Top Custom Reports You Should Be Running In Buildium
Buildium is a powerful property management software, but its true potential unlocks when you start leveraging custom reports. Out-of-the-box reports are helpful, but they often don't provide the specific insights you need to truly understand your business's performance. Custom reports allow you to slice and dice data, identify trends, and make informed decisions that directly impact your bottom line.
This post will highlight some of the top custom reports that property managers should be running in Buildium. These reports can help you optimize operations, improve financial management, and enhance tenant satisfaction. By implementing these, you'll gain a deeper understanding of your portfolio and be better equipped to handle the challenges of property management.
Let's dive in!
1. Delinquency Analysis by Property and Unit
Why you need it: Understanding rent delinquency is crucial for maintaining healthy cash flow. While Buildium offers standard delinquency reports, a custom report allows you to pinpoint exactly where the problems lie.
What to include:
- Property Name: Group by property to see which properties have the highest delinquency rates.
- Unit Number: Drill down to identify specific units consistently behind on rent.
- Tenant Name: Know who's responsible.
- Lease Start Date: Helps identify if new tenants are struggling or if long-term tenants have recently started missing payments.
- Total Amount Due: The outstanding balance.
- Days Delinquent: Critical for prioritizing collection efforts.
- Lease Status: Active or inactive.
How it helps: This report allows you to proactively address delinquency issues. You can identify problem properties, target specific tenants for outreach, and adjust your screening process to minimize future delinquencies. You can also use this report to inform decisions about rent increases or property improvements.
2. Vendor Performance Analysis
Why you need it: Managing vendors effectively is essential for maintaining your properties and controlling expenses. This report helps you evaluate vendor performance based on cost, timeliness, and quality.
What to include:
- Vendor Name: The vendor providing the service.
- Property Name: Where the service was performed.
- Work Order Description: Details of the work completed.
- Invoice Date: When the invoice was issued.
- Invoice Amount: The cost of the service.
- Date Completed: When the work was finished.
- Days to Completion: Calculate the time taken to complete the work.
- Assigned User: The property manager who assigned the work order.
How it helps: By analyzing this data, you can identify vendors who consistently deliver high-quality work on time and within budget. You can also spot vendors who are frequently late, over budget, or provide subpar service. This information allows you to make informed decisions about vendor selection and negotiate better rates. Identifying vendors who are slow to complete work orders can also help you improve tenant satisfaction.
3. Lease Expiration Forecast
Why you need it: Proactive lease management is key to minimizing vacancy rates. This report helps you anticipate upcoming lease expirations and plan accordingly.
What to include:
- Property Name: Where the lease is located.
- Unit Number: The specific unit.
- Tenant Name: The tenant occupying the unit.
- Lease Start Date: The beginning of the lease term.
- Lease End Date: The most important field - the date the lease expires.
- Monthly Rent: The current rent amount.
- Lease Status: Active, expired, or terminated.
- Days Until Expiration: Calculate the remaining days until the lease expires.
How it helps: This report provides a clear overview of upcoming lease expirations, allowing you to proactively contact tenants about renewal options. You can also use this report to plan for potential vacancies, market available units, and minimize downtime between tenants. Segmenting the report by property allows you to prioritize your efforts based on the number of expiring leases in each location.
4. Property Expense Breakdown by Category
Why you need it: Understanding where your money is going is fundamental to financial health. This report provides a detailed breakdown of property expenses by category, allowing you to identify areas where you can potentially reduce costs.
What to include:
- Property Name: The property incurring the expense.
- Expense Category: (e.g., Maintenance, Utilities, Insurance, Property Taxes).
- Expense Date: When the expense was incurred.
- Expense Amount: The cost of the expense.
- Vendor Name: The vendor associated with the expense.
- Description: A brief description of the expense.
How it helps: This report allows you to analyze spending patterns and identify areas where you can potentially reduce costs. For example, you might discover that you're spending a disproportionate amount on landscaping or that your utility bills are higher than expected. This information can help you negotiate better rates with vendors, implement energy-saving measures, and optimize your overall budget.
5. Tenant Satisfaction Survey Results
Why you need it: Happy tenants are more likely to renew their leases and recommend your properties to others. This report helps you track tenant satisfaction and identify areas where you can improve the tenant experience. This assumes you are using Buildium's survey feature or integrating with a third-party survey tool.
What to include:
- Property Name: The property where the tenant resides.
- Unit Number: The tenant's unit.
- Tenant Name: The tenant who completed the survey.
- Survey Date: When the survey was completed.
- Survey Question: The question asked in the survey.
- Survey Response: The tenant's answer to the question.
- Overall Satisfaction Score: A summary score based on all survey responses.
How it helps: By analyzing survey results, you can identify areas where you're excelling and areas where you need to improve. For example, you might discover that tenants are generally satisfied with your maintenance services but dissatisfied with your communication. This information can help you prioritize improvements and enhance the overall tenant experience. You can also use this report to track trends in tenant satisfaction over time and measure the impact of your improvement efforts.
6. Rent Roll with Demographics
Why you need it: Understanding your tenant base can inform marketing efforts and property improvements. This report provides a snapshot of your current tenant demographics alongside essential rent roll information.
What to include:
- Property Name: The property where the tenant resides.
- Unit Number: The tenant's unit.
- Tenant Name: The tenant's name.
- Lease Start Date: The beginning of the lease term.
- Lease End Date: The date the lease expires.
- Monthly Rent: The current rent amount.
- Tenant Email: Tenant's email address.
- Tenant Phone Number: Tenant's phone number.
- Optional Demographic Fields: (e.g., Age range, occupation, number of occupants – if you collect this data).
How it helps: This report provides a comprehensive overview of your tenant base, allowing you to identify trends and tailor your services to meet their needs. For example, you might discover that a large percentage of your tenants are young professionals, which could inform your marketing efforts and property amenities. This report can also help you comply with fair housing laws by ensuring that you're not discriminating against any protected groups. Remember to always adhere to privacy regulations when collecting and using tenant data.
Getting Started with Custom Reports
Creating custom reports in Buildium requires some initial setup, but the long-term benefits are well worth the effort. Familiarize yourself with Buildium's reporting features and experiment with different data combinations to find the reports that are most valuable to your business. Don't be afraid to start small and gradually add more complexity as you become more comfortable with the process.
Tip: Save your custom report templates! Once you've created a report that you like, save it as a template so you can easily run it again in the future. This will save you time and ensure that you're consistently tracking the metrics that matter most.
By implementing these custom reports, you'll gain a deeper understanding of your property management business and be better equipped to make informed decisions that drive success. Start experimenting today and unlock the full potential of Buildium!