Appfolio Review: Key Features, Pricing, Pros And Cons

Not every real estate investment works out. Talk with enough real estate investing veterans and you’re sure to hear some tales of an investment gone sideways. 

But when things do go well, it’s easy to imagine scaling your single rental into a real estate empire. Dreaming is easy, but scaling to dozens or hundreds of doors requires a different way of thinking, and new tools. 

Appfolio is one such tool. The premium software app is designed to make running a large property management business easier. But how does Appfolio work and is it suitable for your real estate business? In this Appfolio review, we cover everything you need to know. 

What Is Appfolio?

Appfolio is property management software that's designed to help real estate investors with a large number of rental units run and scale their businesses. The software goes farther than collecting rent or informing you when a client puts in a maintenance request. It's premium software that helps with everything from communicating with tenants and vendors to ensuring that plumbers know what leaky toilet needs to be fixed.

The company, which was founded in 2006, is headquartered in Goleta, California. It went public under the ticker symbol APPF in 2015, and it has continued to enjoy financial success since that time.

What Does It Offer?

Appfolio isn't meant to be used by house hackers or novice real estate investors. It’s designed for property owners with large teams and hundreds of tenants, and includes the following features: 

It's A Communication Hub

As a property owner, it’s your job to keep your tenant up to date with important information (such as when service people will arrive at their apartment, or changes to noise policies). When you have a few tenants, you might outsource this work to a property manager, or even handle communication yourself. But when you have dozens, hundreds, or thousands of tenants, you need a new strategy. Appfolio allows you to send text messages and emails directly through the software, so you and your team can keep tenants up to date with information.

It Manages All Of Your Finances

Whether you need to collect rent or pay a plumber, dealing with the day-in and day-out aspects of running a rental empire can be a challenge. Appfolio simplifies every part of the process including allowing you to collect rent online, pairing invoices with payments to keep your finances in order, and creating best-in-class financial reporting for you and your investors. Figuring out these workflows can be a huge challenge without software. However, Appfolio is designed to simplify the finances of large rental companies.

It Simplifies Your Staff's Workload

Appfolio is designed for people with large-scale rental portfolios. When you have hundreds of units, you probably have staff ranging from property managers to tradespeople who help you keep your properties in good order. Appfolio has a robust training platform, and it allows a number of people to access the “workflows” that keep your properties humming along. Whether a roofer needs to know which house to fix or a property manager needs to know when a lease ends, Appfolio makes that possible without having outsized security risks. The “workflow” is only available in the Plus version of the software.

Marketing Properties

As a property owner, it’s your job to keep your tenant up to date with important information (such as when service people will arrive at their apartment, or changes to noise policies). When you have a few tenants, you might outsource this work to a property manager, or even send messages yourself. But when you have dozens, hundreds, or thousands of tenants, you need a new strategy. Appfolio allows you to send text messages and emails directly through the software, so you and your team can keep tenants up to date with information.

Tenant Screening

You know the income, credit history, and criminal backgrounds that you’ll allow to rent your properties. Rather than manually screening every candidate, Appfolio pre-screens applicants, so you only have to meet with people who are qualified to rent your units. This saves you and your team time and money.

Are There Any Fees?

Appfolio has two primary features. The Core version costs $1.40 per unit per month ($280 per month minimum) and comes with most of the features highlighted above. The Plus version includes Workflow management and special analytics on top of the basic reporting. This costs $3 per month per unit ($1,500 per month minimum) and is only available to people with at least 500 units.

Appfolio Services

Appfolio offers a wide range of services to it's clients. Below are just some of the services they offer in their Residential Property Manager Core and Plus Plans: 

• Online Owner Portal 
• Online portals for residents and vendors 
• Text and Email Communication 
• Payment Plans 
• Shared Documents & Folders 
• Performance Insights 
• Automated Late Fees 
• Online Payments 
• Online Maintenance Requests 
• Mobile App
• 3D Tours 
• Online Rental Applications
• Vacancy Dashboard 
• Vacancy Posting 
• Text Templates (Plus) 
• Performance Insights (Plus) 
• Custom User Roles (Plus) 
• Data Export API (Plus) 

How Does Appfolio Compare?

Appfolio is the most expensive property management software that we recommended as part of our landlord and property management roundup. Minimum pricing for the product ranges from $280-$1500 per month, enough to pay for another entire property. But for the right user, Appfolio could be a bargain.

The software is ideal for landlords who need to manage hundreds of work order requests, continuously lease units, and stay in contact with hundreds of tenants all at once. It doesn’t just collect rent for you, Appfolio is designed to make growing your business easier. It’s also the type of product that increases in value the more you use it.

But Appfolio is admittedly overkill for most of our readers. If you’re just getting started in real estate, Baselane and Avail offer a lower-cost way to collect rent and manage your expenses and do minimal tenant screening. These are both better options for landlords with fewer than ten properties.

Once you start achieving some scale in your real estate portfolio, you need find efficient ways to work. This includes figuring out out how to communicate with property managers, service providers, and your tenants. You need to keep tenant information private but also have access to it at a moment’s notice. Appfolio helps with that kind of scaling.

If you’re a large property owner, but you don’t want all of Appfolio’s functionality, Yardi Breeze is a less expensive alternative. It still allows you to market properties, collect rent, and create financial reports, but it doesn’t create simple workflows that can be distributed to multiple team members.

How Do I Open an Appfolio Account?

You need at least 50 rental units to become an Appfolio user. If you qualify, you can request a demo by calling 866-648-1536 (extension 2) or by filling out this demo request form. Appfolio is a robust software, so it takes some work to set up to work for you.

Onboarding the software involves more than swapping a credit card for a password. Getting set up will take 4-6 weeks for most owners. During that time, you’ll have a dedicated onboarding team to ensure that you’re successfully using the software.

Is It Safe And Secure?

Appfolio has tons of built-in protections to keep tenant information safe and secure. This is critical because Appfolio holds Sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (including names, addresses, contact information, payment history, and more). As an owner, you need to keep your tenant’s information safe and secure. If you can’t, you risk legal threats.

However, owners and their teams must use the app’s built-in role-based security protocols. Not everyone should have admin rights. Service providers don’t need to see a tenant’s payment history. Most of your team doesn’t need to see tenant names or contact information unless that tenant is facing a problem.

It’s really easy for companies to become lazy about this type of security. If you start to use Appfolio, it’s up to you to keep that information safe.

How Do I Contact Appfolio?

Appfolio has a special login portal for owners who use the app. The app is the best way for existing customers to get in touch with their customer support team.

Appfolio's headquarters is located at 70 Castilian Drive, Goleta, CA 93117. To learn more about the product, call 866-648-1536 or email info@appfolio.com.

Is It Worth It?

Appfolio provides incredible functionality for property owners with hundreds or thousands of doors. It streamlines and automates tons of the daily tasks associated with property ownership so that you can keep focused on investing. It is certainly a premium product.

The Pro software costs almost as much as adding one part-time person to your team, so you need to weigh those costs carefully. If you’ll use all of Appfolio’s features, then it’s a great tool for your whole team. The software scales much better than a part-time employee.

But you have to invest time in learning the software and ensuring that it works for your business. If you want a stripped-down version, Yardi Breeze may be a better choice for you.

Check out Appfolio here >>