How to Switch Property Management Software Without Losing Your Data or Your Mind
You already know your current software isn't working. The compliance gaps, the clunky interface, the add-on fees that keep climbing, the support tickets that go nowhere — you've been building the case for months.
But you haven't pulled the trigger because of one question: what happens when we switch?
Migration anxiety is the single biggest reason property managers stay on bad software. Not loyalty. Not satisfaction. Fear.
Fear that the data migration will take months. Fear that something critical will get lost. Fear that residents will be confused. Fear that the transition will disrupt operations during a period you can't afford disruption.
This is the migration playbook that no PMS vendor will write for you — because every vendor has a conflict of interest on this topic. They either want to keep you (if you're their customer) or sell you (if you're not). Neither motivation produces honest guidance.
We're going to give you the honest version: what to migrate, what to expect, what goes wrong, and how to make the switch in under 30 days.
The Migration Decision: When It's Time
Before we get into the how, let's address the when. Switching property management software is disruptive — not catastrophically, but meaningfully. It's worth doing when:
Your total cost of ownership has drifted well above what you'd pay for equivalent (or better) functionality elsewhere. If you haven't done this math recently, add up your base subscription, every add-on module, payment processing fees, and the staff hours lost to workarounds. Divide by your unit count. That's your real per-unit cost.
Your compliance workflows have gaps that create audit risk. If your current platform doesn't support the programs you operate — or makes compliance tasks harder than they should be — every month you wait is another month of exposure.
Your staff spends more time fighting the software than using it. High training overhead, unintuitive workflows, and excessive clicks for routine tasks are real operational costs, even if they don't show up on an invoice.
Your vendor's product direction no longer aligns with your needs. Price increases without feature improvements, deprecation of capabilities you rely on, or a pivot toward market segments that aren't yours are all signals.
If two or more of these apply, the cost of staying exceeds the cost of switching. The migration disruption is temporary. The operational drag of bad software is permanent.
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The Pre-Migration Checklist: What to Do Before You Switch
Migration success is determined before the first data file is exported. Here's the preparation work most operators skip — and regret.
1. Inventory Your Data
Before you can migrate data, you need to know exactly what you have. Build a complete inventory:
- Resident records: active residents, former residents (how far back do you need history?), household members, children, emergency contacts.
- Lease data: current leases, lease history, renewal dates, lease terms, rent amounts, deposit amounts.
- Financial data: chart of accounts, current balances, transaction history (how many months?), security deposits, prepaid balances, outstanding charges, AP invoices, vendor records.
- Compliance data: current TIC forms, recertification schedules, income certification history, HUD reporting data, TRACS codes, and designation history.
- Documents: uploaded documents, signed leases, compliance forms, and inspection reports.
- Work orders: open work orders, work order history, vendor assignments.
The question you need to answer for each category is: do I need to migrate this data, or just be able to access it if someone asks? There's a meaningful difference. Archival access (keeping your old system read-only for 6–12 months) is often a better strategy for historical data than migrating every record.
2. Identify Your Non-Negotiable Go-Live Requirements
Not everything needs to be migrated before go-live. Separate your data into three buckets:
- Must-have for Day 1: Current resident records, active lease data, current balances, chart of accounts, unit/building/floorplan structure, active compliance certifications and upcoming recertification schedules, open work orders.
- Can follow within 30 days: Historical transaction data, vendor records, document archives, former resident records, work order history.
- Nice to have but not blocking: Multi-year financial history, prospect/lead data, archived documents from properties you no longer manage.
This prioritization is what turns a 3-month migration into a 3-week migration. Most of the time spent on migrations is spent trying to move everything at once. You don't need everything at once.
3. Export Your Data
Every PMS platform allows data export — but the quality and completeness of that export varies wildly.
- What to export: resident demographics, lease data, chart of accounts, current balances, transaction history, unit/building structure, compliance certification data, vendor records, and any custom fields you rely on.
- Format: CSV is the universal format. Export everything you can to CSV. If your current vendor offers bulk export tools, use them. If they don't, export report by report.
- Watch for: data that only exists in reports (not exportable as raw data), custom fields that don't map to standard exports, historical compliance data that may require special export requests, and payment processing data that lives in a separate system.
Pro tip: Run your exports twice, a week apart. Compare the files. This catches records that were in a transitional state during the first export and ensures you have a clean, complete dataset.
4. Notify Your Stakeholders
Don't surprise anyone. Before you migrate:
- Internal team: Brief your property managers, compliance staff, accounting team, and maintenance staff. Give them a timeline, explain what will change, and set expectations about the learning curve. Identify your power users — they'll be your internal champions during training.
- Residents: Prepare a communication (letter, email, or portal notification) explaining that you're upgrading your property management system. Include: when the change happens, how it affects their ability to pay rent (new portal URL, new payment setup), whether auto-pay needs to be re-enrolled, and who to contact with questions. Keep it simple and non-alarming.
- Owners/investors: For properties with active owner reporting, notify owners that you're transitioning systems. Assure them that financial reporting continuity is maintained. If you generate quarterly owner reports, plan the transition so it doesn't land in the middle of a reporting cycle.
- Vendors: If your vendors use a portal for invoicing or work orders, notify them about the transition and provide new portal access information.
The Migration: Week by Week
Here's what a well-executed migration looks like on a realistic timeline.
Week 1: Setup and Configuration
- Import your property structure: properties, buildings, floorplans, units, designations.
- Configure your chart of accounts (CSV import if your new platform supports it).
- Set up compliance program rules for each property (LIHTC, Section 8, HOME, USDA/RD—whatever applies).
- Configure payment processing and bank account connections.
- Set up user accounts and permissions for your team.
This is configuration work, not data migration. It establishes the structure into which your data will flow. On a platform designed for fast implementation, this takes days.
Week 2: Core Data Migration
- Import current resident records with household composition.
- Import active lease data and current balances.
- Import or recreate your recertification schedule.
- Set up active compliance certifications.
- Enter open work orders.
This is where the bulk of the hands-on migration work happens. On a platform that supports MAT file import from HUD systems and CSV bulk import for residents, units, and designations, this phase is measured in days, not weeks.
Week 3: Validation and Parallel Operations
Run both systems side by side. Your old system stays active for reference. Your new system is where new work happens.
Validate resident balances between systems. This is the single most important validation step — if balances don't match, find out why before proceeding.
Run a trial rent generation in the new system and compare output against expectations.
Test payment processing with a small number of transactions before switching all residents to the new payment portal.
Verify compliance reports match between systems for any certifications processed during the overlap period.
Week 4: Cutover and Go-Live
- Switch resident-facing portals to the new system.
- Send resident communications with new payment portal URLs and instructions.
- Redirect any listing feeds or website integrations.
- Begin processing all new transactions exclusively in the new system.
- Keep the old system accessible (read-only) for 90 days minimum for historical reference.
What Actually Goes Wrong (And How to Handle It)
We're not going to pretend migrations are risk-free. Here's what actually causes problems — and how to prevent or handle each one.
Balance Discrepancies
The most common migration issue. Resident balances in the new system don't match the old system. This usually happens because:
Transactions were posted in the old system after the data was exported but before the new system went live. Solution: freeze posting in the old system at a defined cutoff time, then export.
Deposit handling differs between platforms. Solution: reconcile deposit balances separately and verify the mapping before import.
Prepaid balances, credits, or concessions were handled differently. Solution: run the AR Aging report from both systems on the same date and reconcile line by line for any mismatches.
Compliance Data Gaps
Recertification schedules that don't transfer cleanly. Income certification history that requires manual re-entry. TRACS codes that need to be remapped to the new system's unit structure.
Solution: Prioritize current and upcoming certifications (anything due within 120 days). Historical certification data is important for audits, but doesn't need to be in the new system on Day 1 — keep your old system accessible for lookback.
Resident Payment Disruption
Auto-pay enrollments don't carry over between systems. Residents need to re-enroll in the new portal.
Solution: Communicate early (at least 2 weeks before the cutover), simplify the re-enrollment process, and ensure staff are available to assist residents who need help. Track enrollment rates daily after cutover and follow up with residents who haven't re-enrolled.
Staff Resistance
Your team has built muscle memory around the old system. Even if the new system is better, there's a productivity dip during the transition.
Solution: Identify 2–3 power users and train them first. They become your internal support team during the broader rollout. Choose a platform with a short learning curve — if a new system requires weeks of training, it's creating the same problem you're trying to solve.
What to Expect from ExactEstate's Migration Process
We're not going to pretend we don't have a perspective on this. Here's what our implementation looks like:
Dedicated Customer Success Manager assigned to your account from Day 1. Not a shared support queue — a named person who knows your portfolio.
MAT file import from HUD systems loads your property data quickly if you're coming from a HUD-assisted environment.
CSV and Excel bulk import for chart of accounts, units, residents, designations, and balances. Your data exports from your current system map directly into our import templates.
Compliance configuration happens per property — each property gets its specific program rules (LIHTC, Section 8, HOME, USDA/RD) configured independently.
Training is unlimited and included for the life of your subscription. Not 3 sessions during onboarding. Not a knowledge base you're left to figure out yourself. Live training, as many sessions as your team needs, whenever they need it.
The 3-Click Rule means your staff learns the system in days, not weeks. We designed every workflow to mirror how property managers actually work — not how developers think you should work.
Go-live in days, not months. That's not aspirational. That's the standard timeline.
The Migration Decision Framework
If you're on the fence, here's the simple test:
1. Calculate your actual per-unit monthly cost on your current platform (base + add-ons + transaction fees + training + workaround labor).
2. Multiply the difference between your current cost and $3/unit/month by your unit count. Multiply by 12.
3. That's your annual savings from switching. Now ask yourself: is a 2–4 week migration worth that number?
For most operators we talk to, the answer is obvious once they see the math.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a property management software stack, and why does it matter?
A software stack refers to all the tools an operator uses to run their portfolio — not just the primary PMS, but every additional subscription layered on top of it: screening services, payment processors, e-signature tools, website hosting, accounting software, maintenance apps, and more. It matters because most operators evaluate each tool in isolation and never add up the total cost of running all of them together.
How much are mid-size operators typically spending on their full tool stack?
Most operators running 100–500 units are paying for 4–6 separate tools alongside their primary PMS. When all subscription fees and per-transaction costs are totaled, the real per-unit software cost is often $6–$10/month — significantly higher than the $2–$3 operators typically assume they're paying based on their PMS subscription alone.
What's the hidden cost of entering data across multiple systems?
Beyond the subscription fees, redundant data entry consumes real staff time and introduces errors. A 300-unit portfolio with 33% annual turnover processes roughly 100 move-ins per year — if each requires 30 minutes of re-entry across systems, that's more than a full work week spent typing the same information into different tools. In affordable housing, a data mismatch between systems can also trigger an audit finding.
When does it actually make sense to keep a fragmented stack?
Consolidation isn't always the right answer. It may make sense to keep specialized tools if your primary PMS has a genuinely weak module that a standalone tool handles significantly better, if you have a niche compliance requirement no all-in-one platform handles natively, or if you're currently locked into long-term vendor contracts. Outside of those cases, fragmentation is usually the result of adding tools one at a time without ever evaluating the total stack.
How do I calculate whether consolidation would save my portfolio money?
Add up every monthly software cost across all tools, including per-transaction fees. Then estimate monthly staff hours spent on data re-entry, manual report assembly, spreadsheet reconciliation, and error correction, and multiply by your fully-loaded hourly labor cost. Add training overhead for new hires learning multiple systems. That total divided by your unit count is your true per-unit stack cost — compare it against an all-in-one platform with everything included.
What's the risk of running multiple loosely integrated tools?
Each tool in your stack is a dependency and a potential failure point. A screening provider outage stops application processing. A payment processor API change breaks accounting reconciliation. An e-signature update forces staff to relearn a workflow. When tools are connected through CSV exports or silent API integrations, a failure in one system can cascade through operations before anyone notices. An all-in-one platform reduces that to a single point of failure and a single support team.
Ready to see what a migration to ExactEstate looks like for your portfolio? Book a demo and we'll walk through your specific situation.