I went from Yardi DOS to PROMAS 5+ years ago....PROMAS is extremely user friendly and they have classes for new-hires for PM firms at various PM conferneces around the country yearly...their tech support is AWESOME and their reports to owners are so easy to read, I put a sample in my owner presentation packet....

PROMAS reports load to HomeRentals for owner review - no mailing statements!!!

Integration of services is the FUTURE...

Thanks for the info. Wallace!  I did not end up trying PROMAS.  Glad it is working out for you!

Another question for you - I didn't think I saw it on your website - but do you accept payments online?  Or do you accept credit cards or debit cards for payment?  If you do, what company do you go through and would you recomend them?  Thanks!

MOI?1? * NEVER * any property manager licensed by a state licensing board should be VERY CAREFUL and get double blessed before doing this....anyone who has the funds to pay with a credit card can write a convenience check from their credit card account....ALSO, NSF/LATE FEES are a "profit center" for my biz as I charge $50 per adult for late fee and $100 per adult for any "notice" fee in my lease...if I took credit cards, these would be unnecessary....

Wallace -

the notice fee is something we do not do, but is an excellent idea!  We have some lower income properties we manage and end up filing collections quite a bit - this charge would definetly help.  However, a good portion of the people we send 5-day notices and eviction notices to are not paying rent and do not end up ever paying it after the eviction and money judgment - but sometimes.  Thanks again.

Have you not found it a trend that management companies in your market are begining to accept credit cards and online payments?

Would-be clients are always surprised when I tell them I charge residents additional fees.  My owners are always made "whole" first of any monies collected; however, I explain that my services are charged to those to take up my time....hence, additional fees to residents.    From my lease:

IN THE EVENT A MONTHLY PAYMENT IS RECEIVED AFTER THE 5TH OF THE MONTH, TENANTS AGREE TO PAY AN ADDITIONAL CHARGE, LATE FEE OR RETURNED CHECK FEE OF $50.00. All rent payments will first be applied to all past due balances and then to any current rent due. If a 5-Day Notice is served on TENANTS during this or any future extensions of this Lease, TENANTS agree to pay an additional $100.00 to AGENT for notice preparation and process serving fees in relation to each individual notice and each TENANT so served.

LEASE TERMINATION PENALTY: If occupancy is less than the stated term, a $400 re-leasing fee is to be paid by TENANTS to cover the expenses of the AGENT. The AGENT assumes no liability for successfully finding replacement TENANTS.

For any court costs incurred by the AGENT for collection of unpaid rent or other charges under this agreement, including but not limited to reasonable attorney's fees and interest on any judgement at the rate of 18% per annum. Should any judgement be awarded against the TENANT, when that judgement is paid in full, AGENT may charge $250 to record a satisfaction of judgement.

David, I use one of the easiest property management programs on the market and no one would need to be trained because it is that easy.  The program is RentAlls, mine is 1.45 and I am sure there may be a newer version.  It is also very inexpensive and you can order on-line at www.keepitsimplesystem.comat a cost of $30.00.  It has over 10,000 users and was the original SimpleRent  a dos program. You can use it on windows 95,98,ME,XP,NT and 2000, I am not sure about about Vista. I have used this program for many years.

Don Eichler-Texas Broker 

Thanks Don - I will have to go check that one out too.  Very inexpensive!!

Wallace - I appreicat all the wording!  I will definetly incorporate some of it into my lease.  Thanks again!

David,

I am working towards my Broker's license and will bookmark this for future reference.  That class is this year....thanks and have a great weekend.

The www.keepitsimplesystem.com from an earlier comment went to a parked site.  Could not find Rent Alls

We use RentManager. The Stand Alone Version.  Also are looking into credit card payments.  Also looking into switching to online version.  Can you tell more about your glitches?  The program is very rent oriented.  I manage alot of associations and previously worked with yardi- was more adaptable.  Yardi not as user friendly. 

Wallace - We charge a $900 lease breakage fee to our tenants and we disclose it to the owners in our management agreement...they love it :) We also charge the tenant a $25 advertising fee and the 10% finder's fee if they break their lease.

My office uses PROMAS, but I'm sure we are not utilizing even 10% of its functions!!! I had no idea you could upload owner statements to homerentals...I'll have to pass this up the chain of command :)

I have used Yardi for year and still use Yardi Enterprise.  It is only for larger companies due to the expense, but being that it uses an SQL database makes it unique for in house report writing and stability.  We us ACH for tenant and owners which automates the process.  We pull the funds directly out of the tenants checking account on the 2nd of the month eliminate late rent payments (unless the ACH bounces of course).  Taking credit cards is risky as a consumer can dispute the charge for up to 30 days after the charge appears on their statement. 

If you're looking for online property management software, check out DIY Real Estate Solutions.  It's very easy to use and very affordable.  We have integrated services for credit screening and electronic tenant payments and also offer a marketing website and resident portal.

The website is http://www.diyresolutions.com and we offer a 30-day free trial.