I need to find a software package for mobile home parks. RENT MANAGER is to big and PARK SIDEKICK is an impossible company to deal with. I have fooled with QUICKBOOKS and although it kind of works but is clearly not a long term solution. I only have one park and it is 130 spaces. Thanks
Post Edited (04-14-11 21:31)
I agree that as a general statement it is not to difficult of a process except that I have rebuilt my entire underground utilities so that they are now direct billed. I used a company call Park Billing for the utilities (monthly invoicing) which I no longer need. I want to simplify everything now that I don’t have to submeter (except water). I guess Excel (and Quicken) have a invoice function but they do not have the repeating invoicing functions? - so each month you have to go thru each invoice. Do you do your invoicing via Excel or another program.
If someone could come up with a simple, I mean very simple program with out all the garbage paperwork to would be worth a fortune to us little guys. As you are probably aware, to us owner/operators, it is all about simplicity.
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Check out www.onsitepropertymanger.com. Been using it for a little while not a ton of bells and whistles and it is web based so I can check in from any computer.
No thanks. It’s my opinion that these web based programs are totally worthless. This program would cost me $70 every month or $840 every year - forever- put a cap rate of 10% on that and your talking about $8,400 in value lost. There is nothing special about web based- with PC Anywhere I can access my accounting software on my main computer- wherever I have an internet connection.
I just left Staples and they have Quickbooks Pro on sale for $99 (orginally $199) plus they give you “Learn Quickbooks” software for free ($40).
Quickbooks Pro (as opposed to Quickbooks Simple Start which i currently use for invoicing) has the “memorized” invoicing function which I think will allow me to automaticallly generate invoices quickly. And the accounting part of the package can be easily figured out by anyone of the millions of users that use quickbooks (including my accountant).
I want things simple so that I can -at a later date -transfer the responsibility to someone else - but still maintain control. These bazarre web based packages take forever to figure out and are impossible to delegate. I want my accounting to be so simple that a million people can figure it out.
As Dale stated, Excel will work just fine and is simple to use.
I use Quickbooks (which is great, but takes some time to learn).
The advantage to Quickbooks is that is a standard that most accountants, banks and investors are comfortable with. It looks very professional and will help you when you try to obtain financing or sell.
If you use a web based or specialty package you will be stuck with it and it’s costs forever.
Good Luck
As Dale stated, Excel will work just fine and is simple to use.
I use Quickbooks (which is great, but takes some time to learn).
The advantage to Quickbooks is that is a standard that most accountants, banks and investors are comfortable with. It looks very professional and will help you when you try to obtain financing or sell.
If you use a web based or specialty package you will be stuck with it and it’s costs forever.
Good Luck
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Dale and Patrick,
Can you share with us the secrets to using excel for managing your units.
I like excel but know just enough to be dangerous.
Thanks, Sam
Post Edited (04-14-11 21:29)
In my opinion, Quickbooks can do anything a mobile home park owner needs. These are not complicated business processes that would require a ton of additional functionality. In addition to being a park owner, i work as a software consultant during the day. I see many clients overpaying for accounting, CRM and ERP software when they really only use a fraction of the functionality.
I use QB online. $12 per month and it does everything i need. the standard, out of the box financial reports are fine and if you need to tweak them, just dump them out to an Excel file and manipulate on your own. There are tons of plug ins and enhancements you can add at a minimal fee. You can use your free PayPal accounts to create invoices and then integrate them back to QB with a simple upload. Or, just use QB invoicing and merchant services.
in addition, hubspot has a free CRM package you can use to manage new leads and opportunities. Keep it cheap and keep it simple.
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As per the post:
- “Accounting software”
One of my jobs before owning a Mobile Home Park was Quality Assurance for Computer Software Programs (finding bugs in Computer Software).
I am in total agreement with @jo13nathan 
"…Keep it cheap and keep it simple"
Computer Software is created by imperfect people (we all are) who make mistakes.
My Husband and I own 2 Mobile Home Parks.
We use Excel and Word to track payments and create monthly Invoices.
I like that Excel and Word are “tried and tested” software packages where you can keep your data on your own computer.
Personally, I am not a fan of computer software that “hosts” your data on their server.
What if you decide to leave them and go to another computer software program? Will you be able to export your data off the old software package and import it into the new software package?
We wish you the very best!
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I don’t think that it is a good investing opportunity. You should consider diamond software as an investment destination. Awesome really.
Quickbooks is a good short term option also Zipbooks but I recommend just completely outsource your whole accounting trust me it save me time and money. My whole family business is been using bookkeeping.com its a online bookkeeping service they take care everything. Know i need to get some people to pay on time and life will be perfect!