RealPage IMS

Good functionality, need to spend more time learning about it.

Comments: Investor relations is no longer a position you need to higher someone for, just add about 20-30 minutes to an existing employee's day.

Pros:

I like the layout, the color scheme, ease of use/access for investors to check in on assets, ability to update information quickly.

Cons:

We do value add properties so the ability for investors to see progress photos for each property would be good. I can only use 1 photo as the main photo for the investor to see while I take around 30 progress photos a week.

Excellent Data

Comments: Due to the data captured in IMS, we are able to more easily provide data to our CPA for K-1 production. This has reduced the spreadsheets we would otherwise have to maintain. The functionality available for investors to complete Subscription Booklets online and obtain proof of Accreditation via VerifyInvestor has also been a huge improvement for us and our investors and has allowed us to raise as much as $27MM in equity in one month (fully complete/accurate paperwork; fully funded). In addition, the type of data we are able to collect at the CRM Contact level as well as at the investing entity level has helped us market to our investors appropriately whether we are doing a 506(b) or a 506(c) type of deal.

Pros:

In looking at several products, the most important aspect for me is data. Is the type of data that I need to be able to search on or analyze later available for data capture? I look at functionality next. For us, IMS provides the best data out there for a company who raises Private Equity (we focus on Multifamily real estate). Although the user interfaces and functionality have not been as slick as some of the other products we have seen, upon deep review of those other products, they just do not collect the level of data we need them to. IMS has also been working to makeover their UIs to make them more intuitive and streamlined from a functional perspective. One of the other strengths in this software that I love is that IMS tends to build functionality where, as a sponsor, you can turn certain data or functionality on or off if it doesn't work for your company's processes/procedures. This provides flexibility that allows their multiple sponsors to handle certain processes and displays differently based on their specific needs. I have not seen this offered on other tools to the degree it is available on IMS. This is a great strength in this tool and huge win for the multiple sponsors.

Cons:

In the past one of our biggest issues we ran into was functionality deployed that was not fully tested or where existing functionality was not fully regression tested. As a result we would run into bugs. However, this has changed dramatically in the past year. IMS is really taking care to fully test what they deploy.

Smoke and Mirrors

Comments: We present a much better face to investors, looks professional. They don't have to know that the nuts and bolts of the software are not really there.

Pros:

The portal our investors see is awesome, looks very professional.

Cons:

However, the back office (calculating waterfalls, signing and updating documents) does not work as advertised and we have to do it all manually as before and upload it. It does look a lot better than before, investors have all their info in one place - but the time savings and automation we expected are not there.

Great tool to for both internal and investor facing purposes

Comments: Aside from all the pros mentioned, the experience has been very positive. The support team are very responsive and happy to assist quickly and however they can. Investors who choose to utilize the software like it and believe it adds another layer of professionalism to our investments. Looking back, I do wish I had understood the system more when initially getting our investments uploaded, as I had to end up going back and re-doing many of them, but IMS has grown since our initial partnership with them (I believe we were one of the earlier companies), and I assume the process is more transparent and streamlined. Some of the options/characterizations of the data you provide initially may seem innocent, but can actually have an affect on waterfalls, presentation of data within IMS, etc. I implore new users to maybe get one investment fully up in IMS and learn the system before continuing with the rest of their portfolio.

Pros:

Internal Facing: This software provides great internal tools for investment managers to track, promote, and analyze past, current, and future investments. While investment information is kept previously in internal accounting software and Excel files, IMS provides a centralized and efficient platform to track investments and distributions. The waterfall function is very useful in calculating actual distributions to be sent out immediately, and to run "what-if" scenarios for future sales. The document feature allowed you to keep all documentation online for each investor and investment. It is very easy to review investment and distribution history at any level in the LLC structures - whether between two equity partners, or a large group of individual investors. Investor Facing: Allows investors to track their investments like you would log on to an online bank account. Uploaded documents for investors can be sorted by category and/or investment.

Cons:

While there is a bulk upload option through the support team, it would be useful to be able to run it internally and for more items than just K-1s. Can be tiresome sometimes uploading individual documents within a large investor group. Still run in to some complications with changes to an existing equity struture. We have been granted the internal power now to make adjustments, but sometime it can still be easiest to just delete a project and re-build from scratch. When this is to be done, investors/investments must be deleted one by one at each level, and once done, any subsequent documentation is also deleted and must be re-uploaded.

IMS Investor Portal

Comments: We had a very manual process quarterly which consisted of updating our allocation sheets in Excel, preparing our investment analysis in Word/Excel, and the mail merge process to send out the package to the investors. This product enabled us to automate our process and have a portal which consists of everything investor-related (from historical information, such as quarterly investor reports and K1s, to having a list of current and potential investors which will enable us to email when a new investment opportunity arises). Overall, I would highly recommend this product. The time we save quarterly along with the investor management, reporting, and analysis we gained from this product is priceless!

Pros:

The IMS product has been intuitive from the get-go. My superior and I were impressed with the initial demo and pricing of the product. It was an easy decision to go with IMS! We were fortunate to have been appointed a great implementation manager and the implementation process went smoothly (even though we encountered issues with some of the distribution amounts and ownership percentages, but representative was very responsive and supportive in a daily and timely manner). Customer Support have been helpful so far with some of the password reset, login issues, and K1 upload.

Cons:

There are some missing features specific to our company such as having custom tags in creating Custom Email and Statement Templates (right now the selection is only First Name, Last Name, Legal Name, and Prefix), which make it hard to personalize our communication with our investors. We also think a bulk printing feature would be helpful when we print out our quarterly investor statements. Lastly, it would be beneficial if it was made possible to send out email notifications when a K1 document has been uploaded (one of our investors have mentioned this to us as well prior to us having to manually email out investors with this notification).

Great system once you learn to use it.

Comments: Excellent experience overall.

Pros:

In terms of implementation the process was fairly easy. We had few years of data that IMS uploaded in matter of hours. Once implemented, we had few hiccups with the full capabilities of the system; however, IMS did a great job creating learning tools to help with functionality questions. [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] served as our relationship manager. He is very knowledgeable and helped us to align our business needs with the system's capabilities. Uploading K1s and monthly reports is extremely easy and fast. Also, the system allows the creation of monthly and quarterly reports which it has been a fantastic tool to maintain investors informed. The ability to create email campaigns based on deal or as a portfolio is a great advantage the system offers. I would say this is one of the tools we use the most when communicating with investors

Cons:

IMS integrates with few accounting systems; unfortunately, Entrata is not in the list of integrations yet. Can't wait for the integration to facilitate data transfer.

Great Product

Pros:

The most useful feature is using the waterfall and distribution batches. You simply input all the investors, tell IMS how to split the distribution and then it calculates everything for you. It also generates a NACHA file which makes it easy to give to the bank and actually distribute the cash. It made our distribution process so much easier. It is also easy to create projects and have everything organized and in one place.

Cons:

We've used the eSignature Templates multiple times and it makes the signing process for investors a lot easier; however, we use some of the documents for each project we have and it would be nice to be able to copy the eSignature Template on our end and be able to use what we've already done instead of having to create and code a whole new template.

A true game changer for our business

Comments: Huge time savings through automation of many investor-related processes. We are able to have staff focus on higher-level analytical as a result. Investors love all-in-one nature of the platform and really like the UX.

Pros:

From day one we have really liked ACH distributions, waterfall calculations, CRM/email campaigns. We are very excited about the investor statements and capital call features.

Cons:

We were very early clients so the functionality at the beginning wasn't as robust in the beginning as it is now. They are excellent about getting client input as they roll out new features.

IMS - Excellent Investor Platform

Comments: IMS has helped us communicate much more efficiently with our investors.

Pros:

We have used IMS for 2 years or so and we have enjoyed working with IMS and their entire staff. The system gave us an affordable, efficient and very robust way to keep track of (CRM) our investors, raise money, make distributions, and communicate with our 100 plus investors.

Cons:

I do not have any negatives to report regarding IMS.

Step

Pros:

Ability to effectively track and communicate investment performance in a professional manner. IMS is continually improving their platform meeting our expanding project and investor needs.

Cons:

We don't have any complaints as customer service has been responsive and thorough.

Automated our previously manual process

Comments: IMS is allowing our investors to self serve, where they can see the status of their investments in real time, gather tax documentation, and see all their investor updates in one place. This gives them full transparency to their relationship with our company, which builds trust with our investors.

Pros:

The ability to track investments and make investment offerings through the software has saved us hundreds of hours of doing this manually. The integration of electronic signatures has also been a huge time saver.

Cons:

We would prefer to have a better integration with our bank in terms of our Nacha file and our distributions, that has been a bit clunky.

Overall IMS meets the needs of our enterprise.

Comments: Our investors use it as their go-to place for all information related to their investments.

Pros:

IMS provides our investors a one-stop shop to view their investment, distributions, tax documents, as well as view new investment opportunities.

Cons:

Sometimes, the functionality is a bit clunky. Customer service response time could be improved. In addition, we would like to see the software be tailored more to companies in the hospitality space.

IMS Review

Comments: Great experience. Really like the software and customer service is excellent.

Pros:

Ease of use and functionality of the software.

Cons:

There's nothing I don't like about this software.

RealPage AIM

Comments: One of the best client services I've ever experienced. Reliable, hands-on, and fast responses to questions and suggestions.

Pros:

Very intuitive and loads of webinars and tutorials if one needs a refresher on certain components.

Cons:

Sometimes pages are slow to load, but we have a ton of data to crunch.

Customer Service & Ease of Use

Pros:

User friendliness and investor focused. We have received very positive feedback from our investor base on the usability and ease of the subscription process and ongoing investment monitoring. The features meet exactly what we need and customer support has been stellar.

Cons:

The platform is still building out additional features with some slight hiccups from an administrative side. These have been very minor but sometimes require reaching out to customer support. Customer support is extremely responsive and the issue is usually resolved in a matter of hours.

Great product if you have mutiple projects/investors

Comments: The overall experience has been great. We had an awesome implementation team that helped us get set up and customer service has been great.

Pros:

We have many projects with many outside investors. The software helps track preferred and promote returns and can track the distribution waterfall order.

Cons:

We have a tiered preferred distribution payout plan (during construction vs after property opens). At this time, IMS is not able to calculate the distribution for both time periods. There is a "work around", but we are looking forward to the fix in the future.

AIM is a great software for Multifamily Real Estate and Investor Relations

Pros:

CRM, distribution waterfalls, document housing, security of information, interaction and access for investors

Cons:

limited API's/integrations, specifically for accounting and payments

User Friendly

Pros:

Super easy to navigate allowing investors to gain access with no trouble.

Cons:

I have not found anything to dislike about this software.

RealPage AIM Review

Comments: The customer service agents, and account managers are very helpful.

Pros:

The software is intuitive, and easy to use. Further, the customization features make setting up distributions, emails, and investor profiles extremely easy.

Cons:

I have had zero issues with the software.

Several security vulnerabilities to be aware of

Comments: I lost money when my investment distributions were redirected to another account due to the security vulnerabilities. I am a verified user of this platform.

Pros:

Able to see my investments in one place.

Cons:

Several security vulnerabilities. Someone can easily login to your account and change where your distributions are deposited to. There is no multifactor authentication available (MFA), no follow up email to tell you a change has been made to your account and there is no session timeout when you close the browser. (Close and re-open without logging back in). I would stay away from this software until these issues are resolved. This happened to me and I lost several thousand dollars.

Allows quarter end distributions to flow seamlessly

Pros:

Great for organizing investor documents and gives us a professional edge as a smaller firm. Every quarter distributions go out and we've been able to minimize and catch mistakes before they go out.

Cons:

I have no major complaints, but ideally the split screens for the distribution visual wold readjust better to fit into the screen.

RealPage IMS Portal

Pros:

Provides a medium that allows our company to share investor data with our investors in an easy and efficient manor.

Cons:

Doesn’t have an app for even easier use.

Great for our clients

Comments: Very good experience. The platform is very reliable and flexible, with minimum work to maintain it.

Pros:

This is definitely a great tool for our clients. It is extremely flexible and it adapted to our structure very well, even though we are not the typical fund. Our clients were able to register and login very easily, and we now manage all of our communication and sensitive document sharing through the portal. The implementation was definitely a lot of work. But I imagine is not something you can avoid.

Cons:

Not sure that there are any areas that I would have developed differently.

IMS

Comments: get messages out quickly

Pros:

Investor views and quarterly reports are easy

Cons:

Hard to make changes and not easy to navigate

Provides valuable information, easy to use and is continually adapting to add more features.

Comments: Ease of investor relations.

Pros:

CRM is very helpful to see when other team members have sent correspondence with investors. I also really like the ease of sending distributions.

Cons:

Some of the edit functions are limited after certain items have already been entered and have to contact customer support to get changes made. This is a trade off because sometimes you do really want to limit this issue.