Buildium reviews

Best property management software for the price

Opmerkingen: Reporting is important and Buildium lets you know who owes how much and what bills need to be paid. It simplifies the bookkeeping aspect and gives accurate accounting if used properly. Really enjoy having a dashboard with all critical information at my fingertips.

Pluspunten:

Buildium is packed with features to streamline property management and cashflow. There is no better way to accept tenant payments and pay vendors online with the click of a few buttons. Once we got our tenants and vendors using the payment portal, we drastically reduced time spent on processing paper bills and checks. There are so many ways to automate tasks and save time.

Minpunten:

I'm hoping that the developers add the "Duplicate Invoice" feature in the Bills module. This would save a lot of time when entering several bills at once. Setup is difficult but key to make the software work for you.

The Best PM Software Solution

Opmerkingen: We have enlarged our client base with Buildium's features thanks to their focus on speed and accuracy with payments, reporting, and accounting ease.

Pluspunten:

Online payments are a game-changer. Owner/tenant/HOA access allows each respective person the ability to view important reports and property status in real-time. The property database is completely searchable from anywhere on the site.

Minpunten:

The task feature is a bit wanting. It's good for what it is, but dedicated project management or to-do list applications work just as well or better in most cases.

Opmerkingen: I switched to Buildium from QuickBooks in July 2011 and will switch off on January 1, 2012. We manage about 100 single family properties that are owned by about 30 investors. Yes Buildium is easy. Yes it is simple but if you are in the business of managing properties for multiple owners it just doesn't do the job. First, there is no way to invoice an owner for repairs. Buildium says you should have enough in your reserve account to cover the bill. OK, that makes sense, but what if you don't? There is no way within the system to tell an owner about upcoming expenses. You have to use another accounting system (QuickBooks for me) to invoice and track receipts. Then you have to add the invoice and payment to Buildium so the owner's reports on the portal (a nice but rarely used feature) are complete. The ability to sort reports is nearly non-existent. Buildium says to down load the report to Excel and then sort. Trouble is, the Excel file has so many merged fields that you cannot sort a single column. It is taking me 15 minutes to find and remove all the merged header information before a simple sort can be done. If you select the entire sheet then un-merge the report becomes a mess. The ability to "find" is absolutely non-existent. If you get a check for $1,453.62 and need to know where to apply it, good luck my friend. You have to call the issuer and get the name of the property and unit. Receipts, statements and reports, which are generated as pdf, are all formatted differently. This means you have to have 3 different types of window envelopes on hand at all times. Buildium is "joined at the hip" with NELCO printing and I have not been able to find checks other than NELCO's that print correctly. Why is this a big deal? NELCO charges $0.35 a check while Costco charges $0.035 per per check. If Buildium is not getting commissions on the business they send to NELCO, they certainly should. The online help search feature is worthless. There is no content searching so whatever word you type in the search box shows every page that includes any of the searched words. Skip the search and go directly to their index. With a little effort you can find an answer. The support team is quite pleasant and responds quickly. They rarely, however, have a direct answer and absolutely refuse to ever confirm a feature, like sending a bill to an owner, is just not there. What they do is endlessly reply, "We don't understand your question, please clarify." I have no one to blame for selecting Buildium except myself. When I asked to be shown features in the online demo I was told to talk to sales. When I asked sales the same question they said to sign up for a demo. In summary Buildium is cheap and easy but of little substance.

Review from 7+ year user

Opmerkingen: Positive. Very similar to my thoughts above in the Pros section. Have valued and enjoyed seeing what Real Page has done with this product since the acquisition a few years back.

Pluspunten:

Other than how easy and clean the layout is.....my favorite part of Buildium is how they utilize and solicit user feedback....and then for the most part, implement the right changes.

Minpunten:

The Financial Reports and Accounting modules are still lacking. Not to mention the Financials Tab within the Accounting module....is just useless in my opinion. Would love to see Buildium really take the time and initiate to improve and revise this. Which would include getting feedback from any users who are Accountants or CPAs by trade or have those backgrounds. Myself for example would love to partake in this if asked.

Very reliable PM software for professional residential management

Pluspunten:

It's really easy to use, but still gives us very advanced tools. Robust trust accounting makes auditing and compliance easy. Support is always good and prompt. They are constantly making updates and improvements and seem to really care about the product. I like features that save me time and Buildium delivers. Really good tenant app, tenants really like it. Communication features work well.

Minpunten:

Buildium is great for PMs who manage up to about 100 properties. It lacks the features that you need for over that amount, such as advanced batch reports, missing many standardized features and tools, no inspection schedule tracking, and the manager app isn't the best.

Cost Efficient PM Software

Opmerkingen: I really like Buildium and the ease it offers. I've used 3 other softwares and Buildium is as good or better.

Pluspunten:

The reporting and accounting is very good in comparison to other softwares.

Minpunten:

You have to click through several links to get to places when it could be compartmentalized better. Example - Click property, click unit, click lease, click tenant. This could be cut in half.

Buildium for Property Mangement

Opmerkingen: It is a very good property manage3ment tool.

Pluspunten:

Buildium is very user friendly and provides owner access 24/7/365 which is vital.

Minpunten:

Multiple screens to get needed information, i.e. applicant email was removed from list of new applicants. Application must be opened to get contact information. Ability to copy email addresses from screen to send email outside Buildium system was removed. Most cons would be slanted toward my personal usage requirements of the product.

Buildium is an excellent tool to upgrade your business!

Opmerkingen: Overall, the experience with Buildium has been a satisfying one. Training was very hands on, our relationship manager has also been helpful in addressing issues that customer service was not able to resolve.

Pluspunten:

The interface is very light and simple and not cluttered like some application.

Minpunten:

The refresh rate of the website can be a bit slow especially certain times of the month.

Good Value

Pluspunten:

It's a good software for communicating with tenants and landlords

Minpunten:

The accounting portion can be a bit clunky to understand.

Is Buildium for you?

Opmerkingen: Overall, Buildium is a robust platform suitable for mid-size to large property management companies looking to streamline their operations. However, small landlords might find it overly complex or expensive for their needs.

Pluspunten:

Comprehensive all-in-one solution User-friendly interface Scalable for different property sizes Strong accounting features

Minpunten:

Can be pricey for smaller property managers Some users report a steep learning curve Limited customization options

Buildium Builds Confidence in Our Owners and Tenants

Opmerkingen: I have come to rely on Buildium always being there when I need to enter information into the system or to generate a report or look up a transaction. I can't remember ever having a time when the system was down or not available. Not having to worry about this gives me peace of mind, and in a sometimes hectic environment, this is important. Buildium is dependable.

Pluspunten:

I use Buildium daily and rely on it to enter information that will be used to generate monthly and annual reports. The finished product is easy to read and looks very professional. Our owners know they are in good hands when they can easily see where there money is spent and feel confident that we are protecting their investment. For our tenants, they really like being able to pay their rent on line, saving them time and money. If I have an issue that needs to be resolved, I know I can count on Buildium's customer service department to answer my questions quickly and accurately.

Minpunten:

I understand how this software works now because I have been using it for the past several years, however, there was a little bit of a learning curve. Because I know the limitations of Buildium and how to get around them, there is less and less that I don't like about the software.

Opt for Monthly over Yearly at discounted rate

Opmerkingen: Benefits realized would be never opting to save 10% for a yearly contract when a company fails to stand behind their product. As a property manager my success mainly relies on tenants being happy with their situation I'm always perplexed when I deal with vendors that don't share that same idea.

Pluspunten:

The added features and collaborations with other products such as Happy Co. Inspector and other features were a huge selling point.

Minpunten:

On-boarding process was horrible, were given two options but the options we choose meant we never truly implemented the software, constantly we were pushed back month after month without being operational except for two properties. Balance and accounting sheet were never resolved. Repeatedly postponed and after months of not having the software work as suggested it would asked to be reimbursed for remaining months not even for a total refund which was denied under the condition that this is a 'self-service' software. If we had chosen month to month option we would of discontinued use of this product after two months. Unable to find an amicable resolution and thus will continue to use this product for the only two properties that were properly entered until the contract ends and discontinue service. The quality of their employees is very high and were easy to deal with but resolutions never truly came and sadly they didn't stand behind their product enough to understand that the on-boarding was never successful and meet a fair resolution. Was offered two months for free after 6 months of not being fully on-boarded.

Will never use another program

Opmerkingen: Buildium had always been the go to for me. It's user friendly for staff and extremely user friendly for my residents and older residents that aren't as technologically inclined. Anyone can use it. And when my older residents are confused they can call the hotline and get customer services from the team rather than calling is office during off hpurs.

Pluspunten:

The ease of importing all of our data and getting everything set up specifically for our hoa property. Everything we needed and none of the rental stuff we didn't. The team assisting us in seeing up the system has been incredible.

Minpunten:

There is nothing I dislike. I would love to have the ability to shower multiple chargers on statements for dues and assessment and have those both track. But the team has shown me a way we can do that until the update team has created that ability.

Great product for property management

Opmerkingen: Buildium has been great for property management. Online applications/background checks, epay, and the resident portal have proven to be daily uses in our business. 10 out of 10 would recommend.

Pluspunten:

epay. It's worth it for that. To be able to get paid online seemlessly is great. Communication being automated around payment is wonderful, too -- specifically, the lease ledger, automating late fees, and payment reminders.

Minpunten:

We list properties for rent that do not have bed/baths on them - specifically, RV pad sites and commercial lots. Buildium does not allow us to list properties without the bed/bath requirement. This becomes confusing to prospective tenants when these listings are on our website and published elsewhere.

Buildium is Fantastic

Opmerkingen: Buildium has given us the tools to streamline our processes and make daily tasks easy. The online software makes it accessible no matter where the staff are located so that work orders, rent input, communications, etc. can be handled in real-time and on the spot. Everything from leases to lease renewals, maintenance requests to inspections are all in one spot, easily accessible. No more paper files to thumb through. The administration of property management has never been such a breeze.

Pluspunten:

As an accountant, the accounting features are awesome. Online payments make tracking incoming rents easier since there is less leg work. You can setup priorities on how payments are applied. The program is easy to use and to navigate. Buildium provides tutorials that are great training tools for new and even experienced users. Buildium was easy to setup and integrate into our company.

Minpunten:

I have yet to find any complaints with Buildium's program. There are continuing to improve and add features on a quarterly basis. There were no issues switching to this software from our previous system.

A Great Way To keep all of your Property Management needs organized

Opmerkingen: Before we were using Google Drive and kept track of everything with spread sheets. Buildium makes it easier to keep all of your information together in one spot. Buildium is very user friendly. A little confusing at first but once you grasp how they organize everything you will catch on very quickly.

Pluspunten:

This app is wonderful and really helps keep the tenants, leases, contact info, maintenance requests, leasing and listing, Property Management, Work Orders, finances everything to do with Property Management all in order. It’s a great way to keep your company organized.

Minpunten:

I wish that there was a feature that we could have the list of tenants, like with outstanding balances, and when leases are close to being up etc. There’s a process, and I wish I could have a list of tenants with the check mark boxes beside them to mark off and keep track of each process. And even when I leave the page, and go else where in Buildium. When I come back to the list it is still the same as when I left it and I don’t have to start over. Just so I can keep track of which task and property I’ve already done for said task. For example: We have leases ending soon, I have to email each owner of each property to see if they want to do a rent increase or move out. This is where I would need my first check list of tenants I need to do this for. Then the next step is to create said rent increase notices or move out notices , this would be the second check list of tenants so that I can mark off and keep track of each step of the process and which tenants I’ve already completed the rent increase notices/move out notices for. I need this to be able to make separate lists that save even when I leave the page and go else where in Buildium. Right now there is a check box by each tenant, but it’s not really designed to keep track of what your doing because when I leave the page and come back my check marks are gone and I have to start over and try to remember which tenants I’ve already completed the process before. When dealing with tons of tenants this would make my job easier

Ray Realty

Opmerkingen: Overall I am really enjoying the program and feel it has made things easier for its users and for our tenants.

Pluspunten:

Love the Tenant Portal and all the features it offers. Accounting functions are easy to use and there is a simple way to make any type of entry.

Minpunten:

Would be very helpful is there was a report to track both Liability & Worker Comp insurance for Vendors & Certificates Of Liability for Commercial Tenants. As well as Property Taxes & Insurance on all Properties.

Customer service used to be great.

Opmerkingen: While using the mass email function to send owner reports I've had multiple issues with the system not recognizing owner email addresses. I've called customer service and emailed and still have no resolution. The first 1 1/2 I was with Buildium were fantastic. Customer service was helpful and always had the right answer. About a year ago something changed and calls to customer service no longer produce results. I'm considering switching to a new program.

Pluspunten:

I like the ease of use, little training is needed to make full use of the system.

Minpunten:

The owner portal isn't as easy to use as expected.

Buildium is Easy to Use- always

Opmerkingen: I train multiple users of Buildium to use it, help fix issues as they occur. Buildium makes it very easy to do and explain. I use it everyday doing the books in full for several accounts. I never cringe when investigating accounts for other peoples' errors because Buildium is so clear.

Pluspunten:

*Ease of use cannot be overstated *Screen aren't overly "busy" and the fonts are easily read, layout is obvious *Accuracy and flexibility to make all accounting coherent and easy to explain to brokers/owners *Reports generate quickly and while viewable on the screen can zero in on specific transactions, with interactive links *Ability to email individual reports or export in a variety of printing styles *Bank reconciliation and tie-out cash to properties and owners and company is simple *Communications have improved a lot in the past year - SMS tracking communication with tenants is much better. * banking window is AWESOME Being able to select by property and dates... Wonderful!!

Minpunten:

*Reporting fails - prints two pages when unnecessary, waste of paper, most people want one pagers - inability to email all owners their statements to each owner all at once. Can email individual reports only. Can't select properties on the fly- have to create a printing Group first. *Email addresses in owner and tenant records still tried to jump outside of Buildium instead of taking you to a simplified email interface within for tracked communications. Sometimes it's a little clunky navigating back and forth to common areas like between lease and property *Inability to produce a Invoice to the owner for reimbursing the broker/property manager or other vendors as needed. Owner statement doesn't reflect bills for the property entered but not yet paid.

Best investment of our HOA

Opmerkingen: Bookkeeping and reports are easy to enter and pull. Reconciliations are flawless. When I figured out that we could save documents/invoices by entering all outgoing payments as bills first, it was GREAT! The approval process is really good for checks and balances in our management of the community. One of the issues that I believe will be solved in the next 10 years is that some of our most elderly residents (usually those in their 80's) don't like portals and believe that their information will not be secure. Younger residents don't seem to have the same issues (by younger I mean anyone under 80). In 2017, when we took over management from a management company, we had a treasurer who wanted to do accounting and tracking with spreadsheets and was literally afraid of online software. He was over 80. Because of the time it takes to manage a community as a volunteer, it is usual to have elder individuals involved in boards and committees. We have it down to a handful of those who refuse to go to their portals. Lastly, my request to have an online process for architectural control does not seem to have gotten to the front of the line. It would be so beneficial for us to have that to be able to streamline another process for self-management.

Pluspunten:

Buildium has been great for our resident managed HOA. We did a thorough vetting job in choosing our management software, and it has lived up to what we hoped for. The books are right there, and we can allow anyone to see all that is going on at any time. Board members and volunteers have different levels of access, and that has made it easy for reporting. Resident portals are great, and the communication is easy.

Minpunten:

Size of documents/invoices you can is smaller than needed, so I often have to split documents into parts which is annoying. The email took doesn't allow cut and paste of a pdf into the body of text. I always have to send our newsletter as an attachment. Sometimes q & a does not answer my questions for simple things -- such as, I misspelled the name of a new owner, and it took me 30 minutes to figure out how to correct, because there was no answer provided in q & a. My biggest "complaint" would be that this is rental focused in some regard, and we have no tenants. We only have owners, and residents sometimes tell us they are confused by the things that say "tenants" or refer to rentals.

Property Management Software - works very well for non accounting backgrounds

Opmerkingen: Automation is HUGE! online payment is HUGE! It's connecting my tenant/client requests with my staff and subsequently my vendors - less mess to sort through!

Pluspunten:

I don't have to have a degree in accounting, between features, FAQ's and support, I've always been able to resolve issues. Love that it streamlines my processes into one central place and that I have a good overall place for myself, my assistant, my clients and tenants to look at things. Love online payments and ability to pay out to owners and vendors online as well! Software has fantastic capability to shift easily with the changing needs of business (growth or even if we were to pull back a bit - affordable and seamless transition!)

Minpunten:

The vendor/owner portals are difficult and messy. Also, my vendors can see ALL work orders, not just their own for a property they have access to. They have to go under maintenance just to find work orders (not intuitive). Would be awesome if they could just reply to the emails the system sends and have those replies/files be uploaded as communication on the work order. Loading pictures is ok but difficult to reorder. Also, would like to be able to load pictures in an area that show things like appliances/etc but not necessarily show on the listing If I enable "files" to be seen, then people can see ALL things under files - not just those pertinent to the properties they are enabled for. If I send an email to all owners or all tenants, it does not save under their individual communication logs - I have to go into a specific lease/tenant/owner/etc then go to communications to start an email otherwise it's not in the log. Would like to have multiple work orders under tasks - sometimes I need a General, a plumber and an electrician to complete the same task, for example. In the banking area, I'd like the property balances to reflect how much is deposit/property reserves so that I can see I'm where I need to be at a glance. I'd also like to be able to make more than one reserve account per property (i.e. taxes, maintenance) I'd like ONE application email - not one plus the credit check (maybe the app has a link to the chk

A great choice for property rentals (with a few limits)

Opmerkingen: Overall, I am very happy that I've made the switch to Buildium. While there was a small learning curve (as expected), the training we received was excellent. While there are a few limitations to the software for my business model, it works and we've been able to adapt our processes easily to fit Buildium's work flow. As with any accounting software package, it may not be able to do everything your business requires, but it does work and it does work well.

Pluspunten:

All in all, this software works great, and is very stable. The process flow is intuitive and simple, but as with every software, has it own unique quirks. Once you get the process flow down, it does pretty much everything you could want a property rental software to do. This software is more directed at either individual landlords, or property rental companies who rent other people's property. If you're a company who self-owns a group of properties, just know functionally the software works great, but some of the reporting options and budget options won't fit that business model exactly. The functionality is there, and it works well. Incoming payment processing, and the automatic tracking of it works really well, and the multiple payment options are great for my customers. Moving from a traditional quickbooks-style accounting software to the online system, has been great. The functionality to log-in from anywhere (including mobile) to access the system is a huge improvement, and allowing multiple users to log-in at the same time is great. A bunch of the manual entry and accounting minutia that I experienced before has been removed from my plate.

Minpunten:

From my customer's perspective, there are two main short comings of the software package. The first is the mobile app -- I'm told its slow and clunky to use. The general consensus of my customers is the web portal is superior and much easier to use. The second is the length of time a financial transaction takes. The transaction time for a credit card payment is typically end of day or next business day (not an instant charge), and an ACH is typically 2 business days to pull (so a customer can initiate the payment Friday, but not have money removed from their account until Tuesday.) From the business/accounting side, while all the data is there in Buildium, you can't do much easily with that data. The reporting side is very limited. While there are roughly about 20 reports built into Buildium, they are limited. There are the obvious Balance Sheet, P&L, Delinquent Customers, etc. reports -- it's pretty much limited to those built in reports. Getting data out of Buildium to play with in Excel is difficult, and the lack of reporting options can be disappointing. As stated before, the reporting and budgeting options in this software lends itself well to looking at houses at an individual level, but if you're a company who self-owns many properties - you won't be able to budget along the traditional company level -- all budgets are locked to specific houses. Money Transfer Times - money transfer is moderatel slow - 2-3 days for Credit/ACH, 5 bus days for Retail

Buildium Review

Opmerkingen: Would not recommend. Its worth it to pay a little more for another program that doesn't always have some glitch causing misbilling's or has a customer service that is knowledgeable and able to assist in a timely fashion with all issues. We would change today if we weren't in a situation where time is limited due to staffing issues.

Pluspunten:

It is a online portal that allows tenants to pay online and view their transaction history

Minpunten:

The Customer service is terrible and the consistent inaccuracy for bill backs for service is horrible. They bill the owner for service dates that do not accurately match the funded dates they list on said bills and are terrible in providing the proper information needed to get that information to the owners. Hold times for assistance is always longer than normal and once you do get someone on the line they typically cant help you if its not within their normal "script" to reference for said issue. They just submit a support ticket and then continuously send follow up emails but never respond with a solution to your problem. Just feels like a never-ending circle of buildium confusion.

Buildium has given me the freedom to manage property from anywhere

Opmerkingen: I am able to run my entire business from anywhere that I have wifi or service on my phone.

Pluspunten:

I like that there is one place that all parties involved can use to run a property management company. I have about 45 properties in three separate towns in Montana and I use it daily for the entire property management process from listing properties to screening applicants, writing leases, maintenance, rent collecting, renters insurance, owner payouts, management agreements, vendor accounting and debt collecting. I had to teach myself how to use Buildium and it was easy because I can just call Buildium support and they walk me thru anything that I need to do.

Minpunten:

The number one thing I don't like is the mobile app because it is not user friendly so on my phone I just go to the website instead and that is a bit difficult. The other thing I don't like is if a tenant pays their rent before the first of the month, it requires some extra work on my end to catch it and then go in and do some accounting changes so that it is allocated to the correct month.

Great value in a property management Swiss Army Knife

Opmerkingen: I would say that Buildium has turned what was a loathed but necessary process into one that is 95% smooth and enjoyable. The ease of calling up specific internal Reports and making them available to appropriate audiences is a breeze, and it's accomplished with visual touches that add a lot of professionalism to the presentation. For those who are not familiar with it, your stock will go up as people will be amazed at how fast you can provide relevant responses. Inquiries that used to take weeks to wend their way through a CPA and his staff, can now be generated in five minutes and sent back to the inquirer. We have cut our external accounting costs significantly by doing internally what used to be sent out for routine addressing...knowledge is power.

Pluspunten:

It is a comprehensive set of tools that can handle, to a greater or lesser extent, whatever you throw at it. I would not dream of managing the property I do if it meant returning to the former ad hoc, cobbled together process. Buildium shows the net benefit of having an integrated, systematic handler that does not require having to trouble shoot different resource modules or integrate app functionality, the things that can drive you to distraction instead of providing efficiencies. It is obviously a tool that has had thoughtful design at its core, with ongoing updates and expansion of functionality as feedback on it is digested.

Minpunten:

The thing that makes Buildium so good is the thing that trips it up, at least a bit, in making it compliant and compatible in accounting function. As software, it was, by far, the best integrated accounting tool that was part of a larger management tool. But because it is not specific to accounting, we had to do a rain dance for awhile to bring it and our accounting firm's approach into cohabitation. There are things Buildium can't do, and to their credit, will be transparent about in suggesting work-arounds that are usually reasonable and not kludgy. When considered in the context of what it can do, this shortcoming is really immaterial, IMHO. It is flexible enough to handle multiple properties yet tame enough to make it a great choice for small HOAs and similar, less arduous, environments.