What Should You Expect From Your Property Software?

By Author: Amer Siddiq
Total Articles: 89
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As an experienced landlord this is probably one of the questions I get asked the most frequently, especially in recent years when most landlords have completely come to terms with the fact that they need property software to get the most out of their business. It is not always a straight forward question to answer because everyone's needs are different, to a certain extent. However, there are some tips that I can give to you if you are in the market for property management software because some things are just basic needs and you are well within your rights to expect them no matter what software you have chosen to purchase.

The first thing I am going to cover is usability. It is easy to forget about this factor when you are shopping for property software. It can be overlooked in the case for software with all the latest bells and whistles. But the rule of thumb for my mind is; it is no use having software that does absolutely everything if you have no idea how to use it. This can occur for a couple of reasons, you may have chosen software that is well out of the comfort zone of your computer knowledge, more likely, and ...
... however, the software is just badly designed.

A way of avoiding this is to try to test drive the software first but if that is not an option a thorough demonstration along with some online reviews from independent sources should allow you to make sure you are not purchasing something that is unusable. Taking these steps can save you a lot of hassle because, in my opinion, there is little more frustrating than wrestling with a piece of counter intuitive software.

The other thing that is a total must for landlord software is a suitable support program from the people who sell it to you, both in terms of getting the software up and running and for when things go wrong. Any property management software that is sold to you without the support package to back it up should be looked on with skepticism. No matter how well designed the software may be there is always the potential for problems and when they occur they have the potential to cause your whole operation to grind to a halt. In that situation you need to be able to get help fast. The best people to help you are those that designed the landlord software.

Ideally you are looking for a support package that gives you access to help 24/7. Most of us do not work ordinary office hours anymore and with the global nature of business these days those types of ideas are pretty much redundant. It is not really relevant how the help is reached though a couple of choices between live chat, phone and email are probably helpful.

In summary I would say that usability and support are the two elements that are not negotiable in a landlord software package. There are many other factors that should come into consideration but they are more situation specific, these two are the very least you should be able to expect from your property management software.

Property Portfolio Software's flagship property management software product Landlord's Property Manager tracks all property-related income and expenditure and helps landlords to get better organized. If you want easy to use landlord software that will help you to get better organized and slash your accountancy and legal fees then try our landlord solutions today.