Many people have asked us how the cost of Property Master™ compares to stand-alone software. Because Property Master™ is sold on a monthly subscription basis, you might think that a purchase of stand-alone software such as Tenant Pro will save you money over time. However, that is not the case; Property Master™ will cost you the same or less over a two-year period.

You can try Property Master™ free for a month by clicking here or read below for more information.

We use a two-year period because that is about how long you'll typically use landlord/property management software before upgrading. That's because your program needs to keep up with legal and accounting requirements, which change fairly often.

So consider the extra costs of stand-alone software:

1. Upgrading for capacity: Stand-alone landlord software is usually sold in tiers; you buy a product that can support 25, 50, or 100 units. When you get that 26th unit, you have to buy an upgrade. With Property Master™, you pay only for what you use.

2. Upgrading to stay current: Software companies are always introducing new features - we do too. Our software updates are automatic and free. You'll never pay extra to get additional features.

3. Technical support: Property management is complex and landlord software is complex too. You will be calling tech support. However, we have the only landlord software with free tech support, and lines open from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. - the best hours in the business. There's no limit to the number of times we will help you.

4. Taxes: Although you will upgrade your software in two years, you can only depreciate stand-alone software over three years. With Property Master™, you expense the entire cost every year. Your entire purchase is made with tax-free dollars.

5. Equipment and IT support: You can run Property Master™ on any Internet-connected computer. Stand-alone software often has hardware requirements that your computer might not meet.

6. Additional users: Your stand-alone license gives you the right to load your software on one computer. But what if your spouse needs to change something; or if you need to do some work from your office computer? You must buy an additional license. You can have as many users as you want on Property Master™ for no extra charge. You can even have multiple people working at the same time.

7. Abandonment: Have you ever bought a software product, used it for a little while, and given up because it was too complex or just wasn't doing the job? You're not alone. It's estimated that up to 80% of new software purchases are abandoned, the customer just stopped using the product. And when you abandon your software, good luck getting your money back. Most software companies offer only a 30-day warranty and will refund your money only if the box is unopened or the CD-ROMs have an obvious flaw.

Although we expect that you will be delighted with Property Master™, if you aren't, you can cancel at any time with no further obligation.

That expensive support package, which Tenant Pro requires you to buy, only gives you 60 minutes of assistance. Property Master™ support techs will give you as much help as you want, free. (Property Master™'s total cost assumes steady growth from 15 to 30 units.)

Here's the same comparison, but for a larger customer (starting with 60 units, gradually expanding to 120). Because this is a larger customer, he has an assistant and therefore needs two licenses for Tenant Pro. He would also want a better Tenant Pro support package because of the additional users.

Neither of these examples considers the chance that the software will be abandoned. Suppose you abandon Tenant Pro after three months. You'll get none of your money back (you didn't own TP long enough to need the capacity upgrade). But if you abandon Property Master™ after three months, you're only out three months of monthly subscription fees; less than $75 in the first example, less than $200 in the second example. That's much better than losing $600 in the first example, $1600 in the second example.

Our comparison wouldn't hold up if Property Master™ wasn't a superior product. But it is. Property Master™ gives you not only the increased flexibility and security of a Web application, but property evaluation tools, forms and documents, and other features you won't find in our competitors - backed up by the best customer support in the business.