AppFolio Property Manager Erfahrungen

Vorteile

I love the ability to track collections, maintenance orders, and Tenant info/documents from my smartphone. This software gives me the option to have any staff work remote as needed and still do our jobs at 100% capacity.

Nachteile

Appfolio does a nice job at continuing to develop better features. One area that needs improvements is the ability to do inspections. It takes forever for photos to upload while at the property and uses a ton of data. Would be nice to be able to have the inspections saved locally to the phone and then upload all at once while on WiFi. This would speed up inspections drastically. Improving inspection templates is also needed.

Vorteile

AppFolio is by far the easiest property software to use. They are also always improving the user experience

Nachteile

There are some very small items that are annoyances, but not even close to a deal breaker

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Buildium

Warum AppFolio Property Manager gewählt wurde

Preparing to grow and scale. AppFolio is more intuitive and easier to use

Gründe für den Wechsel zu AppFolio Property Manager

Ease of use. Easier onboarding process.

Vorteile

Initially, AppFolio offered a user-friendly interface with features that helped streamline property management tasks like tracking maintenance requests and handling tenant communications efficiently.

Nachteile

AppFolio suddenly stopped allowing us to accept credit card payments from tenants without any prior notice or explanation. This caused major disruptions in our operations and inconvenienced our tenants. The lack of communication and support from their customer service made the situation even more frustrating.

Vorteile

I love the constant addition of new features. The ability for owners and tenants to have their own portals is fantastic. Tenants can pay online and set up recurring payments, which enhances convenience and efficiency for everyone involved.

Nachteile

While I appreciate the continuous addition of new features and the convenience of automated processes, the lack of quick human response can be frustrating. Additionally, the vacancy advertising link is also quite frustrating to use.

Vorteile

Easy to read landlord statements, able to accept electronic payments, and vendor management as well as processing work orders.

Nachteile

No complaints, my landlords preferred this software over our original one.

Vorteile

One of the standout features of AppFolio is its simplicity. It doesn't overwhelm you with unnecessary complexities but still offers all the essential tools needed for effective property management. Everything is streamlined and straightforward.

Nachteile

One thing AppFolio can improve on is when saving a file or document, if you upload the wrong document, it doesn't allow you to delete it. You need to have access to delete it.

Vorteile

I like the proper management of multiple assets any individual can have. The dashboard they provide is simpler, readable and effective

Nachteile

Costing is high for some paid features, which are free on similar platforms

Vorteile

the layout is bright and easy to use, and it makes it convenient to make payments and keep track of them.

Nachteile

Very basic looking and I cant seem to get emails from it , like setting reminders if that is even a feature. Also, it tends to put NOT YET DUE amounts as due amounts and that can be confusing and alarming.

Vorteile

It was easy to set up and learn how to use to process applications

Nachteile

Easy to use and input data entries on the daily

Vorteile

We are able to pay rent with a click of a button.

Nachteile

The initial set up. It took some time but once you get you will be fine.

Vorteile

User friendly & intuitive. The app and online log in for tenants and owners is a game changer. The vendors and work order flow is excellent. Accounting is similar to quickbooks, everyone get it. Unlimited support (for FREE - who offers that?), an excellent online help "System" There are videos, online articles, training you attend live online and/or watch at any time on specific topics. There is a user community for help too. What other software allows you to "Vote" on things you want your software to do - and the programmers work on the request with the most votes. Amazing!! Thank you AppFolio

Nachteile

That I had to suffer through YARDI for so long before I found AppFolio and we switched.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Yardi Voyager und Buildium

Warum AppFolio Property Manager gewählt wurde

Yardi was awful - cumbersome - every time we ran a report the numbers were different????? What??? and when there was a problem they caused - with some "Update" - they charged me when I called for support to help figure out why the same thing I had been doing for a year now no longer worked due to their "Update".

Gründe für den Wechsel zu AppFolio Property Manager

They had the best all around package, reviews and very competitive pricing

Vorteile

I love how easy it is to advertise our vacancies. Then the interested parties can schedule viewings and apply for the property right from our web site. Once we select a tenant, we can transfer all of their information from their application over to make them our active tenant with the click of a button. I love how easy it is for tenants to pay their rent online or at pay stations and it goes directly into our bank account and calculates the management fees.

Nachteile

The reports could be a little better. On multiple units, the reports don't break down the expenses by unit number very well. So, the owners aren't able to tell on their reports what a management fee charge was for because the charge isn't broken down by unit number. As a result, we get calls from upset owners and our accounting department has to create reports outside of the software to make sure the owners are satisfied. This takes extra time when the software could easily break down these expenses if it was programmed to do so. Our accounting department said that the bookkeeping side of the software could be better.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Yardi Voyager

Warum AppFolio Property Manager gewählt wurde

Appfolio had more features and was more user friendly.

Zuvor genutzte Software

Buildium

Gründe für den Wechsel zu AppFolio Property Manager

It seemed to be much more user friendly and had more features that would work best for us.

Vorteile

We were on a somewhat antiquated system, so improvement was easy to recognize. AppFolio does a lot of things well. It improved connection with residents AND our ability to have better records both for tenants and for staff (liability support/reduction), and much easier for staff to know what is happening across the board with any one resident or prospect. We are still learning! The transition was fast and friendly. Loved their tenant liability option.

Nachteile

1) OnBoarding was very tech-oriented and a challenge to adapt easily because staff is working on a calendar. I have some a-ha moments that i just couldn't get the OnBoarding team to understand (even though they were very capable folks) because in this tech world, it's either a or b, there is no c option. Well, later I'm finding the c option IS available.
2) They make frequent updates, and communicate them well. The challenge is working them into your schedule to understand so you can stay on top of them because your team will do the same---someone needs to know them.
3) Other updates seem to be in holding status for way too long, when they'd help users so much.
4) Our biggest complaint is AppFolio's unwillingness to work with other software integrations. They really cripple my ability by being so protective of.....whatever it is. Most other softwares integrate fine. They do so much so well, I feel like it's time to stop being so proprietary. That would change any element of dissatisfaction that I encounter. It appears so flexible, but it's not. The larger companies don't all want their screening or leases....so I still am running other programs which is a pain. Their system doesn't work for me (having a one stop shop for 'everyone' isn't realistic) in all areas as it seemed to in the beginning. So modify your expectations. I would have still purchased, but been happier with where i landed.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Buildium

Warum AppFolio Property Manager gewählt wurde

It was time to update and engage and embrace a switch. Our product was becoming antiquated and while we loved it, we desired the upgrades and a tech company bought our old one and wasn't going to update our product so they could bring in their competitive options.

Gründe für den Wechsel zu AppFolio Property Manager

Two easy reasons (I'd spent time prior reviewing): 1) A close colleague was using and really liked it AppFolio. 2) Buildium hasn't been as user friendly as other options.

Vorteile

I love the ease of use of this software. It gives me so many options for reporting, investigating any issues, and my tenants love that they can pay online and request maintenance online as well. I love the look of it, it is modern without being gaudy.

Nachteile

I only wish that changing ownership for 1099 reporting was easier (IE partners that get monthly distributions but want the 1099 reported to the partnership name)

Vorteile

I love how easy it is to use and that it's got everything integrated from inspections to maintenance to accounting to contract management. It also posts my listings to a bunch of websites automatically.

Nachteile

It was initially a perfect fit for our company. We wanted our website and property management software integrated and we loved the features such as the tenant portal etc. In the past couple of years, it seems that they are gearing themselves more toward large companies (1000+ units) as they are only making certain features available to their larger clients (i.e. Lisa AI / artificial intelligence secretary) despite having the technology already to accommodate all clients regardless of company size. Additionally, we paid a lofty website setup fee when we originally enrolled in the software in 2014. They charge anywhere from $1000-5000 to redesign the website and as of March 2021, they are forcing everyone to migrate their website over to a new design and imposing a monthly fee to host the website in addition the the regular monthly fee.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Yardi Voyager und Buildium

Warum AppFolio Property Manager gewählt wurde

We wanted something more integrated and that allowed more than one user at a time.

Gründe für den Wechsel zu AppFolio Property Manager

Because it was a better value for the money and seemed more user-friendly.

Vorteile

I love how you can tie everything in from property to owner to tenant. You can click on the amount in any report to review a transaction. Attaching PDFs to the statements are fantastic. Communication is wonderful.

Nachteile

The finer accounting pieces. I would love to be able to run the balance sheet and click on Operating Cash to see what the balance of each bank account that makes up the Operating cash, then if I want to see by property, I could click on that total.

Vorteile

Appfolio is so easy to use, both for us as managers and for homeowners using the portal. Appfolio has spent a great deal of time figuring out which features are the most beneficial and perfecting those features.

Nachteile

There are a few very minor technical things but I am sure they will get fixed as Appfolio is constantly making improvements.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Buildium

Warum AppFolio Property Manager gewählt wurde

I started onboarding with Buildium when we first started our company but they were making the onboarding process too difficult so we switched.

Zuvor genutzte Software

Buildium

Gründe für den Wechsel zu AppFolio Property Manager

Ease of use and customer support.

Vorteile

The ease of use. AppFolio makes every process seem simple. All of the information within AppFolio is easily searchable and our users don't need to be super tech savvy to use AppFolio with confidence.

Nachteile

We'd love to see AppFolio make a concerted effort to improve or add features for commercial properties like sales tracking/percentage rent billing. Even though the commercial property features aren't as robust as the residential features, I have no doubts that I will see these features in the future. AppFolio regularly releases new and improved features. They also maintain a robust user community wherein they take suggestions and let us know what suggestions are in the works.

Vorteile

Extremely easy to navigate/train employees to use, tenant rent payment/owner contributions are free with ACH, application-move in flow is smooth, mobile app works well, available property postings look great on my website.

Nachteile

Suppressed fees amount to commingling, and that is so bad. It could easily be resolved and the idea has lots of votes in the forum yet it remains unaddressed. Not to mention, suppressed application fees can be passed on to an owner before you need to refund the fee depending on the timing and that leads to a nightmare of accounting, and having to explain to an owner why you are unprofessionally having to withhold the money in the next month. I tried to get help from support to no avail (it was repeatedly blown off as user error) so then I started going to their live meetups when they came to town begging for help from support in person to make it clear it is not user error. That led to more dissmissal from user support as being due to user error, so I finally said I wasn’t taking no for an answer. After talking to tons of people, I finally got a support person who understood what I was saying, and all they could offer was a VERY time consuming work-around. The integrated email/text feature often fails and does not notify you that it failed causing huge problems. Notification emails when a lead inquires have started being unreliable. If tenants wait too long to respond to an email I sent via appfolio, they are told the thread has expired. Since every email sent from appfolio is sent from a different spammy looking email address, I get frustrated tenants asking which of the 15 email addresses they should use to reach me. Owner statements are confusing to owners.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

*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

Nachteile

*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.

Vorteile

Intially their handoff and onboarding seemed seemless.. All flowed OK through Web Design and initial onboarding..

Nachteile

I'd give them NO STARS If I COULD...
It wasn't until we started to use software and my staff needed support to inpliment and use the software day to day .. They all became frustrated when it would take days to get a call back to address their issues and move forward.. So, learning curve was slow.. Tech support doesnt schedule a call back.. They simply call you when THEY're ready.. Like staff just sits and waits for their call !

Vorteile

AppFolio is very intuitive and the learning curve for basic functionality and navigation within the software is relatively short. The "help" section is generally very informative. From a property management, unit-based accounting perspective, the software is very robust and offers tremendous bang for the buck. Using the software platform streamlines work flow and provides increased efficiency within the office.
The Tenant and Owner Portals are hugely beneficial for all parties. Paying rent (Tenants) or sending funds for maintenance & repairs (Owners) is simple and quick.
The ability to submit online maintenance requests through the Tenant portal is also a positive feature of the software. Work orders can be generated directly from the maintenance request and they can be easily tracked to completion.
The text & email capabilities within the software are also positive features. Having the ability to review email/text history without having to search through an external email program is terrific.

Nachteile

The Tenant Move Out & Security Deposit Disbursement process is one of few features that I don't care for. Processing security deposit claims where a portion of the SD is forfeited to the owner, a portion of the SD is forfeited to the management company and a portion of the SD is refunded to the Tenant is not a smooth or intuitive process. Security deposit funds cannot be retained within the escrow account until funds can be legally disbursed - they are automatically transferred from the SD escrow/trust account to the management/property account. This places an additional burden on accounting staff to ensure that funds are not inadvertently released/disbursed before statutory time frames allow.
It would be helpful if the state specific SD disbursement protocol could be customized by the end user.

Vorteile

It can be very user friendly if you invest the time to take advantage of what the system offers. It offers A LOT. When one thing doesn't work the way you want it to, it doesn't mean the system is bad. It is actually REALLY GOOD. It helps us encompass a lot of different platforms into one which was the main reason we chose it. We were pleasantly surprised how much we like using the software.

Nachteile

In our market, there are several items or tasks we need to perform or things we need to track that are often overlooked by property management software. Appfolio does know how to handle one task that is critical but it is not fully functional. When we choose the software, we thought because it was marketed as something that handled "NYC DHCR" leases but that's is misleading. As we were going live, we found out that it has limitations which resulted in us not being able to fully utilize in the way we thought we would. Once you discover things like this, it is quite difficult to get a total solution that is easy or quick available for use. This creates a real challenge and means we have to work around it but we want to be hopeful that we can help them continue to make advancements to fully handle the NYC market. In the meantime, we are stuck with challenges.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Yardi Voyager

Warum AppFolio Property Manager gewählt wurde

The product we were using was a dinosaur and it did not fully integrate with other platforms that we used.

Gründe für den Wechsel zu AppFolio Property Manager

The user experience and ease of navigation.

Vorteile

The product itself is great and very intuitive. The mobile app is very helpful for the entire staff.

Nachteile

Support is really lacking. I would like to just call and get support, rather than submitting a request and waiting for an answer. I've submitted a request once and was told that what I was requesting was not supported and that I should make a suggestion. I feel that I'm already communicating with Appfolio, why do I have to re-communicate to Appfolio? The support person should have said that the feature I was looking for will be passed on to the appropriate department. I get the impression that the suggestion board is mainly a feel good function and not something that Appfolio takes seriously. I base this on the fact that there are suggestions that have several votes, have been on the board for several months and not getting a response. As an example there is as suggestion for lease expiration notice which has 1,231 votes and was suggested May 2015. It was not responded to until February 2016 and we still don't have this function. What's really funny about this particular function is that before I went to Appfolio 5 years ago I had this function on my website that I designed and had developed. This is just proof that Appfolio doesn't listen to it's clients