Choosing the Top Real Estate Management Software in the UK

Introduction

Property management software is finally starting to hit the mainstream, as technology permeates both the commercial and residential space more deeply. The problem is most acute for landlords or companies that are managing a lot of properties at the same time, athough there are a number of different ways this software could be used. For example, consumers should also have some way of tracking their home value.

Property Management Companies

This is where there is the most need for such software. Often management will need to track tens or hundreds of properties at the same time, and potentially will need an integrated CRM system where they can track the tenants too, along with their personal and contact information.

1. Buildium - this is probably the most comprehensive of all the tools, providing property management, accounting, business operations and leasing tools all in one. It is therefore most suitable for larger companies, and the price reflects this.
2. Appfolio - the advantage of this one is the speed. It is the best real time app and has a range of cloud-based tools for apartment, residential, commercial, council and student property managers. What's nice about Appfolio is that it also allows you to let users access business metrics and track things like maintenance too, as well as taking care of the CRM side by allowing you to communicate directly with renters, owners and vendors through the app.
3. Rentmanager - what's nice about this one is the asset database they provide. This comes with integrated accounting, contact management and work ordering capabilities, plus marketing solutions. It's also the fastest to set up, which is very appealing for those who aren't the most tech savvy.
4. MRI - this is the longest standing of all of them, it's been around in one form or another for many years. While we wouldn't usually recommend the legacy provider, it has over 10,000 long standing customers and a great reputation. Features include billing and invoicing, contact management, maintenance tracking, expense management, insurance management, lease management, tax management, a landlord and tenant database, rent tracking and late fee calculation. The problem is that because it's aimed at corporate clients, it's very expensive and only available on bespoke pricing.

What about Consumers?

It's all well and good having expensive platforms that allow large companies to track their property values and rental yield, but what about consumers who own one, or perhaps two, houses. Their house or houses are likely their most valuable asset, and so tracking the value, or the yield if they're leasing this out, makes up a non insignificant part of their financial planning.

The Housing Wealth Effect

This is even more important when you consider the housing wealth effect. When the value of people's houses go up, they feel wealthier, which leads them to change their spending and investing habits. They might also now be in a position to refinance their home and release equity, which could be used to invest in other assets that might help them to diversify their portfolio.

Many people are completely unaware that this is an option, or if they are, they're not sure when the right time to take advantage of this is. The answer is that they should be doing this when their property has appreciated a significant amount, and ideally also when interest rates are fairly low. This is because you're essentially taking out a loan, so you want to make sure you have a good rate.

You can use the Strabo dashboard to track the value of your home as well as how you're keeping up to date with the interest rate repayments, and so when you might be able to refinance or take some equity out of your home.

Can Landlords use these too?

The short answer is yes, they can. However, there are a few considerations.

Cost

Firstly, much of this software isn't cheap. So you have to ask yourself if it's worth it, and what is the level at which you reach enough properties where you need to start using software to track them.

Admin

Secondly, there is the admin. You should be looking for software specifically for large scale property management in order to relieve the burden of managing lots of different tenants, agents and properties, each with their own maintenance schedules and idiosyncratic needs. This only becomes a large problem when you have a lot.

Until then, you're probably best off either tracking the values yourself on a spreadsheet using online valuation tools, or automating this using a portfolio tracker like Strabo to see how these impact your wider portfolio.

The other advantage of this is that it's a much lower cost burden. However, it does put the onus on you to deal with the tenants and maintenance, although for a small portfolio this should be easily manageable. Many landlords also opt to have a property management service to do this heavy lifting for them.

Rounding Up

So there you have it - the software platforms are generally great for larger clients with lots of properties, but most individuals who either have one home or a few rental properties have no need for such software and would be better off with a generalised portfolio tracker that includes real estate tracking. And that, of course, is something that we can help with.