I recently wrote a user review of PropertyBoss 2006, a property managment software, and submitted it to the good folks at PropertyBoss Solutions. I like their product so much, I am posting a copy of my review here.
I will soon be upgrading our office to PropertyBoss 2007.
 =====================
PropertyBoss is a property management software developed and supported by Property Boss Solutions based in South Carolina. PropertyBoss was originally developed for property managers managing single-family houses. It has since been expanded to include multi-family unit apartment buildings and student housing. However, I have found that it is flexible enough to be used for a slightly different segment of the market of which I work in, using Lease-Options within the single-family house market.
PropertyBoss has gone through different revisions over the years. What makes PropertyBoss different from many software packages is that they actually include new features with their minor revisions, not simply bug updates.
In the property management software marketplace, there are different kinds of offerings. Some cater to the lower-end of the market, some cater to the higher-end of the market where the larger management and investment companies exist. Some have different features than others. Or they implement the same features differently.
When it comes to value pricing, I find PropertyBoss pricing to be somewhere at the mid-level. There are property management software more expensive and there are some less expensive. But in evaluating software, I believe you have to go beyond pricing. Less expensive does not always mean inferior functionality or usability just like more expensive doesn’t always mean superior functionality and usability. You have to evaluate software holistically.
The flagship PropertyBoss software product starts at 100-units for $795.00. In the multi-family apartment arena, that is actually a relatively low number of units and a reasonable entry point. I happen to come from the single-family house market. And so, most companies working in a similar segment would consider 100-units a high entry point. In those cases where a company or investor may only have 10-20 units, you have to break it down to see if it is “worth†paying the additional 100-unit cost.
From what I have been told by the company, setting the software at 100-units allows the company to separate themselves from the “lower-end†of the single-family house rental market and the technical support involved in servicing that market. It doesn’t mean that if you only have 10-20 units (or rental houses) you cannot use PropertyBoss. But it does make for a higher management software cost per property than if you had 50-75 units.
Technical support is an important issue to discuss for any software user, large or small. PropertyBoss Solutions tends to avoid the lower-end of the market because of the costs involved. I respect that the company understands the importance (and costs) of technical support. It is simply smart business.
However, do not take that in the wrong way that they do not provide good technical support. They do. They are responsive to both email and phone requests and they are friendly! I will admit I do not know if they are simply friendly with me because they know me and I have some history with them or if they are friendly with everyone. I tend to think they are friendly with everyone because at one time, I was a new customer and I was treated in a personable way. Friendliness is always a nice touch beyond the normal, standard polite call.
Their views on technical support may be contrary to what many customers think companies should do but I respect PropertyBoss Solutions for holding to their convictions. Too often, companies will try to be too many things to too many people. What happens then is their limited resources are stretched too thin and no one is served well.
Having said that, I do believe the company wants to provide a growth path for “up and coming†companies. And so, they provide PropertyBooks which is a slightly scaled down version of PropertyBoss. You have to pay extra for technical support (through their annual PASS program) but it does provide an easy, affordable way for smaller companies to get involved with the product.
I admit I am biased towards their flagship product. The company allows you to download and “play†with the trial version. I must say that sales strategy worked with me. When I installed and saw how easy the software was to use, I was won over. Although it was somewhat more expensive than some other products I evaluated, I decided I need to “step up†and work with a different type of company.Â
For me, user friendliness is important. PropertyBoss has a pleasing user interface and it is logical to my sensibilities as a user. The software provides a wide variety of reports (more than we ever use). And it is customizable to the way we do business. There is a feature that allows you to integrate PropertyBoss to Quickbooks. However, I cannot give an opinion on how well this is implemented as my office does not currently use this function.
The underlying technology appears to be solid and supports the most current versions of Windows. Installation and upgrades are relatively painless. However, I did find the multi-user implementation a bit unusual. I got through it but not without getting some clarification from technical support. Single-user implementation is by far the easiest and most convenient. However, I found that multi-user access is inevitable for any growing company. That cost has to be factored in.
In the realm of the software industry, it isn’t often you find a company that releases a great product but also pleasant to interact with. Most of the time, the interaction between software companies and their customers is relatively cold and impersonal. But I find PropertyBoss Solutions to be a personable company.
Overall, I highly recommend PropertyBoss as a comprehensive property management software with many helpful features. And it is backed by a company that is responsive and seem to care about the happiness of its customer base.