So, you have successfully purchased your second or third rental property and are now contemplating taking your portfolio to the next level. One of the first things you need to do is make sure your property management skills are on point. Currently, you are managing your small portfolio on the back of a napkin or possibly in Excel, but serious real estate investors know that to be successful you need a system or rental property management software to manage all aspects of your rental investment properties, especially if you want to DIY and not work with a professional property manager.

And to that end, here is an overview of a program many Visio investors use: Buildium.com. Let's take a look at the full services and property management tools the Buildium Property Management Software offers for property owners.

Buildium's Key Features

Property management is much more involved than simply collecting rent payments. Buildium streamlines many property management tasks including:

Leasing Services

The first step in property management is finding and placing new tenants. Buildium offers several tools to get you up and running including: 

• Rental listings and showings: Easily reach potential tenants through one of Buildium's listing partners, including but not limited to Zillow, Apartment List, Lovely and Craigslist. Also access the Showings Coordinator powered by Tenant Turner.
• Rental applications: Manage and collect all rental applications online through Builidum.
• Tenant screening: Manage all aspects of tenant screening, including credit checks, criminal checks, acceptances and rejections.

Property Accounting

Buildium offers a full general ledger accounting platform that includes:

• Company financials: Use Buildium to track every property management expense and profit and run reports on performance. 
  
• Online payments: Receive and make payments directly on the platform.
• Retail cash payments: Allows for easy cash rent collection that gets deposited and then updated in Buildium.
• 1099 eFiling: Seamlessly file your 1099s directly from the platform.

Property Management Business Operations

Buildium Property Management Software has all the features landlords need for successfully managing a property, including rent collections, maintenance requests, and more.

• Resident center: A tenant portal where tenants can make rent payments, submit maintenance requests, and access important documents.
• Owner portal: In addition to Buildium's tenant portal, property owners have a portal to manage rent collection, maintenance request tracking, etc.
• Request tracking
• Property inspections: Powered by Happy Inspector, this feature enables managers to perform inspections and track data on the go.
• Renters insurance: Track compliance and offers rental insurance through MSI.
  
  

   

  Buildium Pricing
  

  Now that you know all the property management services Buildium offers, you're probably wondering how much it costs. Here's an overview of their plans. All plans include on demand reports, portal access, payment history and collections, accounting, screenings, and communications.
  

  • Essential Plan- Starting at $52/month: This is the most basic plan. Additional features besides the standard ones include your own website and customer care team ticket access.
    
  • Growth Plan- Starting at $166/month: In addition to the standard features and Essential Plan features, this plan includes unlimited eSignatures, 5 bank accounts, and live phone support.
  • Premium Plan- Starting at $479/month: Comes with all previous features including phone support as well as artificial intelligence across multiple platforms and a Rewards Program.
    
    

    Each Buildium pricing tier has possible add-ons for additional fees, including community association management and even student housing property management software. You can also do a free trial on any plan 

Buildium Pros and Cons

If you are considering using Buildium as your property management software, we complied some of the pros and cons directly from users. Visit GetApp to see the full list of user reviews including video reviews.

Pros:

• User-Friendly: A common trend is that Buildium allows property managers to control every aspect of property management with ease and little to no learning curve.
• Great tenant communication: Property managers on Builium love the tenant portal for easy communication.
• Receive Online Payments: Users love the automated rent features as well as the ability to send ACH payments to vendors easily.

Cons:

• Mobile App: Unlike the website portals, property managers have shared that the mobile app is not user-friendly and needs work.
• Commercial properties: Commercial property managers have shared that Buildium is not the ideal property management software for commercial buildings.
• Additional Fees: Many users said that the Buildium cost is missing features that require additional fees, such as tax filing and showing coordination.