Buildium vs SimplifyEm

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Our analysts compared Buildium vs SimplifyEm based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Property Management Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

SimplifyEm Software Tool

Product Basics

Buildium is a cloud-based software that helps approve lease applications, manage payments, update financial records, create bulk emails and announcements and resolve maintenance issues on the go. Users can manage portfolios that include community associations, student housing, affordable housing and residential properties.

It offers accounting, vendor management, maintenance management, analytics and insights, leasing, community association management and more. The vendor also provides a dedicated onboarding team, 24x7 customer support and a 14-day free trial.
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SimplifyEM is a cloud-based solution that provides online rent collection, expense tracking, digital lease signatures, bookkeeping and access to a communication portal. Tax management, reporting, work order management and billing are some of its offerings. Users can choose packages, which include live support and unlimited data storage, based on the number of units to be managed. The vendor offers a free trial or test drive on their website so prospective customers can see it in action before purchasing.

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$55 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$35 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Work From One Place: Bring every marketing, accounting and management workflow together in a centralized platform. Monitor operations from the unified dashboard. Receive real-time alerts, notifications and updates on potential disruptions. 
  • Streamline Communications: Ensure easy year-end auditing by maintaining transparent communication via role-based portals and recording interactions and documents. 
  • Consolidate Marketing Efforts: Advertise portfolio on multiple channels, personal website and social media. Manage every listing, track prospect information and coordinate showings from the dashboard. 
  • Expedite Turnovers: Keep properties ready-to-rent with on-time rent clearances, maintenance activities and vacancy tasks. Assign associates for each task, track progress and issue work orders to external vendors. 
  • Identify Opportunities: Perform comparative analysis and design business-specific data visualizations to identify threats and drill down on opportunities. 
  • Easy Integrations: Integrate business-specific external software and create unique stacks by leveraging an open API. 
  • Secure Data Storage: All the data is TLS-encrypted with a 2048-bit certificate, signed with SHA-256 and stored in a physical warehouse monitored by Amazon Web Services. 
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  • Streamlined Operations: SimplifyEm automates routine tasks such as rent collection, lease tracking, and maintenance requests, freeing up property managers to focus on more strategic activities.
  • Financial Management: Offers comprehensive tools for tracking income and expenses, generating detailed financial reports, and simplifying tax preparation, ensuring financial health and compliance.
  • Improved Tenant Relations: Provides a portal for tenants to pay rent, submit maintenance requests, and communicate with property managers, enhancing tenant satisfaction and retention.
  • Accessible Anywhere: As a cloud-based platform, SimplifyEm allows property managers and owners to access their property information from anywhere, at any time, ensuring flexibility and responsiveness.
  • Scalability: Adapts to the needs of both small landlords and large property management firms, allowing for seamless management of a few units to several hundred, supporting business growth without the need for additional software.
  • Reduced Errors: By automating and centralizing property management tasks, the likelihood of human error is significantly reduced, leading to more accurate and reliable operations.
  • Enhanced Decision Making: Provides real-time data and analytics on property performance, enabling property managers to make informed decisions to optimize profitability.
  • Cost Savings: Reduces the need for additional staff and minimizes costly errors through automation, ultimately leading to lower operational costs and increased net income.
  • Customizable Reports: Offers a variety of customizable reporting options that can be tailored to the specific needs of property managers, aiding in strategic planning and reporting to stakeholders.
  • Improved Maintenance Management: Streamlines the maintenance request process, ensuring timely repairs and maintenance, which contributes to property value preservation and tenant satisfaction.
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  • Accounting: Track and share owner, vendor and residential accounts and maintain accurate books. 
    • Property Accounting: Record transactions, convert work orders into bills and pay in bulk, automate bank reconciliations, identify discrepancies, and share customized reports. 
    • Company Financials: Capture financial overviews by tracking property-specific transactions alongside miscellaneous income and expenses. 
    • Online Payments: Accept rent, set up recurring transactions, pay bills and automate bookkeeping. Residents can add bank accounts or credit cards through individual portals. 
    • Retail Cash Payments: Leverage partnership with PayNearMe to allow residents to pay rent, dues and other fees in cash at multiple convenience stores like 7-Eleven, Casey’s General Store and more. Automatically update payments on respective ledgers and deposit them into bank accounts within a week. 
    • 1099 eFiling: E-file 1099-MISCs and 1099-NECs forms, mail paper copies to owners and vendors, and automate tax calculation based on year-round incomes. 
  • Business Operations: Streamline communication with owners, vendors and residents from a centralized platform. 
    • Resident Center: Residents can pay rent, set up recurring payments, submit maintenance requests coupled with photos and access important documents via mobile-responsive portals. Offers an announcement board to highlight updates, notifications and alerts from managers. 
    • Owner Portal: Owners can access property-specific financial documents and reports. Managers can control access levels for each owner portal. 
    • Document Storage: Securely store property-related documents, including leases, addendums, expense reports, vendor invoices and more and share with a few clicks. Offers unlimited storage space. 
    • Maintenance Tracking: Track maintenance requests, create work orders, assign preferred vendors and automate recurring maintenance activities. 
    • Property Inspection: Perform inspections on the go using an app powered by Happy Inspector. Choose from several templates to customize reports. Make a to-do list, take notes, and capture pictures and videos. 
    • Renters Insurance: Provide tenants with a fully integrated renter’s insurance solution powered by MSI. Document enrollment information and manage each policy till maturity from the dashboard. 
    • Analytics: Monitor real-time data visualizations, customize reports, compare data with localized industry benchmarks and share analysis with clients and board members. 
  • Marketing and Leasing: Increase digital visibility of the entire portfolio, shortlist suitable prospects and design custom leases. 
    • Rental Listings: Create and syndicate custom property listings on multiple channels, including Apartment List, HotPads, Lovely, MyNewPlace, Trulia, Zillow and Yahoo. 
    • Professional Website: Own and design a personalized property website for prospects to apply for listings. Upload important documents like residents rulebook, floor plans and model leases to create a secure self-service hub for prospects, tenants and owners. 
    • Rental Applications: Choose the best applicants based on personalized parameters through a customizable online rental application form that integrates with the website. Accept any related application fees online. 
    • Showings Coordinator: Leverage the module powered by TenantTurner to automate tour schedules according to set rules. Communicate with prospects via email, texts and SMS. 
    • Tenant Screening: Set custom credit score requirements, run background checks and receive credit score information from TransUnion. 
    • Leasing: Design custom lease templates and autofill data to expedite the process. Prospective tenants can digitally sign documents from remote locations. 
  • Homeowner Association Management: Log, track and report property violations remotely. Automate penalties and consequent bookkeeping. Offers a unified inbox for communication among board members, homeowners and vendors. 
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  • Property Management: Manage all properties in a portfolio under one comprehensive platform. Track income and expenses, create and monitor workflows, receive customized worksheets for each property, and get notified in case of multiple entries or erroneous information. 
  • Marketing: Advertise properties on listing websites for a fee per listing. Provide prospects with state-specific application forms on demand, available at a cost per template. 
  • Tenant Screening: Choose suitable tenants for units by screening their criminal background and eviction history. Available at a cost per background check. 
  • Forms: Save time by using state-specific templates for various forms, including vacation notices, lease agreements, notices to quit, rental inspections, eviction notices and more. 
  • Online Payment: Automatically bill tenants and collect rent. Residents can choose to pay via ACH or credit cards. Available at a charge per transaction. 
  • Tenant Management: Maintain history and records for every tenant, receive notifications for lease renewals, track late rental payments and automate late fee payments. 
  • Expense Tracking: Track income and expenses with customized worksheets and organize according to IRS categories to maximize tax savings. Receive expert advice on recurring income and expense items, and eliminate repetitive data entry using customizable automation. 
  • Tenant Portal: Residents can check bank balances, receive rent reminders, communicate with owners and managers, and pay rent securely through the portal. 
  • Document Management: Store and manage unlimited documents for every transaction. 
  • Bookkeeping: Automate data entry of recurring income and expense items. Generate cash flow statements, tax reports and schedule e-reports seamlessly. 
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Product Ranking

#4

among all
Property Management Software

#48

among all
Property Management Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

86
65
93
75
84
89
69
65
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Platform Capabilities
Leasing
Accounting & Financial Management
Business Operations

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Buildium
SimplifyEm
+ Add Product + Add Product
Accounting & Financial Management Business Operations Dashboards And Reporting Leasing Maintenance Marketing Platform Capabilities 93 84 69 98 70 60 99 75 89 65 84 68 17 55 0 25 50 75 100
96%
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4%
77%
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23%
86%
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14%
100%
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71%
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29%
71%
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29%
100%
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81%
6%
13%
71%
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29%
71%
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29%
33%
0%
67%
17%
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83%
93%
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7%
53%
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47%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

63%
0%
37%
13%
0%
87%

User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 1604 reviews
Great User Sentiment 243 reviews
90%
of users recommend this product

Buildium has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 90% when considering 1604 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

83%
of users recommend this product

SimplifyEm has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 83% when considering 243 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

4.4 (112)
4.6 (14)
n/a
4.1 (122)
4.5 (1492)
4.2 (107)

Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Buildium and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Leasing and Platform Capabilities. Buildium stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award
Leasing Award
Platform Capabilities Award

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

End-to-End Software: Buildium is a comprehensive solution that can handle marketing, leasing, maintenance and management workflows of a property management business, according to 88% of users reviewing its features
Accounting: It offers robust and intuitive accounting features, according to 90% of reviews on this aspect.
Resident Experience: All the users who mentioned this element said that the software enhances overall tenant experience via individual communication portals, digital work orders and electronic rent payment.
Intuitive Interface: It has a simple and easy-to-use user interface, according to 80% of reviews on this aspect.
Customer Support: According to 90% of users who reviewed support services, the vendor offers responsive and agile customer support.
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Streamlined Accounting: Users praise SimplifyEm for its intuitive interface that simplifies complex accounting tasks, such as tracking income and expenses, generating financial reports, and reconciling bank statements. This makes it easier for property managers to stay organized and make informed financial decisions.
Efficient Tenant Management: The platform offers robust features for managing tenants, including online rent collection, lease tracking, and communication tools. This allows property managers to streamline tenant interactions and reduce administrative overhead.
Improved Communication: SimplifyEm facilitates seamless communication between property managers, tenants, and owners through automated email and text message notifications. This helps keep everyone informed about important updates, such as rent payments, maintenance requests, and lease renewals.
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Commercial Property Management: The software lacks nuanced features for commercial property management, according to 100% reviews on this aspect.
Leasing: Insufficient in-depth leasing customizations are an issue, according to 85% of users who reviewed this element.
Automation: Accounting and maintenance management, according to 100% of reviews on this element.
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Limited Customization: Users express frustration over the lack of flexibility in tailoring the software to their specific workflows. For example, options for customizing reports are limited.
Basic Accounting Features: SimplifyEm primarily focuses on property management tasks, and its accounting capabilities are considered rudimentary by some users. They desire more advanced features for financial reporting and analysis.
Customer Support Concerns: Some users report difficulties in getting timely and effective support from SimplifyEm when encountering technical issues or needing assistance with the software.
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Buildium helps property owners and managers digitize and streamline every property management workflow. Users prefer the solution because of its end-to-end property management features, ease of use and responsive support suite. Reviewers also mention that residents are fond of the platform’s mobility and prefer paying rent and issuing maintenance requests digitally. However, reviews note that the platform is mainly built for residential properties and lacks nuanced features like complicated lease structures, automatic utility tracking, in-depth CC&R and violation tracking for commercial, student and community properties. Users also have to manually match transactions to bank entries and can’t issue work orders automatically. Considering everything, buildium can get confusing for larger portfolios but is perfect for single landlords and managers to organize and monitor operations from a unified dashboard.

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Is SimplifyEm simply the best, or are there simpler options out there? Users praise SimplifyEm for its user-friendly interface, especially compared to more complex software like AppFolio. One user raved about SimplifyEm's intuitive design, saying even those who aren't tech-savvy can easily navigate the platform. This ease of use is crucial for property managers who need to quickly access information and complete tasks. Users also appreciate SimplifyEm's robust features, including online tenant portals, automated reminders, and mobile access, which streamline communication and management tasks. However, some users have expressed concerns about SimplifyEm's customer support, finding response times to be slow and occasionally unhelpful. While SimplifyEm boasts affordability, some users feel the limited customer support makes it a less attractive option compared to competitors with more responsive support teams. Overall, SimplifyEm seems best suited for individual landlords or small property management companies who prioritize ease of use and affordability over extensive customer support. Its intuitive design and comprehensive features make it a solid choice for those who need a straightforward solution to manage their properties efficiently.

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