Schedule a demo with a product specialist who can answer any questions and show you the platform.
800.944.5173
Schedule a demo with a product specialist who can answer any questions and show you the platform.
800.944.5173
If you’re looking for a great property management software, you’ve come to the right place. This review breaks down the differences and similarities of the leading property management software, RAAMP and Buildium. Which is the best choice?
Buildium is a cloud-based property management software designed for residential property use. It was founded in 2004 and is based in Boston, Mass. While it is a fairly comprehensive software when handling residential units, it is not very useful for commercial property management.
Residential property managers and landlords that are looking to streamline processes, process payments, and consolidate files.
The software itself is easy to understand and simple to use. Buildium also offers “Buildium Academy,” which is a knowledge hub to learn how to use the software.
The software allows for accepting cash and online payments, tenant screening, listing properties for rent, 1099 filing, a “community billboard” to communicate with tenants, and monitoring of bank accounts and business accounting.
The software is cloud-based, which means it can be used anywhere there is a wifi connection.
The software doesn’t allow for the import or export of rent rolls.
There is no lease abstraction, so property managers must go through each lease individually.
Due to not having a CRM, Buildium places more work on the property manager than what is necessary.
Buildium is tailored specifically for residential property management and would not work well if there is also commercial property in the portfolio.
$50-$460 a month, plus additional costs for other features.
| Software | Lease Abstract | Dynamic Rent Rolls | CRM | File Mgmt. | Notebook & Task mgmt. | Unlimited Users | Tenant Portal | Property Analytics | Accounting | Insurance Compliance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||
| Buildium | - | - | - | - |
RAAMP is a lease-centered operational suite for property management, accounting, customer relationship management (CRM), lease abstracts, rent rolls, accounting, and insurance compliance. Those are just a few functions of this amazing software. RAAMP can be a valuable tool for those who manage multiple properties and want to keep all of their information in one place. Having software such as RAAMP is extremely important, especially when managing leases, because leases are the source of revenue in commercial real estate.
RAAMP is the only software solution built around this key revenue driver to help meet customer needs. By integrating RAAMP in the day-to-day operations of your property management business, you will see how the software acts as a vehicle to drive revenue. All of these program options help RAAMP stand out among competitors.
Commercial real estate (CRE) professionals who want to increase the profitability of their business and decrease time wasted on repetitive and inefficient tasks.
Dynamic lease abstraction is an important part of what RAAMP has to offer. Lease abstraction allows a space for leases to be reviewed and uploaded. Leases can take up a lot of time when it comes to completing day-to-day tasks, so the lease abstractions feature can save you hours. Leases are the driving force behind increasing revenue making it critical that space is provided for these important documents.
Property management is a very critical tool that can be helpful when looking for software. RAAMP’s property management software is extremely useful. The property management feature on RAAMP’s software can be used to manage documents such as maintenance requests or when rent was last collected from a tenant.
File management can be very useful when one is managing multiple properties. The file management feature that RAAMP offers allows for all files to be stored in a way that makes them accessible and easy to locate.
CRM is another important feature that RAAMP offers. CRM is what helps drive revenue for the business. Maintaining relationships with tenants is a critical piece of driving revenue for those who manage properties.
The accounting feature on the RAAMP provides users with a valuable asset when a business is looking to drive revenue. This feature will not replace a company’s accountant, but will allow accountants to focus their attention on other day-to-day tasks. When it comes to the day-to-day tasks, RAAMP also provides a task management feature. This feature allows your team to stay on task when it comes to working with clients.
Smart notifications and reminders can be very helpful when looking for property management software. These notifications and reminders can be beneficial for the whole property management team when it comes to things such as remembering to turn in a lease agreement or paperwork.
Analytics play a critical role in property management so it is great that RAAMP makes having a space for property analytics a priority. Property analytics allows the property management team to see how each property is doing when it comes to paying rent, lease agreements, or even making sure their property is insured.
The one con of RAAMP is that the program is not well-suited for short-term lease agreements, such as those for vacation rentals or storage units. With that being said, RAAMP would be a great software to revisit in the future if you begin to expand your property management business.
RAAMP believes in being fully transparent with its customer base when it comes to pricing. RAAMP’s pricing starts at $98 a month for unlimited users. RAAMP does not require businesses to pay for each user, meaning that a business with 50 people could all use the software and still only pay $98 a month. RAAMP is also different from its competitors because they do not apply any additional fees for installation, etc. RAAMP stands out among competitors when it comes to offering the best service for the best price.
This depends on your business goals, but for companies interested in maximizing their profitability, RAAMP is the only solution built to solve the key issues surrounding revenue.
RAAMP offers key insights about leases, option periods, property analytics, and dynamic rent rolls to name just a few of the key features that are tied directly to revenue. Additionally, there are savings in the form of reduced payroll costs through increased staff productivity and overall increased job satisfaction for team members in the ease of completing their day-to-day tasks.
Buildium functions well when managing residential properties, but has limited usage for commercial properties. If you are a commercial property manager, have commercial & residential properties, or are looking to boost profitability, then RAAMP is right for you.
A rent roll report is an in-depth report that landlords, owners, and property managers use to interpret the revenue of one or more properties they own. Tenants and Franchisees use a rent roll to understand their obligations under their leases. For those new to property management, it may be a bit difficult to fully understand what a rent roll is and how it functions. Today, we will review the importance of a rent roll.
Rent rolls are used by property owners and managers to track, analyze, and plan for rental income. It can be constructed for any type of income-producing real estate, such as single-family homes, multifamily buildings, office buildings, shopping centers, and land leased for agricultural use. Essentially, a rent roll shows the rental income from a real estate asset. This information can be used to calculate data such as net operating income (NOI), internal rate of return (IRR), gross rent multiplier (GRM), and cap rate to see the profit and viability of properties.
A rent roll breaks down the rent per unit and/or suite. It also gives a total rent amount for the entire investment property. It collects rent data from each individual tenant’s lease agreement and puts it into one easy-to-read document. There are property-specific rent rolls as well as rent rolls for an entire property portfolio. These allow you to view not only one particular property, but everything you manage.
In the world of real estate, time is money, and rent rolls help to save both. The landlord doesn’t have to waste time digging up each tenant’s lease to determine rent amounts or lease start and end dates. With all the data in a single, intuitive report, they are able to see profitability at a glance.
A rent roll for a single-family rental property can easily be created using spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. For multi-family and commercial properties, things can become a bit more complicated. That’s where property management software like RAAMP comes in. RAAMP takes the hassle out of finding all of the data yourself and instead provides it in one easy-to-access place.
The data for a rent roll comes from a few sources: county tax assessors, MLS listing information, appraisal reports, lease agreements, and tenant files. The data on a rent roll can vary by property type, but most will include the following:
The rent roll is an all-purpose document that can be used by buyers and sellers, property managers, real estate investors and landlords, and lenders. It can provide a surprising amount of detail on a single page, such as the information listed in the previous section. Rent rolls can be used to increase profitability by increasing rents, renovating, tenant screening, etc.
Rent rolls are a useful, efficient tool across real estate professions. They streamline information, help you see data at a glance, assist in calculations, and more. While rent rolls may seem confusing at first, they are intuitive spreadsheets that are easy to understand and assist in making a profit. Time is money, and a rent roll can help you gain an edge on both.
Don’t miss this side-by-side comparison of two top solutions for real estate professionals – Rent Manager and RAAMP. Which is best for your business?
Rent Manager is a software tool that helps you manage your rental properties. The Rent Manager software has been around for three decades and helps to manage leasing, accounting, contact management, maintenance, and marketing. The program creates individualized reports that manage properties and offers each customer an individualized portfolio. Reports are available in several formats, including downloadable, exportable, or viewable online.
Rent Manager is a solution for a property management company or companies that manage a multitude of multi-family, single-family, and commercial properties. The software provides property managers with a place to keep their information organized. Rent Manager works with customers who own/manage anywhere from 100-50,000+ units.
Like any software, there are pros and cons to Rent Manager. One pro for Rent Manager is that the software offers a customizable dashboard that allows users to move boxes and add different reports for each. These reports include financial reports which can allow property managers to see how their money is being spent. The program is extensive, cloud-based, and there is some level of safety and security for tenant information. Having a cloud-based program means that all the information will be online and can be accessed if the user experiences technical difficulties on their personal computer. Another pro for Rent Manager is that they offer web design which could be a valuable tool if the property manager was looking to build a new website for their business.
User Experience
Users have expressed frustrations when it comes to user-friendliness. The first problem users mentioned was that drop-down menus are narrow on the Rent Manager program. This means that if you don’t remember the property account number, you have to scroll down to “find” the account. This could become a nightmare and a time-consuming activity if you manage many properties.
Another common complaint among users was that the upload and download feature has many faults when it comes to using the Rent Manager program. The upload and download feature was a major inconvenience that users experienced, costing them both time and money. Having something as simple as the upload and download feature not working can cause huge problems. What is the point of having a place to store lease agreements when you can’t even upload the lease to the program?
Features
Additionally, users said the apps associated with the software were not made well, and there is little mobile functionality. Limited mobile functionality is a major con for those who might constantly be on the go or to those who want the option to use high-quality mobile apps. An additional downfall for the Rent Manager program is that to date, Rent Manager has lost 18 homes due to technical issues with their software (email, etc). This is a significant and irreparable loss. Losses such as these can cost property managers thousands of dollars.
When it comes to the pricing of Rent Manager, they do not publicize the pricing of their program. This lack of transparency can cause some problems for customers especially when it comes to doing research and comparing what property management software they will use. But according to third-party sources, the company charges $75 per user per month plus a setup fee. For example, if your business wanted five employees to use the software you would pay a total of $375 a month to use the software, in addition to the setup fee.
| Software | Lease Abstract | Dynamic Rent Rolls | CRM | File Mgmt. | Notebook & Task mgmt. | Unlimited Users | Tenant Portal | Property Analytics | Accounting | Insurance Compliance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||||||
| RentManager | - | - | - | - |
RAAMP is a lease-centered operational suite for property management, accounting, customer relationship management (CRM), lease abstracts, rent rolls, accounting, and insurance compliance. Those are just a few functions of this amazing software. RAAMP can be a valuable tool for those who manage multiple properties and want to keep all of their information in one place. Having software such as RAAMP is extremely important, especially in managing leases because eases are the source of revenue in commercial real estate. RAAMP is the only software solution built around this key revenue driver to help meet customer needs. By integrating RAAMP in the day-to-day operations of your property management business you’ll be sure to see how the software acts as a vehicle to drive revenue. All of these program options help RAAMP stand out among competitors.
Who is RAAMP best for? RAAMP would work best for any commercial real estate (CRE) professionals. This software is best suited for an individual or a team with many properties because it will help CRE professionals keep all of their information organized by property.
There are many pros and advantages that come with selecting RAAMP as your property management software. The first pro is the dynamic lease abstraction. Dynamic lease abstraction is an important part of what RAAMP has to offer. Lease abstraction allows a space for leases to be reviewed and uploaded. Leases can often take up a lot of time when it comes to completing day-to-day tasks, so the lease abstractions feature can save you hours. Leases are the driving force behind increasing revenue making it critical that space is provided for these important documents.
Property management is a very critical tool that can be helpful when looking for property management software. RAAMP’s property management software is extremely useful. The property management feature on RAAMP’s software can be used to manage documents such as maintenance requests or things such as seeing when rent was last collected from a tenant.
File management can be very useful when one is managing multiple properties. Having the file management feature that RAAMP offers allows for all files to be stored in a way that makes them accessible and easy to locate.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is another important feature that RAAMP offers. CRM is what will help drive revenue for the business. Maintaining relationships with tenants is a critical piece of driving revenue for those who manage properties.
The accounting feature on the RAAMP provides users with a valuable asset when a business is looking to drive revenue. This feature will not replace a company’s accountant, but will allow accountants to focus their attention on their other day-to-day tasks. When it comes to the day-to-day tasks RAAMP also provides a task management feature. This feature allows your team to stay on task when it comes to working with clients.
Smart notifications and reminders can be very helpful when looking for property management software. These notifications and reminders can be beneficial for the whole property management team when it comes to things such as remembering to turn in a lease agreement or paperwork.
Property analytics play a critical role in property management so it’s great that RAAMP makes having a space for property analytics a priority. Property analytics allows the property management team to see how each property is doing when it comes to paying rent, lease agreements, or even making sure their property is insured.
The one con of RAAMP is that it is not well-suited for short-term lease agreements, such as those for vacation rentals or storage units. With that being said, RAAMP would be a great software to revisit in the future if you begin to expand your property management business.
RAAMP believes in being fully transparent with its customer base when it comes to pricing. RAAMP’s pricing starts at $98 a month with unlimited users. RAAMP does not require businesses to pay for each user, meaning that a business with 50 people could all use the software and still only have to pay $98 a month. RAAMP is also different from its competitors in the sense that they do not apply any additional fees for installation, etc. RAAMP stands out among competitors when it comes to offering the best service for the best price.
Incorporating property management software won’t be an immediate fix for your business, but it is a step in the right direction to help generate revenue. Discovering what property management software is the best fit entirely depends on what your business goals are, but for companies interested in maximizing their profitability, RAAMP is the only solution built to solve the key issues surrounding revenue. RAAMP offers insights about leases, option periods, property analytics, and dynamic rent rolls to name just a few of the key features that are tied directly to revenue. Additionally, there are savings in the form of reduced payroll costs through increased staff productivity and overall increased job satisfaction for team members in the ease of completing their day-to-day tasks.
Will you be attending Realcomm in June? We look forward to seeing you there!
RAAMP is honored to be among the many CRE innovators who will present in Nashville at Realcomm 2019 in consideration of a “Digie” Award!
Realcomm has been presenting the Commercial Real Estate Digital Innovation “Digie” Awards since 1999. These awards recognize those who are improving the commercial, corporate, government and institutional real estate industries, which must manage an inordinate amount of information, systems and business processes to operate. This data-intensive, manual, mostly disconnected environment provides the perfect opportunity for innovation that can radically transform how we do business.
Realcomm is the leading conference focused on the topic of technology, innovation and automation for the Commercial and Corporate Real Estate and Facilities industries. This annual event brings together thousands of creative, forward-thinking, and insightful commercial and corporate real estate professionals from around the world who gather to discuss and debate how technology, automation and innovation continues to impact how we use, transact and operate real estate.
Dynamic Education Programs, Solution Provider Expo, LIVE Interviews, Tech Briefings and Tours, Networking – these are just a few of the many things that keep Commercial Real Estate, Corporate Real Estate, Institutional and Government IT, Facilities, Energy, Sustainability and HR Professionals coming back to Realcomm year after year!!
We look forward to seeing you there!
In the 2019 Deloitte Commercial Real Estate Outlook, the report had five key takeaways, one of which explored how the rapid evolution of technology and consumer preferences is redesigning commercial real estate (CRE) business models and bringing rapid change to the industry. Concurrently, the Altus CRE Innovation report of January 2019 collected similar findings.
As detailed on the Deloitte blog, there were five key takeaways:
Proptech
Proptechs are increasingly popular with investors and are expanding their coverage across the real estate value chain. The Deloitte report found there is merit in CRE companies becoming knowledgeable about proptechs, since these firms are using technology to nurture new, innovative ideas that enhance operational efficiency, tenant experience, and information flow.
While commercial real estate has a reputation for being slow to adapt to changing technology, 2019 is seeing strong gains in the adaptation of technologies to recover missed revenues, gain broad efficiencies, and create seamless integrations between properties and teams. However, while many CRE firms have now invested in integrated CRE software solutions, many are still using spreadsheets for critical CRE functions which is creating more data silos.
According to Forbes and Altus group data, total investment in real estate technology was roughly $33 million in 2010. A total of $9.6 billion was invested into real estate companies in 2018. The 2018 figure was slightly less than in 2017 ($12.6 billion), with a variety of factors cited for the decrease, including a more sophisticated investor community, and the focus of $2 billion alone on WeWork.
In its broadest sense, proptech in commercial real estate is used to reduce or eliminate many of the routine CRE tasks in transactions, valuation, property management and leasing. Investor confidence is bolstered when Commercial Real Estate Property Management firms invest in technologies due to the resulting efficiencies and overall transparency achieved.
Common types of proptech include:
Proptech Adoption
Adoption of proptech can be seen as challenging for some firms however: some organizations may have concerns that migration away from spreadsheets and legacy accounting programs will create disruptions in day-to-day operations.
This is a dangerously false position, and in reality, the opposite is true: inability to adopt new technologies will jeopardize the continuity of firms and companies that do not adapt. This is a business continuity matter. The key is in choosing the right platform: one that is not over-engineered and difficult to implement. We designed RAAMP specifically for these transitioning communities.
The Altus study further cites the distinct advantages operators can expect in both top-line and bottom-line gains by implementing proptech: the use of property technology removes existing information silos and takes the guesswork out of commercial real estate investing and property management.
The Time to Change is Now
A key finding of the Altus report indicated that a large majority of firms have already invested in integrated software solutions for critical CRE functions. However, 60% of executives said their firms are still utilizing spreadsheets as their primary tool for reporting, 51% for valuation and cash flow analysis and 45% for budgeting and forecasting, indicating that despite significant innovation, the industry continues to lag in certain areas.
By improving the experience of users of commercial space and accelerating the use of shared, innovative property technologies, commercial real estate firms and investors will become more profitable and provide a competitive edge against those that refuse to adapt to the changing marketplace.
Please contact us to learn more about how RAAMP’s proptech approach can seamlessly become a part of your firm’s accelerated growth.
Founded in 2015, RAAMP combines robust, industry-compliant Accounting tools, Lease Management, CRM and Document storage in a team-shared environment. Designed to replace disparate spreadsheets and cumbersome legacy accounting software, RAAMP was developed as an internal tool for private asset management. RAAMP replaces overly complex industry solutions with a simple, elegant platform.
RAAMP’s software solution increases productivity between management teams, reduces the risk of missed revenue, and eliminates the need for multiple software and file management systems within a company. RAAMP solutions currently support millions of square feet of managed space for the commercial property management industry.
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