AppFolio Property Manager

Pros

We have been using AppFolio for five years now. In that time, the features and adaptability of the software have increased significantly. When adopted the software, it really wasn't really geared toward commercial properties or owners associations. Since that time, they have really made it a great solution for us in those segments of the property management profession.

They listen. They make changes/additions to the features based on feedback from the users. They can't satisfy every individual firm's specific method of handling an issue, but they really pay attention to providing a feature for the vast majority of users.

One amazing feature they added was at a customer conference. At the beginning of the conference, they took a poll of what one feature would the users like. The overwhelming majority selected a calendaring feature. The initial roll out of that feature was released by the end of the two day conference. Since then, the calendar feature has become very robust and a great management tool.

Back-up issues are no longer a worry.

Cons

Nothing so far.

Another Pro: Another example occurred shortly after the first conference I attended. I was sitting at one of the outstanding mixers. A gentleman sat down next to me, said that he was with AppFolio. He asked if I had any suggestions as a new user. I said that as a data entry convenience (I'm an old programmer from the '60s), I was all about reducing keystrokes. I mentioned that it would be nice if you were in a date field that you could change the date by tapping the + or - keys. Turns out that he is one of the leaders of the firm, and the feature was activated in most date fields by the end of the week.

Pros

There are several things that I like about this software. I think the top of my list is that there is so much functionality related to apartment leasing/management that is all integrated - basic general ledger accounting, tenant accounts receivable, screening applicants, online leasing, attachment of invoices, statements, agreements, etc to appropriate pages in AppFolio, vendor payments, owner payments, 1099's, financial reporting, etc, and on top of that, it's an online platform available from any computer or mobile device, live and up-to-date for all users.

Cons

Currently my biggest frustration is RUBS for utilities. The feature is set up in such a manner that we are unable to use it because it allocates costs to anything considered a "unit" which for us includes non-residents who lease a parking space. I have made sure that top management and the development team at AppFolio are aware of this flaw in the functionality of this feature, so I'm hopeful there will be a resolution.

Pros

I do accounts payable, plus deal with Owners and basically put out little fires that arise. Since using Appfolio I have reduced my work load or should I say the time that is necessary to do my job. By being able to do ACH's and emailing and texting. End of month statements was reduced down to a few hours from 2 days. The world we live in now does a lot of texting and emailing and that is always nice to be able to do when you are slammed. More than 50% of my Owners are retired or semi retired and are older so I find that it is important to have that conversation with them over the phone for that personal relationship that they like. I am friends with a lot of my Owners even though I have never laid eyes on them. So we need to balance things for good PR.

Cons

I don't have many, and I am at a loss right now to specifically point any particular problem. It is those times when you run into a situation that you rarely do and have problem figuring it out. The instructions are not real clear. As example off the top of my head. I have a problem right now with my Diagnostic under the Non-Zero Security Clearing Account Balances. I think that I have done it correctly after following the instructions and then I find my diagnostic with a problem that I will need help from Appfolio with. Right now I haven't had the time to contact Appfolio to help me due to my own personal issues, medical, vacation etc.

Pros

*Convenient user access on computer & phone.
*User friendly & comprehensive for property management operations
*Good visuals, nice looking documents & communication to customers.
*Love how you launch improvements ongoing & post "What's New"
*Sending work order links to vendors, how they can see all their w/o to stay better organized
*Paying vendors via direct deposit.
*Sharing documents to tenant & owner portals. No more mailing.
*Helps organize functions

Cons

*Expensive.
*Very complicated to manage the accounting portion. There are many hidden, connected functions, that fixing one, often doesn't fix all or messes something else up.
*Move-outs are exceptionally difficult if you have to meet a short time line & have to break the tenant refunds into 2 payments. In WA state, water/sewer companies don't put account in tenant names or read meters in between, so we have to wait up to 60 days to get final bill. We want to hold out deposit funds for that & then refund the tenant any overcharged amount.
*Customer service is friendly & knowledgeable, but have to wait for returned contact & about 25% of the time offers solutions doesn't fix all aspects or messes up something else.

Big Issue: A HUGE number of brokerages are hiring outside Appfolio experts to help manage & solve their problems, instead of relying on Appfolio customer service. A HUGE number. There is something wrong with that.

Pros

Appfolio gives us as a rental company the ability to easy sort, organize, and access information on our tenants, owners, and vendors. I love that Appfolio has helped us move to doing business online. It's so convenient for us to send out a lease and have it signed electronically and saves time for us and our tenants. They don't have to take off work to come to our office to do so.

Online payments have similar benefits. Most of our tenants pay online and it's so nice that we don't have to record each of those payments; they're automatically applied to the tenant's account.

Another feature that we use a lot is the credit and background checks. It's conveniently built into the application and helps us screen applicants efficiently.

I like that Appfolio offers texting and emailing. It makes it easy to see what was communicated and it's all on the tenant's page and I don't have to pull up multiple windows for that.

The newly-developed tenant insurance coverage feature allows me to track who has coverage and who doesn't, and to email them notifications if their insurance has expired. It also shows which policies expire in 30 days, which is great for reminding people before their policy expires so they have continuous coverage.

I appreciate how AppFolio continues to improve their product and develop new features. They allow users to make suggestions and comment on suggestions as well.

Cons

I wish that the texting line could receive pictures. This would make the application process easier; people could take pictures of documents they didn't include in the application and send it to us. While most people can take pictures and send them by email, I think it would help especially our older tenants and others who don't have email on their phones or don't have a smartphone or just aren't as technologically literate. People would also be able to send us pictures of their insurance docs and maintenance issues.

It would also be nice to be able to search for guest cards (interested parties) in the main search bar. Currently I need to search on the guest cards page and the person doesn't show up if it's been over a year from their last inquiry.