Yardi Breeze

Yardi has been a workhorse for our company since the 1980s. I would not even consider using another company. When we made the decision to go to a web-based program, I did not feel others even came close. We certainly don’t regret the decision.

We lacked the ability to process EFT payments to our owners, as well as email and portal options. Breeze brings us into the 21st century.

I love that we can bill tenants directly from the program by email — that’s a big timesaver. Not to mention, it eliminates the cost of paper, postage, etc.

We also love the tenant portal, where renters can access their account and pay their rent. This is a feature tenants expect, and in the past, we had to tell them we did not have that capability. Not anymore! Online portals have been very well-received by our tenants.

I can honestly say that all features reduce time spent in the program, from daily data entry to the monthly accounting cycle. Since Breeze stores each report produced for the owners and tenants, we find that we have a lot less filing to do. It is a very user-friendly program that we all enjoy working in.

The vacancy rate is low, and rents are rising. With the pandemic, we are having to navigate through new laws and notice requirements. Breeze is assisting in this through the report templates. It has not been easy, nor are we on the other side of it; however, I expect that Breeze will have what it takes to get us there.

Due to Oregon shutting down some businesses starting last year, I can honestly say that Breeze is the reason we have been able to make it through. In our old system, we could not work remote.

With Breeze, all office staff has been able to work remotely except for one, whose duties are outside of Breeze. Working from a web-based program means that we are able to keep our business going without missing a beat.

Breeze ensures that we can get our property owners their money, which is their number one concern. Our old program required written checks. Now we always use EFT disbursements to our property owners, and we love it.

I am also able to send out mass updates to our owners anytime there are changes coming down that are going to affect them. This has been a huge timesaver and has been well-received on the other end.

Businesses are swaying toward doing work from home offices. If you have the right program, you may not have to do everything from the brick-and-mortar location. I think that this is going to change the look of businesses in the future.

I think the secret is to get up every day and put one foot in front of the other. Don’t give up when the going gets tough, because it will get tough. You have to listen and be willing to change with the times.

We have done this over the past 40 years. We started with Yardi’s DOS software, then to the Windows version and now the web-based version. Yardi software has been dependable and accurate for us through the years.

With regards to Breeze’s data retention to monthly reconciliations, which have held up to audit, I’ve been known to ask my team, “Have I told you how much I love this program?” It’s true!

Breeze is incredibly user friendly. The Help Center is the standout feature for me. The way it pulls up the topic for the window you are working in is incredibly time-efficient and accommodating.

The 1099 preparation saves us a great deal of time during tax season. It’s typically a cumbersome task. We rely on the 1099 reports to track vendor payments and decide what information should be sent to our CPA.

The first property management company I worked for used a different software, RentManager, and it was incredibly outdated. It required a lot of additional training and time to learn how to utilize its features. Although I watch the training videos provided by Breeze, I can typically figure out most features on my own just using the Help Center or chat feature!

Lease negotiations and renewals have been all about compromising and helping the tenant with their needs during this unprecedented time.

We work closely with each tenant to find out what their personal business needs are. This puts them in a better position to honor their lease.

We are able to work remotely, and we do so by utilizing the many different tools out there today such as Breeze, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and of course, our phones.

Over the past 25 years, we have updated from paper receipt books and spreadsheets to several different property management software programs. In 2013, we were told that our standalone software would no longer be supported, so we explored cloud-based software … lots of them.

While nearly all programs offered occupancy status, rent generation and receipts, very few integrated those functions with a full array of accounting functions. The idea of having to transfer data on a regular basis from the self storage software to an accounting program just seemed archaic.

In 2018, Yardi told us about a new software product called Yardi Breeze. Once again, we became an early adopter and have never looked back. We transitioned all our correspondence to email. That includes monthly statements, late notices and tenant alerts. Breeze integrates gate functions and automatic credit card processing, which significantly reduces the manager’s workload.

Everything was going smoothly, then along came COVID-19. We put a note on the main office door letting folks know we could be on the property — in person — within 20 minutes. Otherwise, our entire staff would be working remotely. In fact, remote work is a piece of cake with Breeze. If we’re out and about, we can handle anything on a tablet.

Before Yardi, we were using spreadsheets. By far, the biggest improvement that we have now is rent collection. We are officially paperless, and all payments go through RENTCafé. No more trips to the bank to deposit rent checks (except to occasionally deposit laundry coins). I would estimate that we save at least 24 hours of work per rent collection.

Another task, which saves at least 16 hours per month, is the Monthly Report feature. In QuickBooks, we used to make a PDF of each page, package them together and email everything to clients individually, hoping not to have a typo. With Breeze, you simply go to Monthly Reports and in approximately 45 seconds the reports are sent in a bulk fashion.

I have even sent monthly reports from my phone, using the desktop version of my web browser. This cloud technology is incredible. Let me say this again: Time we spent compiling reports shrank from 16 hours to 45 seconds.

Being able to display our current portfolio on a navigable map helps potential clients understand our management envelope in real time. Our corporate site is a powerful marketing tool for new accounts.

Ease of use has to be the biggest surprise. We transitioned to Breeze within a few months and went live. There are fewer moving parts in Breeze, but it has everything you could ever need to run your property management operations. And if one of our team members gets stuck, the Breeze support staff are ready to assist through live chat or phone.

We were considering AppFolio and Buildium, as well as a few others. However, their platforms were too rigid for our setup. Furthermore, with Yardi being the original juggernaut in the industry, we gravitated towards Yardi. We also own apartment buildings across the region and one of our property managers has used Yardi for years. The Yardi Monthly Reports we received for the past 25 years were very impressive and CPA-friendly.

Yardi Breeze is probably fine for residential, but it is not a good option for commercial property management. We have been a Yardi customer for many years. We used Yardi Genesis, Genesis 2, and now Breeze. Breeze has definitely been a disappointment.

We were able to set up our apartments in about 30 minutes; the process was easy, straightforward and seamless.