Late last year my the rental management business was in total disarray. It was chaos! We lost telephone numbers. We lost track of work orders because we didn’t have a work order system. Basically, we had an information nightmare.

Finally one day I’d had enough. I started researching on-line to try to find a solution for that problem. I decided to find a database that would help us to organize the information for our business.

There are two basic types of databases. There are web based database system. The other database systems are software installed on your computer which are used by just a single user.

We decided that we wanted to use a web-based system so that we could have the multiple users. We found a product called Buildium. I’m not trying to sell anything in this article here. If you want to check out Buildium, Google it and go there web site.

I’m just trying to tell you about the experience that we’ve had using a little bit about the difference, but it’s made a big difference.

There are 7 reasons that you should consider using a database for your rental business.

1) All the information is in one place.
The database can store all of your telephone numbers, your finances for the for your properties, information about the properties, property photographs, documents you scan (e.g., leases), and many other types of data. They’re all in one place with the in your database. This is a tremendous advantage.

No more looking through stacks and stacks of papers to find telephone numbers (as long as you save that information in the database).

2) Everybody is on the same page.
If you have an office in which you have staff like me, it makes a big difference to have everyone on the same page. What that means is that everyone is working off the same plan; everyone is marching to the same tune. A database can help get everybody marching in to the same tune.

3) It has a good way of handling work workers.
Once you get past managing about 100 properties, you’re really start to run into issues with staying on top of things like work orders. You need to follow up and make sure that that those small items are being taken care of.

What if you get 10 to 20 small projects going? It’s very easy to forget to follow up and check and make sure that work got done. But if you have a computerized system of handling and tracking work orders it becomes much easier because every every day we’ll verify that the work orders are getting completed.

4) It saves time.
It saves you time because you don’t have to go through stacks and stacks of paper to find that information that you’re missing.

5) It’s inexpensive.
The cost for having the database ranges from about $20 to $150 per month based on the number of units that you have in the database. If you look at different types of databases that are available for a property management, you’ll see the some are quite expensive. Compared to most web-based systems, Buildium was quite inexpensive, especially given the gains in productivity that we’ve realized.

6) It automatically does Craigslist ads.
It has a feature that will generate attractive looking craigslist ads for you. Because the database is able to save four photographs of each unit that you have, it’s able to put that information together with other information in the database to create a really nice looking craigslist at. The other nice thing is that you don’t have to keep retyping the same information over and over again when you want to put up a craigslist ad.

7) It’s web based.
It a web-based application, and that’s a big advantage because it allows you to have multiple users all of whom have access to the database. That means everyone in your office can see the information and put more information into the database as needed.

You can also log onto the database wherever you have an internet connection. That means if you go out of town on vacation, you have access to the database if you need it. If you are just away from your office and you need to get some type of information from that database, you can do so as long as you have an internet connection.

So again, I’m not trying to get you to buy Buildium. I’m just saying that we’ve had positive experiences with that system. And if you’re having trouble organizing your information, I wouldn’t hurt you to check out and start using some type of database system.