Wanted - Database for a Property Management / Letting Agent

[jimbotron]

Dear All, I am looking for a database to help run my property management business. I manage rented property for landlords, using excel spreadsheets at the moment, I have played around with access a little but really don't understand it much. I have read a few post from people on here who have been in the same boat as me - what I want is a database that can do the following functions for me.

1, A List of Properties - Available and Rented
2, A List of Tenants - Including Potential Tenants i.e not yet taken a property
3, Ability to generate a Tenancy Agreement Contract relating to the Tenant(s)and the Property via word
4, A list of Payments made by the Tenant each month
5, A list of Landlords
6, A list of my suppliers - trades people, plumber, electricians etc
7, The ability to send a monthly statement to the landlord showing tenant payments and deductions
8, The ability to search Available properties and available Tenants
9, The ability to generate letters and emails to Landlords, Tenants and Suppliers via Word.

I thinks that's about it - if anyone has already made such a think, please let me know if not, please get in touch about making this for/with me.

Many thanks in advance for your help with this
Jimbotron

 

[Core]

making this for/with me.

Your paying?

 

[dbDamo]

I don't know much about how your business works, but looking at your requirements it shouldn't be a difficult Database to create.

It looks like you'll need at least 7 tables. Properties, Tenants, Landlords, Rentals, Contracts (for jobs done by suppliers-couldn't think of a better name, I'm sure you can), Suppliers and Financials (payments, deductions etc) - though when you go through normalisation you may find you need a few more. There are some good guides on normalisation on this forum.

The rest of your requirements can be achieved through the use of queries and mail merging and once again there are some decent guides on this forum.

 

[ajetrumpet]

1, A List of Properties - Available and Rented
2, A List of Tenants - Including Potential Tenants i.e not yet taken a property
3, Ability to generate a Tenancy Agreement Contract relating to the Tenant(s)and the Property via word
4, A list of Payments made by the Tenant each month
5, A list of Landlords
6, A list of my suppliers - trades people, plumber, electricians etc
7, The ability to send a monthly statement to the landlord showing tenant payments and deductions
8, The ability to search Available properties and available Tenants
9, The ability to generate letters and emails to Landlords, Tenants and Suppliers via Word.

consider hiring someone

 

[Rich]

What country?

 

[dbDamo]

I don't think there is a need to hire someone for this. He should have a go himself and use this forum when he gets stuck.

The tables, queries, forms and reports should be simple enough, though he may need some help with the mail merging and maybe importing the financial data from its source (I'm assuming he won't want to input it manually).

 

[ajetrumpet]

I don't think there is a need to hire someone for this. He should have a go himself and use this forum when he gets stuck.

The tables, queries, forms and reports should be simple enough, though he may need some help with the mail merging and maybe importing the financial data from its source (I'm assuming he won't want to input it manually).

it's a big enough project to hire someone. are we giving EVERYTHING away for free now? no wonder everyone in the world is poor. we don't have to pay for anything anymore. that's of course fine until people start starving to death, then i'm sure they'll change their minds.

 

[dbDamo]

I don't think that this guy writing his own Database will have too much of a negative effect on the world economy!!

He says it is his own business. Surely these are the kind of people we should be helping right now, rather than trying to screw them for every penny?

 

[jimbotron]

Hi - Thanks to everyone who replied, it is a project that I would like to have a go at myself as this would help me get my head around access and also help me improve/adapt it as my business grows. However, time is money and the world is starving (although not me luckily as I am in the UK) so if someone can make such this with their expert eyes shut, then i would rather have it sooner than later and not mind making a contribution to justify the effort. Many thanks
James

 

[Banana]

Jim,

Well, as you said time is money.

You can decide which is more important to you:

1) Investing all the time into becoming a competent developer to create your own database

2) Hire someone to do it quickly.

And to be sure, it's not a either/or proposition; for instance, I know few pay for a one-on-one tutorials to get them up and running so that's something in middle.

But let's be clear about what this forums (and any other forums) is all about. It's for free help on voluntary basis. It's much much efficient at providing a specific answer to a specific question rather than a catch-all "How do I build this?". If you have decided you want to invest your time and effort in teaching yourself, you are more than welcome to make use of abundant resources here and you only need to ask where you can get information on how to do X, Y, and Z and we can give you the links as well specific answers to your scenario at hand.

I hope this helps some.

 

[jimbotron]

I would love to give this a go myself, but as I have mentioned, I am totally new to Access. dbDamo suggested I start with making a table for each aspect, this i have done, so here is my first question, (is this the right place to ask it? i hope so)
I have a list of what i call tenant enquires (ie potential tenants, people who call me and tell me their rental needs and, if anything comes along that matched their needs, i call them back and see if they still need it)
I also have a list of actual tenants that i have agreed to rent a property, these are confirmed tenants and making ongoing payments.
Should i start and make 2 tables, one for potential tenants and one for actual tenants or is this a duplication that i can avoid?
Is there a guide of things to consider on design before starting this db?
Many thanks
Jimbotron

 

[namliam]

Is there a guide of things to consider on design before starting this db?

This guide is called "Normalization" it is a "tool" to help you develop your database.

Google it, learn it, love it

As to your question, do Tenants and Potential tenants have different attributes? I.e. Name, phone number will all be simular attributes...
However things like Letting date, leave date are specific to a tenant while an independent address (non-rented) is specific to the potential tenant... So there are "commonalities" while there are also unique things.

Depending on choices YOU make, there are 3 ways to do this
1) 2 Tables
Use 2 seperate table for all

2) 3 Tables
Use one table for Persons with only the common attributes in there.
Then 2 seperate tables for the specifics...

3) 1 Table - not advicable -
Use 1 table to store all persons and their attributes accepting there will be a lot of empty column's

If you dont know anything yet about Normalization it is likely that the tables you made till now are going to be (atleast partialy) wrong.

Good luck ! You will need it !

 

[dbDamo]

@jimbotron, the Tables I suggested were only a quick guess from looking at the information you provided, like I said I don't know how your business operates. Before you even think about which tables you will need you really need to go through normalisation, as I suggested earlier.

 

[Rich]

The ability to generate letters and emails to Landlords, Tenants and Suppliers via Word.

You don't need Word to this it can be done from and within Access, here's just a few of the tables and relationships you need

 

[jimbotron]

Thanks guys, I will have a look at normilisation and take it from there.

Rich - Thanks for posting that screen print of relationships. It looks pretty advanced. is that from a db you have developed for a letting agents? if so, what country is it for and what can it do? Send me a PM to discuss. Thank$ Jimbotron

 

[Rich]

Thanks guys, I will have a look at normilisation and take it from there.

Rich - Thanks for posting that screen print of relationships. It looks pretty advanced. is that from a db you have developed for a letting agents? if so, what country is it for and what can it do? Send me a PM to discuss. Thank$ Jimbotron

I developed it many years ago for UK based property management although for various reasons I lost interest and never finished it, I'll give you as much help as time allows to develop your own but I'm not about to give it away

 

[jimbotron]

Thats very interesting to me Rich - there would likely be many functions in your db that i would need to develop. if your db is not finished and is more a work in progress, then perhaps I could use it as the bones for my db and then taylor it to my exacte needs and i could renumerate you for your time and hard work. of course i would not expect you to give it away
What do you think about that idea?

 

[jimbotron]

Rich, you never did come back to me with a price for the database...

 

[vbaInet]

Thats very interesting to me Rich - there would likely be many functions in your db that i would need to develop. if your db is not finished and is more a work in progress, then perhaps I could use it as the bones for my db and then taylor it to my exacte needs and i could renumerate you for your time and hard work. of course i would not expect you to give it away
What do you think about that idea?

Remember that Rich's level of proficiency with the use of Access/VBA is at a high level, hence, the barebones of his DB wouldn't be for a beginner I would imagine. But by all means if he's ready to sell go for it

Here are some links to online tutorials gotten from one the forum's VIPs:

Access 2003
Access 2007
Access 2003 with VBA
Access 2007 with VBA

 

[Rich]

Sorry but I don't have time at the minute to go any further