centralized platform dedicated to service providers. Here, vendors can get work orders for maintenance or update the job status. Plus, they can submit invoices regarding the job so that they get paid on time.
4. Resident Portal: As explained above, AppFolio has a designated portal for residents.
5. Document Management: Maintaining essential documents related to tenants is made convenient with AppFolio property management software. These documents can be accessed whenever you need them.
6. Surveys: Another important feature of the software is that it conducts timely surveys to gather feedback from tenants. This helps owners identify the areas of improvement so they can make decisions easily.
Accounting & Reporting
Now, let’s discuss AppFolio’s accounting and reporting features:
1. Database API: Integrate AppFolio with other software like QuickBooks to level up your accounting game. It provides a Database API to enable seamless exchange of data between two software.
2. Online Payments: Various payment options are available on the AppFolio dashboard for tenants to pay online. They include debit/ credit cards, electronic checks, and ACH transfers. Using the Resident portal, tenants can make online payments conveniently, saving them a lot of time.
3. CAM Tracking & Reconciliation: It allows property managers to track shared expenses among tenants of a particular commercial property. The software automates the calculation of CAM expenses, reconciles them, and generates detailed statements for each tenant.
4. Real-time Flexible Reporting: You can easily generate reports or customize them according to your requirements in AppFolio, and that too in real-time.
Maintenance & Efficiency
One of the last categories of AppFolio features that we’re going to discuss is its maintenance facilities.
1. Smart Bill Entry: This property of the software helps automate the process of tracking expenses related to maintenance smartly.
2. Online Maintenance Requests: As a resident, they can easily submit the request for maintenance requirements online. As soon as the need arises, those problems in a property can be solved easily.
3. Work Order Management: The work order facility of AppFolio management software prioritizes maintenance tasks. As a result, it helps reduce response time for any repair or maintenance needs.
4. In-House Maintenance: No need to get third-party resources when you can hire your vendors. Simultaneously, you can assign tasks to those staff directly within the platform.
5.Mobile Inspections: Capture photos, provide notes, and share them on software to get the maintenance work done promptly. There will be no requirement to visit the site in person to check what is needed.
AppFolio Pricing
As we’ve mentioned above, AppFolio pricing depends upon the features you take, the size of your portfolio, and many other factors. No doubt, it is evident from its properties that we discussed earlier that AppFolio offers a premium service. For your convenience, we’ve broken down the AppFolio cost. So, the software has the following three core pricing categories that are each paid each month per property:
- $1.40 for residential properties
- $1.50 for commercial estates
- $0.80 for community associations
Nonetheless, there is a rule of having some minimum units and a monthly fee to access its benefits. So, to use AppFolio’s services, you need to:
- Have at least 50 registered units
- Spend at least $280 per month
Although AppFolio is a helpful software for all profiles, its pricing structure shows how it’s cost-friendly for managers with larger portfolios. The reason is they can then use AppFolio Plus or Max packages that contain a comprehensive set of tools. The former costs $3.20 per unit a month while the latter costs $5 per unit a month.
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AppFolio Property Manager User Reviews
AppFolio is considered one of the best property management software in 2024, and the reviews are quite positive. The users usually rate the software over 4 stars across dozens of platforms. The score is often 4.1, 3.8, 4.5, etc. Indeed, AppFolio reviews are positive, all thanks to its outstanding features. The software offers everything in one place which property managers couldn’t risk not using.
Pros and Cons of AppFolio Property Manager
Before ending this article on AppFolio property manager, let’s go over some of its positive and negative points.
AppFolio Pros:
- Perfect for managing a larger portfolio
- Endless customization facility
- Excellent AppFolio customer service team who responds on time
- AI assistants, property bookkeeping, and analytics tools take off the workload
- Integration with external systems
- Mobile accessibility
- User-friendly interface
AppFolio Cons:
- Not apt for a smaller portfolio
- Price can be relatively higher for some users
- Integration with the old system is somewhat difficult
- No facility to separate different owners
- Handling of rental prepayments is subpar
- Don’t create online applications for all user groups
Final Thought: How to Make the Most of AppFolio?
AppFolio can become a powerful tool if you understand the resources and apply them to your business. That’s when AppFolio features become invaluable. Although its interface is made user-friendly, you need to stay up-to-date to make the most out of it. Anyways, you can always come back to this guide in case you need any help.
Still, if you get stuck in the process, let our professionals help you. The team at The Ledger Labs are experts in managing real estate portfolios within AppFolio. Contact us to book a free consultation.