Free Property Management Toolkit

What you will build

• One inbox for every inquiry: listing sites, guest cards, texts and calls logged as leads in your PM software
• A first reply within minutes that confirms the unit, rent, availability and how to book a showing
• A follow-up sequence (day 1, day 3, day 7) that stops the moment the prospect replies or books

Step 1 — the first reply (copy this)

• “Hi {first_name}, thanks for asking about {unit} at {rent}/month, available {date}. You can book a showing here: {showing_link}. Before you apply, here is what we look for: {criteria_link}. Any questions, just reply.”

Step 2 — qualify the same way for everyone

• Publish written criteria (income-to-rent ratio, move-in date, pets, occupants) and send the same link to every prospect
• Never screen out by any characteristic protected by federal, state or local law; check local source-of-income rules
• Record every inquiry and reply in the PM software so nothing lives in a personal phone

Step 3 — the follow-ups

• Day 1: “Still interested in {unit}? Showing times this week: {times}.”
• Day 3: “{unit} is still available — want me to hold a showing slot for you?”
• Day 7: “Last check-in on {unit}. Reply anytime if your plans change.” Then stop.

Rules

• Unusual questions (pets over size limits, assistance animals, lease changes) go to a person — the system never improvises a policy
• Every reply uses the listing data, never a number typed from memory
• Measure one thing weekly: minutes to first reply

What you will build

• A turn tracker with one row per unit: move-out date, inspection date, vendor dates, ready date, days vacant
• A move-out inspection checklist that becomes the work-order list
• A target turn time per unit type, and a weekly look at every unit over target

Step 1 — before move-out (notice received)

• Schedule the pre-move-out walk and the final inspection date
• Book cleaning and paint tentatively for the day after move-out
• Start marketing the unit with the expected ready date

Step 2 — move-out day

• Inspect room by room with photos; compare to the move-in inspection
• Turn every item into a work order against the unit (paint, clean, repair, replace)
• Change locks / codes; record keys and meter readings

Step 3 — make-ready order

• Repairs → paint → flooring → appliances → deep clean → final walk
• Each vendor gets a date, not “this week”; the tracker shows who is late
• Final walk signs off ready-to-rent; listing switches to available now

Step 4 — deposit and close-out

• Itemize deductions with photos and invoices; send within your state's deadline (check your state's rules — not legal advice)
• Log turn days (move-out → ready) per unit; that is the number to bring down

What it reads (4 pages in your PM software)

• Payment history → rent actually received this month
• Balances due → rent that is truly past due (not deposits, not future charges)
• Open work orders → issue, priority, due date
• Active leases → monthly rent and end date (flags leases ending within 90 days)

What it writes

• Big numbers first: collected · overdue · units leased · open work orders
• One “needs attention” line at the top when something is late
• Tables: payments received, open work orders, leases
• A footnote for anything odd it noticed (e.g. deposits not recorded as received)

Rules the agent follows

• Every number is read from the system — no template sentence says “all good”
• It never edits a payment or marks anything paid; it only reads
• Nothing goes to the owner until a person clicks approve (email button, Slack, or reply)
• Same format every month, for every owner

Prompt to give your AI (Claude or similar)

• “You are preparing a monthly owner report for {owner} covering {properties} for {month}. Use ONLY the data below. Lead with four numbers: rent collected, rent overdue, units leased, open work orders. If any rent is overdue, put one ‘Needs attention’ line at the top naming tenant, unit, amount and due date. Then list payments received, open work orders and leases. Do not invent or round numbers. Output clean HTML email.”

statement_sept_2026.csv

date,category,description,amount
2026-09-01,Rent income,1A Jordan Demo,1450.00
2026-09-01,Rent income,1B Casey Sample,1525.00
2026-09-01,Rent income,2A Riley Test,1450.00
2026-09-01,Rent income,2B Avery Example,1500.00
2026-09-01,Rent income,3A Morgan Demo,1475.00
2026-09-01,Rent income,3B Taylor Sample,1500.00
2026-09-01,Rent income,4A Quinn Test,1525.00
2026-09-30,Management fee,8% of rent collected,-834.00
2026-09-12,Repairs,WO-1041 2A kitchen leak - Acme Plumbing (demo),-385.00
2026-09-19,Repairs,WO-1047 3B no heat - Demo HVAC Co,-640.00
2026-09-22,Repairs,WO-1052 4B rekey - Sample Lock & Key,-95.00
2026-09-15,Insurance,Landlord policy installment,-412.00
2026-09-28,Utilities,Water and sewer 100 Demo Lane,-288.40

work_orders_sept_2026.csv

wo,unit,issue,vendor,invoice_date,amount,status,owner_approved
WO-1041,2A,Kitchen leak,Acme Plumbing (demo),2026-09-12,385.00,completed,not required (under limit)
WO-1047,3B,No heat,Demo HVAC Co,2026-09-19,640.00,completed,no
WO-1052,4B,Rekey after move-out,Sample Lock & Key,2026-09-22,95.00,completed,not required (under limit)
WO-1055,2B,Dead outlet,Sample Electric (demo),2026-09-29,175.00,completed,not required (under limit)
WO-1058,1A,Dripping faucet,Acme Plumbing (demo),,,open,pending

vacancies_sept_2026.csv

unit,days_vacant,listed_rent,showings_this_month,applications,note
4B,41,1525.00,6,1,application under review

Who gets a reminder

• Only rent that is actually past due — never deposits or charges not yet due
• Skip anyone already reminded at this step (no duplicate emails)
• Tenant name, unit and amount come from the lease, never typed from memory

Step 1 — friendly (a few days after the due date)

• Subject: Friendly reminder: {month} rent for {unit}
• “Hi {first_name}, we noticed your rent for {due_date} hasn’t come through yet. It’s probably just slipped through the cracks — that happens to everyone. Amount due: {amount}. If you’ve already paid, thank you — just reply so we can update our records. If something has come up, reply or call us and we’ll talk it through.”

Step 2 — firmer (a week later)

• Subject: Rent for {unit} is now {days_late} days late
• “Hi {first_name}, your rent of {amount} due {due_date} is still outstanding. Please pay by {date} or reply to set up a plan. Under your lease, {late_fee_policy} applies after {grace_days} days.”

Hard rules

• After two reminders the agent stops and alerts a person with the history
• It never sends a legal notice (rules differ by state — a person owns those)
• It never contacts a tenant without a person approving the draft
• No threats, no mention of eviction in reminders

The sweep

• Read the leases page, sort by end date
• Flag leases ending in 90, 60 and 30 days so the owner has time to decide

Owner approval email (first)

• Current rent · recommended renewal rent · your policy (e.g. 3% cap) · term · any overdue rent
• Reply YES to approve, or reply with a different number
• No answer → check-ins at 7, 14 and 21 days, then hand-off to a person

Tenant offer (only after the owner says yes)

• Repeats exactly what the owner approved — same rent, same dates
• One easy way to say yes: reply to the email
• No answer → three follow-ups, three days apart, then a person takes over

Hard rules

• Never raises rent past your cap
• Never sends a tenant anything the owner hasn’t approved
• Never signs a lease for anyone — it creates it in the system for a person to finalize

1 · Property

• Name/nickname, full address, unit
• Market rent, deposit, application fee
• Beds, baths, square feet, type

2 · Tenant

• Legal name, email, cell
• Link to the owner if you manage for others

3 · Lease

• Property + primary tenant
• Move-in date, end date, rent, rent start date (these drive every balance)
• Security deposit and when it’s due; late-fee rules

4 · Money

• Turn on online rent collection / tenant portal
• Record any payments already received
• Set up recurring expenses (insurance, HOA, utilities)

5 · Month-end

• Work orders logged against the unit
• Expenses logged against the unit (so owner statements are right)
• Run the statements + payments report; send to the owner

Write your criteria first (example)

• Gross monthly income at least 3× the rent
• Photo ID verified
• Positive reference from the most recent landlord
• No unpaid balance owed to a previous landlord
• Complete application: two recent pay stubs + signed consent

Apply them the same way

• Same written criteria for every applicant, in the order applications arrive
• Record the reason for each result (green / yellow / red)
• Yellow = a question (e.g. a missing document), not a no

Never use

• Race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law
• Anything outside your written criteria
• Check local rules (e.g. source-of-income and criminal-history limits) before writing criteria — this is not legal advice

Summary template

• Applicant → unit · rent
• Counts: green / yellow / red
• One line per criterion: result + the evidence
• Decision buttons for a person: Approve · Ask for what's missing · Decline (citing the criterion)
• Any email to the applicant is a draft until a person clicks send

Emergency — skip every step, alert a person now

• Gas smell, flooding or water you can't stop, fire or smoke, no heat in freezing weather, no water at all, a break-in or unsecured door
• Tell the tenant what to do right away (leave, call 911, shut the main valve)

Urgent — same or next day

• Active but contained leak, no hot water, fridge not cooling, one toilet not working when there's only one

Routine — schedule it

• Dripping faucet, noisy fan, sticking door, cosmetic damage

The 3 questions (sent before you see it)

• Can you send a photo?
• Can we enter if you're not home?
• When are you around?
• Plus one safety tip that fits the problem (e.g. the valve under the sink)

Rules

• The agent creates the work order with unit, description, type, priority, permission to enter and due date
• A person picks the vendor — nothing goes to a vendor without a click
• Never promise the tenant a time you didn't approve

Why the built-in reports feel like they don't answer the question

• Most reports show one list at a time: rent roll, delinquency, work orders. The question you actually have — which property is losing money, which is slipping — sits across several of them.
• So the weekly routine becomes: export, paste into Excel, separate the data, repeat. That is the hours. The fix is to know which 9 numbers matter, pull them the same way every week, and put them side by side.

1. Occupancy and vacancy days, by property

• Occupied units ÷ total units, plus how many days each vacant unit has been empty. Vacancy days is the number that costs you money.
• AppFolio: Reports → look for the rent roll and the unit vacancy / vacancy-related reports (names vary by plan; search the Reports list for “vacan”). Buildium: Rentals → Rent roll for who is in what; vacancy appears as units with no active lease.

2. Delinquency over 30 days

• Rent that is more than 30 days past due, by property, as a share of monthly rent. Rent that is only a few days late is a reminder, not a problem — over 30 is the number to watch.
• AppFolio: Reports → the delinquency / aged receivables style reports. Buildium: Reports → the outstanding balances / aged receivables style reports. Check the as-of date and that deposits and future charges are not counted as late rent.

3. Work-order aging

• Open work orders by how many days they have been open, and how many are past their due date. A long tail here is your tenants' next review.
• AppFolio: Maintenance → Work orders (filter to open, sort by created date); the Reports list also has a work-order report. Buildium: Maintenance → Work orders, filter to open and sort by date.

4. Renewal pipeline by days left

• Leases ending in 0–30, 31–60 and 61–90 days, and how many of those already have a renewal offer sent. Anything in the first bucket with no offer is the week's first call.
• AppFolio: Reports → the lease expiration report. Buildium: Leasing → Lease renewals (or the Rent roll sorted by lease end date).

5. Turn time (make-ready)

• Days from move-out to ready-to-rent, per unit. Neither tool tracks the steps in between cleanly, so a lot of PMs keep this on a spreadsheet — which is fine, as long as it is one list, updated by one person.
• Pull move-out dates from the rent roll / lease end dates and the ready date from your list; the number is the gap.

6. Rent collected vs. expected, month to date

• Collected so far ÷ billed so far, by property. Compare to the same day last month, not to 100%.
• AppFolio: Reports → payment / receipt reports for the date range. Buildium: Reports → the rent / receipts reports for the date range. Use the same date range every week.

7. Owner-report timeliness

• Reports sent on time ÷ reports due, per month. Owners rarely complain about the numbers; they complain when the report is late.
• Neither tool tracks this for you: keep a simple list of owners with the day each statement went out.

8. Tenant portal and online-pay adoption

• Share of tenants active in the portal and paying online. More online pay usually means less chasing and fewer cash-handling steps.
• Buildium: Reports → Analytics Hub, which shows Resident Center usage and ePay adoption. AppFolio: check your payment reports for the share paid electronically.

9. Leasing performance (if you have vacancies)

• Showings or applications per listing, and how many days a listing has been live. A listing live a long time with few inquiries points to price, photos or the listing text.
• Buildium: Reports → Analytics Hub, Leasing performance. AppFolio: the guest-card / leasing reports for the date range.

A simple weekly routine

• Same day, same time, same date ranges — comparisons only work if the setup does not change.
• Write the 9 numbers per property in one table: this week, last week, and a flag for anything moving the wrong way.
• Look at the three worst rows first. That is the meeting.

Report names and menu paths

• Menu paths and report names change with plan and software version. The paths above are ones we have used; where we say “look for” or “search”, check the Reports list in your own account.
• This is a checklist, not accounting or legal advice.

If you want this as a live dashboard

• If you want this built as a live dashboard inside your own data, reply and we'll look at it.

First, what exists today

• AppFolio announced a Realm-X connector for Claude (June 2026); check your plan and AppFolio's current docs for what it includes and what your account can use.
• Nothing on this page depends on that connector. The same checklist applies to any way of connecting Claude to your software, including reports you export yourself.

1. Start read-only

• Day one: Claude can look at data and nothing else. No write access to payments, ledgers, leases, work orders or messages.
• If your setup offers a read vs. read-and-write choice, choose read. Add write access later, one narrow action at a time, only after weeks of clean drafts.

2. Permissions to grant

• Read access to the specific reports or pages the task needs: for example balances due, work orders, active leases.
• A separate login or role just for this connection, so you can see what it did and switch it off without touching anyone else's access.
• The smallest set of properties that lets you test, not the whole portfolio.

3. Permissions not to grant

• Anything that posts, edits or deletes: payments, charges, ledger entries, deposits, owner draws.
• Sending email or text to tenants, owners or vendors straight from the connection.
• Bank account, trust account or payment-processor access.
• Admin or user-management rights.

4. A person approves everything that leaves

• Claude writes a draft. A person reads it and clicks send. No exceptions for “just reminders.”
• The draft should show what it was based on (which tenant, which balance, which date) so the reviewer can check the source in seconds.
• If you cannot make the send step manual, you are not ready to use it for outgoing messages.

5. Data to keep out

• Social Security numbers, full bank account or card numbers, driver's license numbers, and anything from a screening or credit report.
• Tenant medical, immigration or other sensitive details that sometimes end up in notes.
• If you paste data in by hand, remove anything the task does not need first.
• Check your own AI provider's data and retention terms for the plan you use. We have not reviewed them for you.

6. Test routine before you trust it

• Run it on a few properties, or a copy of last month's reports, for two weeks.
• Each draft: check every number against the source. Write down every miss.
• Try to break it: ask for a late-rent email for a tenant who is not late, or an owner report with a missing property. A good setup says “no data” instead of guessing.
• Only widen the scope after two clean weeks in a row.

Prompt starter 1 — weekly report

• “Read the rent roll, balances due and open work orders I give you. Summarize by property: occupancy, rent overdue over 30 days, and work orders open longer than 14 days. Use only the data provided. If something is missing, say so; do not estimate. Output a table and three bullet points. Do not send anything.”

Prompt starter 2 — late rent

• “From the balances-due list, find tenants more than 5 days past due on rent only (not deposits or future charges). For each, draft a friendly reminder email using the tenant name, unit, amount and due date from the list. Mark each draft ‘FOR APPROVAL’. Do not contact anyone.”

Prompt starter 3 — renewals

• “From the active leases, list leases ending in the next 90 days with unit, tenant, current rent and end date. Group by 30/60/90 days. For each, draft a short renewal check-in email as a draft for approval. Do not propose a new rent; leave that line blank for me.”

Prompt starter 4 — maintenance triage

• “Read these new work-order requests. For each, classify as emergency, urgent or routine using my rules below, quote the words from the request that led you there, and list what is missing (photo, access permission, availability). Draft a reply asking for what is missing. Do not dispatch a vendor or promise a time.”

Prompt starter 5 — vendor follow-up

• “From the open work orders older than 7 days that have a vendor assigned, draft a polite follow-up to each vendor asking for a status and expected completion date. List the work-order number and property in each draft. These are drafts for approval; do not send.”

Switch-off plan

• Know before you start how to revoke the connection and where the activity is logged.
• If a draft ever has a wrong number, pause, find out why, and fix the instructions before resuming.

If you want help with this

• Want us to set it up and review the permissions with you? Reply and we'll look at it.

The one rule

• Reads your PM software → drafts the email → a person approves → then it sends

The three templates

• Owner report → upnexs.ai/toolkit#report
• Late-rent reminders → upnexs.ai/toolkit#late-rent
• Lease renewals → upnexs.ai/toolkit#renewal

What none of them ever do

• Raise rent past your cap
• Send a legal notice
• Contact a tenant without a yes from a person

What you will build

• A monthly owner email with the statement attached, built from your PM software's owner statement report
• Four lines at the top: rent collected, expenses paid, owner draw, reserve balance
• One sentence per unusual item (a vacancy, a big repair, a late payer)
• A review step: a person approves each email before it goes out

Where the numbers come from

• Owner statement report for the period (AppFolio, Buildium, Property Manager Cloud and others all have one)
• Bills paid in the period → expenses with vendor and memo
• Rent roll → vacancies and leases ending in the next 90 days

The email template

• Subject: {month} owner statement — {property}
• “Hi {owner_first_name}, your {month} statement for {property} is attached. Collected: {collected}. Expenses: {expenses}. Your draw: {draw}, sent on {draw_date}. Worth knowing: {one_line_note}. Reply with any questions.”

Rules

• Every number comes from the report, never typed by hand
• If a number looks wrong, hold the email and flag it; never send a guess
• Same day, same format, every month

What you will build

• A list of leases ending in the next 60–120 days, pulled from your PM software
• A proposed new rent per unit, capped at the maximum the owner set
• A notice letter filled from the lease (tenant, unit, current rent, new rent, effective date)
• A person approves every notice before it is sent

Check before you send

• Days of notice your state and city require (it varies, and some cities cap increases). Check yours or ask an attorney
• The lease allows the increase on that date
• How you deliver it, and keep proof (for example, certified mail or the tenant portal)

The letter

• “Dear {tenant_name}, this letter is notice that the monthly rent for {unit} will change from {current_rent} to {new_rent}, effective {effective_date}. All other lease terms stay the same. If you have questions or would like to discuss renewal options, contact us at {phone} or {email}.”

Rules

• Never above the owner's cap
• Never sent without a person's approval
• Not legal advice: confirm local notice rules first

What you will build

• A move-out task that starts the day the tenant gives notice
• A deadline date calculated from your state's deposit-return rule (check yours, it varies)
• An itemized deduction list linked to move-in vs move-out photos
• The return letter and refund, approved by a person

Deductions checklist

• Unpaid rent and charges (from the tenant ledger)
• Damage beyond normal wear and tear, with photo and invoice for each item
• Cleaning only if the lease allows it
• Never deduct for normal wear and tear

The letter

• “Dear {tenant_name}, your security deposit for {unit} was {deposit}. Deductions: {itemized_list}. Total refund: {refund}, sent on {date} to {forwarding_address}. Photos and invoices are attached.”

Rules

• Send before the state deadline, always
• Every deduction has a photo or an invoice
• Template, not legal advice

What you will build

• An automatic late-fee rule in your PM software (grace days, flat or percent, cap)
• A daily check: who is past the grace period and has not been charged
• A notice to the tenant the day the fee posts
• A person reviews waivers; nothing is waived silently

Policy checklist

• Grace period written in the lease
• Fee amount within your state's limit (some states cap late fees, check yours)
• One fee per month, no fee on top of a fee
• A written waiver rule (for example, first time in 12 months)

The notice

• Subject: Late fee added — {unit}
• “Hi {first_name}, rent for {month} was not received by {grace_date}, so a late fee of {fee} was added under your lease. Balance now: {balance}. Pay in the portal, or reply if something has come up.”

What you will build

• Every request logged as a work order in your PM software (portal, text, email, call)
• Three questions first: what, where exactly, and a photo
• A priority: emergency (now), urgent (24 h), routine (this week)
• Vendor dispatch from your preferred-vendor list, with permission-to-enter noted

Follow-up rules

• Vendor has not accepted in 2 hours → next vendor
• Not scheduled in 24 hours → alert a person
• Tenant updated when it is scheduled and when it is done
• Close only after the tenant confirms or a photo shows it fixed

Spending limit

• Anything over the owner's approval limit waits for the owner's yes
• Emergencies: make it safe first, then ask