Choosing the Best Commercial Property Management Software by:Garth Catterall-Heart

Being a commercial rental property manager is not an easy task

. What if you dont have the necessary tools that would be of help in your work? If you're a solopreneur who owns or manages commercial rental property, and are looking to make your life easier, why not look for the right property management software for your business. A commercial real estate software that would have all your necessities packed in one. In this article we will help you determine what retail property management software is best for your needs.

First, you must know your needs. What are you looking for in tenant software? Second, do you need a desktop application or a web-based program? Third, is the software user-friendly? Fourth, how affordable is the commercial real estate management software?

The common features of a commercial property management software are:

Keep track of rent payments for tenants which include utilities and other charges such as late charges. Accept partial and government subsidies.

An easy-to-use database that tracks all the information about your tenants that you will need.

Keep track of deposits, payments to accounts, and other income sources. Generate registers for your income reporting accounts.

Record all your expense payments and travel deductions. View deposits and debits for any number of expense reporting accounts.

Record important information on all of your rental units.

Keep track of all your work orders, and scheduled repairs.

Generate rent receipts, statements, and keep track of payments.

Keep track of any appliances, furniture, etc. that is part of the rental unit with this component.

A way to add misc. charges and record full and partial rent payments and print rent receipts.

Organize your tasks and easily create lists of things to do.

Track of all your income and tax deductible expenses and generate tax form reports.

Some affordable property management software will also keep track of schedules, generate form letters to be mailed or emailed, and provide other tools to help you streamline your business. Consider these additional features:

Send promotional materials or other form letters to all of your guests, vendors, family, friends or any other contacts.

Create Work Orders for any repairs or maintenance, track vendors, schedules, work completed and amounts paid.

Create To Do Lists with room for notes, deadlines, priorities, etc. with project management software.

Display your appointments, deadlines and other important events in Daily, Weekly or Monthly Calendar formats.

The best property management software also includes tools which allow you to look up where area codes are, calculate time zone differences, and has a universal calculator that adds or subtracts numbers, dates and times, converts length, volume and weight measurements, computes discounts, sales tax, foreign money exchanges and loan payment amounts.

One major thing to consider is, should it be a desktop application or a web-based application? Here are some differences between the two:

A web-based application, which includes any software you log on to a web site to access, requires a fast, reliable internet connection. A desktop application is an application that runs without the need of an internet connection.

Desktop software is generally much faster and easier to use than web-based software. If you do not have a very fast internet connection, it could take you several times longer to get the same amount of work done.

If your web connection goes down, or the company's website were to go down, or the company went out of business, you will no longer have access to your data if using web-based applications. A desktop application, if backed-up regularly, is more secure and reliable than a web-based application.

With web-based applications you rent the software, paying monthly fees and often get only email support. With desktop applications, you generally pay just once, and technical support is often included.

The next thing to consider is how easy is the software to use? Is it easy to understand? Are you comfortable using the software? Can you get technical support easily and quickly, both by phone and by email? Does that support cost extra?

The final question is, how much are you willing to spend for this software? Would you rather pay less on a monthly basis for web-based software, which will add up to much more over time, or pay one reasonable amount up front and get the features, speed and reliability of a desktop application?

As a solopreneur, I'm sure you would rather find ways to save money and at the same time have the features and capabilities you are looking for in commercial rental management software?

With these things in mind, you can now determine what would be the best landlord property management software for your needs. The best commercial real estate property management software in my opinion is Commercial Rental Tracker Plus. It is a reasonably priced desktop application that is easy to use and is available for most Mac and Windows computers.

To better understand ease, comfort and productivity, and download a free trial today, visit Commercial Rental Tracker Plus for more details.

About the author

Garth Catterall-Heart has been creating productivity software for self-employed professionals and rental property management software since 1999. Download your free trial for Mac or Windows.

Jonathan Victolero assisted in the writing of this article.

You may reprint this article only in its entirety with this bio.

2010 Garth Catterall-Heart

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