We only recommend resources that we ourselves have tried, tested, and used to run a successful property management company. There’s no fluff here – just the very best products that we’ve found to be essential in launching and operating a great company!
We are proud affiliates of some of the companies recommended below. This means that some of the links below are affiliate links and, at no additional cost to you, we may earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase. Please understand that we have experience with all of these companies, and we recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel you need them or that they will help you achieve your specific goals.
Need a logo? Don’t pay thousands of dollars for a single designer to make your logo? Crowd-source your logo using 99 Designs. For as low as $299, you receive between 30-50 different logo variations based on your parameters from multiple different designers. This allows you to have the creative minds of multiple designers to help you zero in on the logo design you want. You only pay if you see a design you like and select it. It will be a unique design that you own the right to and not an off the shelf logo that many other companies may also be using.
Overnight Prints is our #1 recommendation for online printing. Need business cards or letterhead? Easily upload your own design or use their design tools to show a professional image for your company.
While your property management accounting and books should be managed by your property management software, you’ll want to manage the accounting and bookkeeping for your business in a separate set of books. We recommend QuickBooks Online which is cloud-based and has a solid reputation as probably the best small business accounting software on the market. Their Simple Start plan starts at only $12.50 per month. We use the Plus plan which comes with additional features such as budgeting.
Bringing on new owner clients is job #1 for property management companies and Lead Simple helps you automate and streamline your business development effort with a powerful CRM (customer relationship management) solution, managing sales processes, and automated email follow up including scripts and templates. Don’t trust something as important as your lead tracking to a spreadsheet. Lead Simple is made specifically for the property management industry and will help take your new owner signups to the next level. Try it out on a free 14 day trial.
When capturing new owner leads online, you want to make it easy for them to schedule a phone call or appointment with you. Instead of playing phone tag, Calendly allows them to instantly view your availability based on your configuration, and book a date/time on your calendar. Knowing that they already have an appointment scheduled with a potential property manager often makes them stop searching for another competitor to talk to. Try out the limited free Calendly account today to increase your lead conversion.
G Suite is an absolute necessity! Get Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, Meet and more. As you grow and have employees, you can create additional users that you control from an admin panel. Share important documents and spreadsheets with your team from one central cloud storage drive. Email powered by Gmail with it’s awesome spam filtering, but with an email address ending with your website domain name (@yourdomain.com) instead of @gmail.com.
Ring Central is the #1 recommended provider of Voice over IP (VoIP) phone services. It is easy to set up and and allows you to have a professional sounding phone system to communicate with your clients. Any smart phone can act as a phone on your business system and allow you to make and receive calls and text messages from a separate business number other than your cell phone number. Have multiple users on your system each with their own extensions. Setup quick and their customer service is top notch!
Having an email drip system is a key component to your business development effort to build your property count. Additionally, mass emails to your owner and tenant lists is a great way to disseminate information, create brand awareness, and broadcast your successes. Aweber’s user interface is very intuitive compared to other email programs we’ve used which leaves you more time to work on other areas of your business.
Tenant Turner was a complete game changer for our PM company and is a must have solution. It automates the qualification of tenant prospects and if they qualify based on your criteria, they can schedule a showing all without having to speak with anyone in your office. It also manages self-showing through electronic lockbox preventing you from having to drive to the property and show it in person thereby freeing you up to work on other parts of your business.
Property management is full of repetitive tasks that we complete over and over. From new property input and new move-ins, to property termination, there are steps that have to be completed for each evolution. Don’t track these with paper check lists. Instead, Process Street allows you to manage all of your open projects and coordinate tasks between multiple team members from any device connected to the internet. Create checklists, processes and workflows, assign work to team members, and take advantage of their library of 1000+ pre-built process templates.
Adobe Sign makes it easy to send, track, and collect e-signatures. Signing documents is just as simple — click, tap, or swipe. Create your forms template library, fill them out quickly, and send to clients to review and sign.
Software to run your property management operation is a must and we think the best option currently available for new companies is Buildium. 100% in the cloud, you can run Buildium on any device and from anywhere in the world that you have an internet connection. This puts the information you need in your hands whether you’re in the office, working from home, in the field, or out town. With plans starting at only $40 / mos, Buildium makes it affordable to start off right with a powerful software to run your business.
Having a great online reputation is essential if you want to be successful in today’s age of the internet shopper. To emphasize this, read our post “Standing Out With Online Reviews.” Grade.Us makes it easy to solicit reviews from new, current and previous customers with template review requests, drip email reminders, and review monitoring.
Bluehost is one of the top rated web hosting companies on the internet. Their customer service is top notch. You can register your website domain name and then host your site on one account. This site you’re on right now is hosted on one of our Bluehost accounts. They offer a discount to our users giving you a web hosting package for only $3.95 per month.
If you’re planning to build a WordPress site, you’ll need to pick a theme which gives it its look and feel. ThemeForest has 1000s of WordPress themes and templates to make your site look great. One of our favorites is the Bridge Theme which only costs $59 and has multiple variations to customize the site to your liking.
In the age of the online shopper, a company’s website acts has its chief salesperson. While you’ll have a multiple pages on your site, your sales landing pages are where the magic happens and where you have your best chance to convert that internet user to a lead you can follow up with. Leadpages.net provides you with beautifully crafted, conversion tested landing pages that you can customize with your content. Instead of creating your sales pages from scratch, unsure of if they will appeal to new owner clients, Leadpages.net can save you a ton of time and from lost business.
SEMrush is our favorite service to enhance the SEO of our websites. Use it to conduct keyword analysis, check domain authority, perform deep link analysis as well as uncover your competitor’s strategies for organic search, paid search and social media. Use our affiliate link to get a free 7-day trial.