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.
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.
With the many property management softwares available on the market today, it can be confusing to understand the differences between them all. Which one is the most useful for you? Which is the most cost effective? Today, we will compare the Yardi family of products and RAAMP.
Yardi property management software was released in the ’90s, so many companies have been using it for quite some time. With clients in North America, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Australia, Yardi has quickly gained influence across the globe. Yardi’s mission statement is: “Take care of our clients, take care of our employees, take care of our communities, stay focused, and grow.” Yardi has tried to live up to its mission by evolving its software. The software has evolved to include more features, although some are less frequently used. Yardi offers a few different programs for users: Yardi Voyager, Yardi Breeze, and Yardi Breeze Premiere. Yardi Voyager is their full-featured, original product, while Yardi Breeze is a scaled back version of the software intended for lower-end users.
When is it best to implement Yardi solutions for your business? Yardi is best for those working in the real estate industry. Yardi was designed for property managers with 100-plus properties to manage. This software would be ideal for property managers that evaluate commercial operations and basic property management. This web-based platform for the real estate industry helps with accounting, resident management, property management, workflow automation, alerts and notifications, and a centralized database.
Yardi was designed to be used for any size business, whether you are running a family business or a corporate operation Yardi was designed to help residential management run a residential portfolio of any size.
Those who have used Yardi as their property management software often reported how easy to use the software was once it had been properly configured. This is a major pro for the company because they have created software that is user-friendly. However, many users also reported that there was a steep learning curve when it comes to learning how to use the Yardi systems. This can be a bit of a downfall for the users due to how much time it takes to learn how to use the software.
The downside to selecting Yardi as your property management software is the annual contract. When you sign up for the program you are locked in for a year. This would not be ideal for someone that just wants to see if the software is suited for their company.
In addition, many users were disappointed that Yardi does not allow unlimited users. Not allowing unlimited users is a major inconvenience for businesses that want to purchase rent management software and have multiple people utilizing the program at the same time. This can cause many frustrations for users considering the price they are paying for the software. Not allowing multiple users does not allow for easy access to shared documents that your whole team might need. Another downfall of Yardi is that they don’t offer a variety of different types of services. For example, Yardi does not offer lease abstracts, dynamic rent rolls, CRM, or unlimited users.
Overall, Yardi users from their global client base reported they had a “real struggle” making the program work for their company. Many users have reported that it is a very time-consuming process to learn the software, understand how to configure it to one’s liking, and is overall a quite stressful experience.
Pricing varies depending on what Yardi program is used. For example, Yardi Voyager costs $250 per user per month plus additional setup fees. Yardi Breeze charges $1 per unit per month for residential properties; $1 per unit per month for manufactured homes; $.50 per unit per month for associations; and $2 per unit per month for affordable housing and commercial properties. Both of these programs have a monthly minimum of $100. The monthly minimum for self-storage is $200. With all of this being said, the Yardi cost can range anywhere from $100 a month or $250 a month plus additional setup fees. Additionally, Yardi Voyager can range anywhere from $250 to $10,000 or more per month, plus setup fees.
RAAMP is an innovative property management software. RAAMP is a lease-centered operational suite that offers a number of services giving customers the ultimate experience. For example, RAAMP offers tools for property management, accounting, customer relationship management (CRM), lease abstracts, lease docs, rent tolls, accounting, and insurance compliance. All of these robust features that RAAMP offers helps them to stand out among competitors. RAAMP single connected solution works as a valuable tool for those who manage multiple properties and want to keep all of their information in one place.
RAAMP is built to increase revenue, help meet customer needs, and provide a seamless, affordable, and easy-to-understand experience. By integrating RAAMP into 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. RAAMP works as a flexible workspace solution for all of its users, helping to increase efficiency by removing the excess manpower required for typical tasks such as accounting. RAAMP does a great job of using cutting-edge software to knock down any obstacles you are facing and improve your property management business.
Who is RAAMP best for? RAAMP would work best for any commercial real estate (CRE) professionals. This software is best suited for someone with many properties because it will help CRE professionals keep all of their information organized. RAAMP will help your business resolve issues faced in the day-to-day of your company.
RAAMP offers a robust set of features for its users by helping their businesses generate revenue. 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 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 so it is critical that space is provided for these important documents.
Portfolio size and portfolio types are other benefits of using RAAMP. RAAMP offers an integrated platform for all portfolio sizes and types as long as the property manager has a minimum of 10 properties.
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 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 to make 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 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 useful when looking for property management software. These notifications and reminders can be helpful for the whole property management team when it comes to tasks such as remembering to submit a lease agreement or paperwork.
Property 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 rent payments, lease agreements, or even making sure their property is insured.
All of these solutions increase efficiency for businesses that manage multiple properties including commercial, multi-family, student, or even single-family housing.
The one con of RAAMP is that it is not well-suited for short-term lease operations like vacation rentals and 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 with longer-term tenants.
RAAMP believes in being fully transparent with its customer base when it comes to pricing which is a nice surprise compared to competitors. 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 can 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. These lower costs are some of the best you will get and it can help lower expenses for your company.
Figuring out what property management software is the best entirely 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 finances. 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. RAAMP will offer 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. RAAMP will help save your company time on tasks that would normally be a manual process. Additionally, there are savings in the form of reduced payroll costs due to increased staff productivity and overall increased job satisfaction for team members in the ease of completing their day-to-day tasks.
Free rent, or rent abatement, is a common and widely used concession in many commercial office leasing and residential property transactions. Landlords are offering free rent to entice tenants to sign leases and to assist with economic hardships that their tenants might face. And it’s almost exactly what it sounds like: rent that you don’t have to pay, but how does it work? Who really benefits? Are there pitfalls to consider?
The benefit of free rent for landlords is that it drives business. Many urban areas have seen people leaving amidst the pandemic and many businesses closing. Major benefits of free rent for tenants include saving money and overall satisfaction. Another benefit is also finding places tenants might not have been able to afford beforehand, offering free rent can significantly reduce the burden of cost for some tenants.
Offering your tenant free rent is not the same as offering a free ride. Free rent can be a great incentive to attract businesses while still maintaining your cash flow and business viability. It can show a property as being occupied to draw other prospective tenants. It can help a newly established, but promising, business to get on its feet; thus, ensuring a future positive and profitable relationship. Free rent can be a competitive advantage when enticing tenants to use your property, as opposed to other properties. It can also maintain property values by having a higher rent profile on the books so as not to devalue the total property.
Think of free rent as being similar to tax abatement policies used by cities to attract new business. This tactic has proved very successful for multiple cities around the country. Similarly, it has proven successful for many property owners and landlords. Not only can they give you the competitive edge, but you can place requirements on them such as length of lease and operating expense reimbursements.
Are there drawbacks to free rent (rent abatement)? Certainly. When offering a rent abatement, property owners should make sure that the discount will not cut into their ongoing property expenses such as: Common Area Maintenance (CAM); property taxes; maintenance fees and insurance. You don’t want your enticement to lead you into the red, so ensure that the tenant is still responsible for their pro rata share of the operating cost, even if they have a gross lease.. Furthermore, while it may be advantageous to offer such incentives to promising growing businesses, offering discounts to struggling businesses without clear plans for their growth can be disastrous — both for you and the business, which may have unrealistic expectations about its ability to grow. In fairness to your tenant, it is advisable that they make sure their sales will support the arrangement. Tracking tenant’s sales can be difficult, but with RAAMP’s tenant portal, tenants can report their sales and you as the landlord can monitor their sales performance easily.
In spite of the name, free rent does not have to be free. It is not intended to take money out of your pocket. It is a tool that can be used to attract a new business and be the start of a promising relationship. It can be structured in many ways so as not to make it financially disadvantageous for the landlord. Any potential financial losses, or cash flow issues, can be recouped through the structure of the lease by clearly defining the exceptions to the free rent and the tenant’s obligations under the lease..
A gross lease and a net lease are two different lease structure landlords can use for their tenants. A gross lease often include all operating expenses in the rent, so the tenant just pays one lump sum per month. A net lease usually doesn’t include operating expenses as part of the rent agreement, so the base rent is lower, but the tenant is expected to pay the additional operating expenses separately.
Consider offering free rent while adding in the lost value over the course of the lease (I.E., a higher rent than the market value to offset the initial discount). Another option is to extend the length of the lease so that the property owner is ensured to recover income over the life of the agreement. This could help extend the relationship between the property owner and the tenant. The lease should also be structured to include tenant-responsible expenses that the landlord would otherwise assume a gross lease or net lease.
To remain competitive in today’s real estate market, property owners must make use of all the tools in their toolbox. Think of free rent, or rent abatement, as one such tool. It is similar to those used across industries: coupons, discounts, even tax abatement.
RAAMP can help you to understand access and track this tool, as well as many others. Contact us today to learn more!
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.
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.