The 5 Biggest Reasons Why Property Management Software Firms Fail

By Author: property management software
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Ever since the worldwide property boom started in the early 2000s, a number of property management software suppliers have come to the market and no sooner have they appeared then they have even more quickly disappeared.

The idea of producing property management software (also known as landlord software for more established investors) did make sense. After all, it was a growing business where more and more people were investing in property and were generating healthy capital gains, in some cases good cash flow, from their rental income.

Therefore, tools/software was required to help landlords to better manage their portfolio.

Unfortunately, a number of these companies have failed, and will continue to fail, for the following reasons:

1) Not being designed by experienced landlords:
One of the reasons I designed Landlords Property Manager was because, as a practising landlord and software designer, I had not come across any software that had actually been designed by landlords.

I was amazed how too many people who were good at writing software programs for other markets (that they ...
... had business knowledge of) had created software that failed to address so many of the landlords' basic management needs.

2) Not being recognised by the authoritative organisations:
Every good software package that is successful will get endorsements from authoritative landlord organisations or reputable landlords.

This is a major way for any landlord software to gain credibility, as failure to do so can leave people unsure of what they are buying.

3) Not providing adequate after-sales service:
Any software solution is only as good as it's after sales support service, and those not providing an adequate service will soon get found out. I am amazed how even in today's environment the number of firms that still only provide a mobile number to contact for support issues!

Of course, this means that there is only ever one contact and if that person is not available then how long will you wait for the assistance you require?

4) Relying on other sources of income to fund the software:
I appreciate that every software idea requires some sort of cash impetus in order to get the ball rolling. In fact, this is true for any businesses.

However, relying on other sources of income to fund the software at all times is very risky. This is especially the case for software solutions that are free. What if that source of income dries up? What if they then decide to start charging a fee after having marketed the software is free? With software, as the number of subscriptions increase then so does the support aspect and the need to hire good support people. Failure to pay good money for good staff can quickly lead to a business's downfall.

Any successful business should become self funding and the most successful software companies are those that offer value for money both in terms of service and support, and are profitable!

5) Is not easy to use:
Don't forget the whole purpose for any property software package is to make life easier for landlords. Therefore, it should be easy to use and it should be even easier to enter your information.