October 6, 2023
Last Updated
As a landlord, there are many different tools at your disposal. From paperwork templates that some banks offer to online management systems that you might consider purchasing access to, there are hundreds of ways that you could systemize and change your workflow.
The problem isn’t whether or not these tools exist; the problem lies in recognizing what kinds of tools you need and which kind of tools could revolutionize your business. The only way to be absolutely certain if a tool will work for you is to try it yourself, but you can get a good idea of what the tool is all about through reviews.Today, we’ll be taking an up-close look at Hemlane, a type of property management software that some landlords use to make their administrative tasks more streamlined. Hemlane’s tools include billing, invoicing, lease tracking, vacancy tracking, and much more.
There are so many tools involved in the software that breaking it all down can be hard, so checking out some Hemlane reviews specifically filtered for landlords like you will help make your decision easier.
By the end of today’s guide, you’ll have a great idea of what this tool offers, how you could use it, and whether or not using it would make sense for your business at this time.
Table Of Contents
Hemlane Rating
The property management tools offered by Hemlane earn the software a 5/5 star rating for their potential usefulness to landlords everywhere.
Hemlane Reviews
Today, reviews of Hemlane show that the software is worthy of a 5/5 star rating. The vast number of tools offered on the program can help landlords manage their properties, contractors, finances, and more all within Hemlane. While not all landlords will need each tool, there is a tool for every type of landlord.
In particular, these tools are great for landlords that have a portfolio that is between 1 and 100 properties because it can create the streamlined environment that large property management agencies have without handing over control to someone else. Each tool offers a specific level of administrative control that can help organize and orient your work.
Pros:
- Fantastic customer service
- Variety of tools for landlords in management, tenant screening, and more
- Provides flexibility in your degree of involvement at each step
- Convenient, user-friendly dashboard
- Beneficial financial ledger
Cons:
- Focused on residential, not commercial, properties
- No mobile app but mobile-friendly design
Hemlane Analysis
What exactly is it that makes Hemlane such a strong option for small and growing landlords? Which features stand out as the most functional, and which are changing the way that landlords like you are managing their properties? We’re going to cover all of this and more.
First, check out this video released by Hemlane that gives an overview of the software to get an idea of what types of features are offered and how the program is set up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WhlM08CUC0
As the video shows, the tools in Hemlane help in four major areas of a landlord’s workload:
- Leasing Tools
- Local Support
- Management Tools
- Maintenance Coordination
Each of these sectors is an important part of the management process, and Hemlane provides tools to support them all. Depending on your niche and skillset, you may rely on some tools more than others; let’s break down what is offered in each sector to see why people are finding Hemlane useful.
Leasing Tools
The first area that the technology Hemlane has created can assist landlords like you are with initial leasing activities. The system has features that include rental marketing, tenant screening, and applicant tracking tools. Two of the most popular tools are rental syndication and applicant tracking.
Rental Syndication
When it comes to rental marketing, for example, landlords have really enjoyed the fact that they can create a listing profile on Hemlane that includes all of the important unit details and information. This profile will then be used to generate a listing page that can be used to share on social media or with specific potential tenants.
Additionally, Hemlane can then be used to syndicate this same listing information to 30 different listing sites such as Craigslist. It helps you set these up instantly and walks you through how you will receive any responses or interest as well.
Applicant Tracking & Processing
Another cool thing that can be managed within the software is the actual rental application. Potential tenants can fill out their application through the site; the software will prescreen them, and then you can decide where to go from there.
When using the screening aspect of this software, it is important to ensure that the proper screening laws are being followed and that you do not use any confidential or improper information to make your decision about an applicant.
Landlords can benefit from the organization offered by this system. In particular, landlords that find it hard to keep listings and potential tenant information organized will find the dashboard center for applicants to be incredibly beneficial for their efficiency.
Local Support
Move-in day, inspections, and rental showings can all be managed at a local level using the tools provided by Hemlane.
Setting up rental showings with potential tenants can be done through the software using the calendar function and messaging center. Inspection documentation, as well as move-in checklists and other important information, can all be easily entered, tracked, and then sent out as reminders on Hemlane.
Tenants can also be sent reminders about move-in information, dates, checklists, and copies of any inspection reports through the dashboard and messaging center. Having all of this information on one site helps ensure that you can easily access it, and your tenant is also kept in the loop as much as possible.
While no one likes to think that they might end up in a court situation someday, that is always a possibility when working in the rental industry. Hemlane keeps all important documentation on file, so you can easily bring up your defense as needed.
Management Tools
Landlords that use Hemlane particularly enjoy the various management tool breakdowns for the following areas.
Maintenance And Repairs
Tenants and landlords have access to a maintenance request system. Tenants can file maintenance requests in the program, and landlords can provide messaging updates and responses as well. Additionally, photos of the problems can easily be shared.
Landlords are also able to create repair reports that will be sent to the tenants for upcoming repairs that they plan to do to the property. This makes it easy for all parties to be in-the-know about what is going on.
Online Rent & Financial Reports
The #1 thing that landlords have reported loving about the software in the Hemlane reviews is the rental payment system. This system can coordinate monthly payments as well as reminders, and it has the functionality to set up automatic late fees and recurring payments as well.
When using ACH payment, the rental section of the site doesn’t have any type of fee. Payments process via debit or credit cards will incur a 3% fee, but banks can be instantly linked to the software so it is easy to avoid this fee if necessary.
All financial ledgers and documents generated on Hemlane can be exported to QuickBooks or other financial software with ease.
Lease Management
Hemlane offers a section for documenting leases including document scans, photos, signatures, dates, renewal dates, notes, and more. Keeping all leases on file can help landlords stay more organized, and the renewal alerts can help keep you ahead of the game when planning your next steps for each property that you manage.
Maintenance Coordination
Finally, you will be able to use the site to set up work with your favorite local professionals. You can add all of their contact information to a single address book so that they are easily accessible. When you have a repair request that needs to be handled, you can use Hemlane to forward it on to the appropriate professional.
The professional will receive a link through which they can access the report and request, but they will not need to create an account. Simply using the link will provide direct access, and they can even respond to further communication there as well.
This streamlined system makes it much more manageable to get through problems whenever unexpected repairs need to be made quickly and efficiently.
Incredible Customer Support
Have you ever tried to use a tool or software that just didn’t make sense to you? Don’t worry; we’ve all been there.
In fact, some landlords that tried to use Hemlane found themselves in this situation. As there are so many different tools and sections to Hemlane, it can be overwhelming for some people if they aren’t familiar with these types of tools.
Thankfully, Hemlane offers an incredible level of customer support, and their connection to those who use the software is consistently impressive. When you can’t figure out how to do something with one of the program’s tools, you can contact Hemlane and get the guidance that you need.
It is clear through their support and video outreach that Hemlane is seriously dedicated to their product helping landlords, and they want to find ways to make it an accessible tool for everyone to understand. If you end up finding that the tools aren’t effective for you, it won’t be because you don’t get how they work because Hemlane will ensure your understanding.
Products Offered By Hemlane
Hemlane’s software has a huge variety of tools, and each of those tools can be used in different ways depending on what you are trying to accomplish. Some of the software’s most well-known tools have already been mentioned, but this is a larger, more comprehensive list of what types of tools you can find within Hemlane.
- Rental advertising syndication to more than 30 sites, including Craigslist
- Rental advertising tracking analytics
- Listing management, including alerts for upcoming vacancies and more
- Individual listing pages for each property
- Showing scheduling capabilities
- Quick and easy response system for prospective tenants
- Pre-screens potential tenants
- Allows you to add local real estate agents for easy access
- Tracks potential tenant leads
- Online rental application
- Credit and background reports available
- Recommends accept/decline action based on intel it gathers
- Stores lease documentation as well as photos for inspections, etc.
- Streamlines lease renewal process
- Protected messaging system between tenant and yourself
- Full-fledged online payment system, which includes split rent and automated late fees
- Tracks repair requests and communication
- Sets up easy coordination with professionals for maintenance requests
Within each of these tools, there are subtools that can be used to add layers of detail and streamlined management depending on what you want to do. For managing listings, for example, you can easily update a property’s price and availability on all listing sites by changing it in one place.
As you can see, there is a lot of potential in the products offered by Hemlane for landlords. Whether or not the product will work for you will depend on what areas of your work are already easy to manage and which you feel could use some support.
Hemlane Pricing Options
If you are ready to learn more about the pricing for Hemlane, you can visit their pricing category here.
Essentially, you have to choose between their Basic and Smart programs, and you can choose to be billed annually for a slight discount or stick to monthly if you prefer to have a lower commitment level at first.
The Basic program costs $2 per unit plus a $28 base fee per month. The Smart program costs $30 per unit plus a $28 base fee per month. These prices are both when billed annually, and the price increases slightly if you want to be billed monthly instead.
The major difference between the Basic and Smart programs is whether or not you want to be able to use Hemlane for the following:
- E-signatures
- Included legal forms
- On-call legal advice and support
- On-call coordination of maintenance with tenants
- On-call coordination of service requests with the professionals
- 24/7 maintenance and repair hotline for tenants
The Basic level does not include these 3rd party support features, but you can still manage lease documentation and maintenance requests with professionals yourself using the tools that the software provides.
The key to deciding between the two levels depends on how much work you are trying to remove from your workload. If you need to get more help and have the bottom line to manage it, the support offered at the Smart level could be a game-changer.
Conclusion
Hemlane is a high-quality property management support suite that allows you, the landlord, to determine where you can use the extra management tools. Whether you want to only focus on improving your listing and applicant process or your business could use further organization at all points, Hemlane has something to offer.
Reviews of Hemlane point out that the ability of Hemlane to provide organizational direction, in particular, is very strong. If you’ve ever felt that you are unsure of what to do next even when there are dozens of things to be done, having the structured segmentation of tasks that Hemlane provides might help you to be a more effective landlord.