Buildium Property Manager: Pricing, Features & Alternatives
Property managers have a lot to deal with. Luckily, one way to manage this is through property management software. Buildium property management software is one popular platform for busy property managers.
Many property managers choose it for its multi-resident management capabilities.
But does it have everything you need, and is it as good as the hype around it makes it out to be?
Let's look at Buildium property management software, the pros and cons, and whether or not it's the right choice for you.
Our Buildium Product Review
Buildium is a cloud-based property management software first introduced to the market in 2004.
Co-founders Dimitris Georgakapoulos and Michael Monteiro created the software to manage the entire property rental and maintenance process.
The software simplifies and manages the rent cycle. Key features include leasing automation, rent collection automation, accounting tools, and on-demand reports.
As you can imagine, the software was a hit and is still a favorite for managing residential and association properties.
What Is Buildium?
Buildium is property management software, which, as the name suggests, helps manage properties.
From Buildium's tenant portal and owner dashboard, property managers can automate, customize, and set alerts to ensure residential and association properties run optimally. It manages everything from online payments to maintenance requests to vacancy management.
As you can imagine, this is extremely helpful for property managers dealing with more than one residential property.
Instead of managing multiple accounts on multiple platforms, usually combined with archaic accounting systems and pen-and-paper to-do lists, having one dashboard to manage the entire process is extremely useful.
Buildium Features And Benefits
Since 2004, Buildium has continued to simplify the property management process. The software is still regularly updated, with additions that satisfy modern demands.
Here are all the features that make it so popular.
Leasing
Buildium's leasing features aim to keep your residents up to date and your vacancies to a minimum.
Leasing features include:
- Tenant Screening: From the property managers portal, you can easily manage tenant screening and check a resident's criminal and credit history.
- Rental Management: Manage rental applications and listings with Buildium's marketing site. It also handles the lease tracking and associated payments from the portal.
- Showings Coordinator: Automate re-qualifications and manage your scheduling and follow-ups with Tenant Turner.
Accounting & Payments
Buildium has robust accounting and payment features.
Accounting and payment features include:
- Property Accounting: Manage full general ledger accounting, bank accounts, and rent payments securely from the software. Users can also create automated rent reminders and payments to other bills, like renters insurance.
- Online Payments: Buildium software can send and accept payments for association properties, vendors, rent, etc. It also provides a complete payment history.
- Reporting: Monitor your business health with company financials and on-demand reports.
- 1099 eFiling: Users can file taxes through Buildium.
Business Operations
Manage all business operations from one portal.
- Maintenance & Owner Portal: Manage and submit maintenance requests, cycles, and property inspections through the mobile-friendly website.
- Residents Center: The tenant portal makes it easy for residents to make maintenance requests, make payments, and access property management from a mobile-friendly website.
- Violation Tracking: Log and track resident issues or violations from the comfort of your phone.
- Communication: Communicate with community association management, residents, and other board members with the Buildium Board Communications software.
- Analytics: Get instant access to business performance analytics and data-driven improvement strategies.
- Open API: Integrate other business and building management software with Buildium's open API.
Marketing
Buildium enables managers to do more than receive online payments and do tenant screenings. They also provide easy but effective marketing tools.
- Free Professional Website: Create your own website and access Buildium's listing partners when a vacancy cycle begins.
- Property Management: Gain access to property owners who need your services.
Buildium Pros & Cons
Now that we have a clear image of what to expect from Buildium let's cover the software's pros and cons.
PROS
- Impressive Interface: Buildim is user-friendly, with an easy-to-understand interface. They also provide training through the Buildium Academy for features that are harder and more advanced to manage.
- Continues Growth: The software is growing and improving with regular updates. There is also a large community of Buildium users to contact for troubleshooting help.
- Efficient Management: From maintenance request tracking to rent payments, Buildium streamlines the property management process.
Cons
- Additional Fees: Buildium's basic plan is limited and charges extra fees to access necessary additional features. The same is true for the higher-level tiers. It can be expensive for newer property managers.
- Spotty Customer Support: People on the lowest tiers do not have access to live phone support. It can be a hit-or-miss situation even when you get through to live support.
- No resident-led inspections: Unlike RentCheck, property managers and maintenance staff must complete rental inspections independently. This costs time and money.
Buildium Pricing
Buildium pricing is available in 3 pricing tiers. Those pricing tiers are:
Buildium Essential Plan
The essential plan starts at $52 a month, with access to only the most basic features. They also charge $5 for every lease, a $99 setup fee, and $40 for the property inspection. They also charge per transaction.
Buildium Growth Plan
The Growth plan costs $166 monthly and gives access to most software features. There are no additional fees, and the incoming EFT fees are waived.
Buildium Premium Plan
For $479 a month, you'll have access to all of Buildiums features. Incoming EFT fees are also waived.
Buildium Alternatives
Buildium pricing can be overwhelming, and customer support is spotty. If you're unsure about Buildium, look at a few of its competitors.
RentCheck
RentCheck helps property managers automate the property management and inspection process. It allows residents to do inspections, which saves property managers and maintenance staff time and resources.
SimplifyEm
SimplifyEM is a small property management system with basic accounting capabilities, alerts, scheduling systems, and vendor and lease tracking.
Automate Inspections With RentCheck
From managing maintenance cycles to fee reminders, Buildium's cloud-based property management software will give your control over your properties and residents.
However, it could be better. If the Buildium's cons are too much for you, consider RentCheck. RentCheck empowers residents and streamlines the inspection process with property management customization and automatization.
View a demo and see why many property managers choose RentCheck as their go-to rental property inspection partner.