Guides
9 things to check in property management software
Nine checks that decide whether property management software can produce the trust ledger, maintenance file and screening record your business depends on.
What to take away
- Property management software in this trade is the company's evidence system, not a productivity purchase. The test is what it produces when an owner disputes a charge or a board asks how a deposit was held.
- Nine checks decide most purchases. The first five are trust segregation, reconciliation, maintenance history, screening record, and move-out accounting. The last four are access control, backup restore, data export, and renewal pricing.
- Owner funds and tenant deposits are held under state real estate commission trust rules in the United States. Canada is the secondary market, where Ontario, BC, Alberta and Quebec each set their own. The system either supports that structure or forces a second set of books by hand.
- Portability is the term nobody reads. A company that cannot export its own records, attachments included, is not choosing its next system.
- Two measures are missing from otherwise capable productstime from first tenant contact, and the age of the oldest open work order.
- Named systems to test include AppFolio, Buildium, Yardi Breeze, and Rent Manager. Also test DoorLoop, Propertyware, RealPage, and Entrata.
The nine checks
Nine items decide most purchases. Work through them in that order. A demonstration that never touches checks one through five is a demonstration of the parts that do not matter. Named systems to test include AppFolio, Buildium, Yardi Breeze, and Rent Manager. Also test DoorLoop, Propertyware, RealPage, and Entrata.
Nine software checks in order
- Trust segregationseparate owner and tenant balances
- Reconciliationtie ledger to bank statement
- Maintenance historytime, dispatch, photos, invoice
- Screening recordcriteria, inputs, reason, date
- Move-out accountingcondition, itemization, invoices, date
- Access controlaccounts, roles, MFA, removal
- Backup restorerestored once, date recorded
- Data exporteverything out, attachments included
| # | Check | What it must do | Public examples to press |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trust segregation | Hold separate owner and tenant trust balances, and block transfers to operating | AppFolio and Buildium market trust accounting; attempt a live transfer |
| 2 | Reconciliation | Tie the trust ledger to the bank statement, by owner and by tenant | Yardi Breeze and Rent Manager support bank reconciliation; ask if it runs by owner |
| 3 | Maintenance history | Time received, classification, dispatch. Photos, invoice, closeout note | AppFolio and DoorLoop show work order timelines; ask for the closeout note |
| 4 | Screening record | The standard applied, the inputs, the reason, the date | RealPage and Entrata bundle screening; ask where the adverse action reason is stored |
| 5 | Move-out accounting | Move-in condition, move-out condition, itemization, invoices, date sent | Buildium and Propertyware handle deposit accounting; ask for the itemized statement |
| 6 | Access control | Individual accounts, role permissions, multi-factor authentication, same-day removal | Yardi and MRI Software support role permissions; ask for MFA and removal logs |
| 7 | Backup restore | A backup that has actually been restored once, with the date recorded | Ask every vendor, including AppFolio and DoorLoop, for a restore date |
| 8 | Data export | Everything out, attachments included, without asking the vendor's permission | MRI Software publishes an open API; ask for attachment export |
| 9 | Renewal pricing | The cost at twice the door count, and what happens at renewal | Buildium, DoorLoop and Yardi Breeze publish tiered pricing; ask for the next tier |
Check one: does it hold trust money apart
Owner funds and tenant deposits are not the company's money. In the United States, state real estate commission trust rules govern how those balances are held, tagged and reconciled.
Canada is the secondary market on this site. Ontario, BC, Alberta and Quebec each set their own rules, and the map of which body sets which rule is where to confirm yours before evaluating anything.
Can it hold trust money apart?
Can the system hold separate trust balances by owner and by tenant?
real control if transfers to operating are blocked
advisory control only, not a real safeguard
Ask one question: can the system hold separate trust balances by owner and by tenant, and can it prevent a transfer between trust and operating? Then ask what happens when somebody tries anyway. The answer separates a real control from an advisory one.
AppFolio and Buildium both market trust accounting. In a demonstration, have the vendor attempt a transfer from trust to operating. A system that only warns is not a control.
Checks two and three: reconciliation and the maintenance file
A trust ledger that cannot be tied to a bank statement is a spreadsheet with better fonts. The reconciliation should run by owner and by tenant, on a schedule, and it should be signed by a person.
Reconciliation and maintenance file
- Trust ledger ties to bank statement
- Reconciliation runs by owner and by tenant
- Reconciliation signed by a person
- Maintenance request time received and classified
- Who was dispatched, with photographs
- Invoice and closeout note attached
Yardi Breeze and Rent Manager support bank reconciliation. Ask whether the reconciliation runs by owner and by tenant as well as by bank account. Ask who signs it.
The maintenance file is the second record set that carries exposure. It needs the time a request came in and how it was classified. It also needs who was dispatched, photographs, the invoice, and a closeout note.
AppFolio and DoorLoop show work order timelines. Ask to see the closeout note field and the photo attachment. The operations and workflow design that makes that file complete has to exist before software can store it.
Checks four and five: screening and move-out
Screening is where software creates risk quietly. Automated scoring, template rejection messages and criteria embedded in a workflow become the company's screening standard in practice, written down or not. HUD's fair housing rights and obligations is the US federal floor, and state and city agencies add to it. Canadian readers use provincial human rights codes.
Screening and move-out records
- Record which screening criteria were applied
- Record why the decision was made
- Record the date of the screening decision
- Move-in condition documented
- Move-out condition documented
- Itemized list with invoices and date sent
RealPage and Entrata bundle screening into larger suites. Ask where the adverse action reason is stored and whether the criteria can be exported. The company remains responsible for the decision whatever tool produced it.
The file should record which criteria were applied and why. If the software cannot show that, the decision is undocumented.
Move-out accounting is the same discipline pointed at a deposit. It needs move-in condition, move-out condition, an itemized list, the invoices behind it, and the date it was sent.
Buildium and Propertyware handle deposit accounting. Ask for a sample itemized statement and the date-sent log. A template with no invoice attachment is not a record.
Checks six and seven: access and backup
An applicant hands over identification, income documents and prior addresses. A tenant's payment history sits in the same system. The company is holding data that matters to people who did not choose the vendor.
NIST's small business quick-start guides offer a practical starting structure, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's resources for small and medium businesses cover the operating habits.
Access and backup short list
- Individual accounts, not shared ones
- Permissions by role
- Multi-factor authentication on tenant data
- Access removed the day somebody leaves
- Backup restored once, date recorded
- Access review on the monthly calendar
Yardi and MRI Software support role permissions. Ask for the MFA setting, the access review log, and the removal step. Ask every vendor, including AppFolio and DoorLoop, for the date of the last successful restore.
Put the access review on the monthly calendar beside the reconciliation. It takes minutes and it is the control most often skipped.
Checks eight and nine: export and renewal pricing
Export is the check that decides whether the company owns its records. Test it before signing: pull every tenant file and every attachment out in a format another system can read. If the vendor has to run the export for you, you are renting the right to leave.
MRI Software publishes an open API. Ask for attachment export as well as CSV tenant lists. Ask for a sample export from a live account.
Renewal pricing is where the surprises live. Per-unit pricing scales with exactly the growth the company is working toward, so ask what the cost is at twice the current door count. Then ask what happens to the rate when the contract renews, and get the answer in writing.
Buildium, DoorLoop and Yardi Breeze publish their tiers on their own pricing pages, so the figure for a given door count is public. AppFolio, Propertyware, RealPage and Entrata quote a monthly minimum or custom pricing instead. The tier that applies is set by door count and by the billing term. Ask for the tier sheet in writing before signing.
Migration and implementation, step by step
Migration is the mistake named most often, and it has a procedure. Reconcile the old ledger before you move anything.
Migration and implementation
- Freeze the old ledger on a cut date.
- Reconcile every owner and tenant balance to the bank statement at that date.
- Load one owner first, attachments included, and check the balances against the old system.
- Run both systems side by side for one full month, entering rent, deposits and work orders in each.
- Compare the month-end trust reconciliation from both systems, line by line.
- Go live on the first of a month, with the reconciliation reviewed and signed by a person.
- Keep read-only access to the old system for the retention period that applies to you.
An error in the old records becomes a certified opening balance in the new system, and it is much harder to find afterward.
The records to keep, and for how long
The IRS guidance on what records a business should keep sets the US tax floor. Above it sit the limitation period on lease claims, the state licensing retention rules, and any funding program the property carries. Confirm the tax side with a qualified accountant and the licensing side with your state or provincial regulator.
The IRS generally suggests keeping employment tax records for four years and income tax records for three years. State licensing and lease limitation periods often run longer.
Write one schedule that satisfies the longest of them. Make deletion a deliberate act, not a side effect of leaving a vendor.
The measures the system should produce
A management company runs on a short list of monthly measures. The software's job is to produce them without anybody assembling them by hand:
- Occupancy and vacancy, by owner and overall.
- Days from ready to leased, and days from notice to ready.
- Work orders opened, closed, and the age of the oldest open one.
- Time from tenant contact to first action.
- Collections against billed rent, and arrears aging.
- Renewals due, and renewals achieved.
- Trust reconciliation completed and reviewed.
AppFolio, Buildium and Yardi Breeze offer report builders. Ask for a live report in the demonstration rather than a prepared screenshot.
Which measures carry the most financial weight
Occupancy carries the largest financial consequence. A percentage fee earns nothing on an empty unit, yet the company still spends hours on it. That is why the fee derivation in the pricing and profit system is sensitive to vacancy rather than to fee level.
Maintenance spend per unit belongs beside it, read against the asset register and preventive plan in the repairs and maintenance system. Spend rising while emergency work orders rise is a preventive failure. Spend rising while emergencies fall is the plan working.
Lead sources, signings per lead and inquiry response times sit in the marketing and growth system. Hours per unit by role drives the hiring decision rather than the owner statement. Keeping those dashboards separate is deliberate: a screen that mixes operational, financial and marketing measures gets read by nobody.
Common questions
Can a small company run on spreadsheets?
For a while, yes, with one exception. The trust ledger needs a structure that prevents mistakes rather than one that records them, and that is the first thing worth buying.
What is the most common implementation mistake?
Migrating balances without reconciling them first. Whatever error exists in the old records becomes a certified opening balance in the new ones, and it is much harder to find afterward.
How much should software cost?
That depends on the door count and the pricing model, and no useful figure exists in the abstract. What matters more is the shape of the pricing, whether per unit, per user or flat, and what happens at renewal.
Buildium, DoorLoop and Yardi Breeze publish their tiers on their own pricing pages, and the applicable tier is set by door count and billing term. RealPage and Entrata quote custom pricing instead.
Does more automation reduce risk?
It moves it. Automating a screening decision, a late notice or a deposit deduction embeds a judgment into a workflow nobody re-reads. Automate the retrieval and the reminders; keep the judgment where somebody signs it.
