Ruma Pulse: The Rent Management App I Built to Track Rental Properties

In recent years, as I took on more rental properties, I hit a massive administrative bottleneck. Chasing tenants for rent every single month is incredibly frustrating.

Honestly, sometimes I even forget about it myself until it is past due.

If you do not remind them close to the due date, they tend to pay late. It becomes a completely unnecessary drain on time and mental energy.

The Problem with Spreadsheets

Initially, I tried managing everything with spreadsheets and Google Calendar alerts. It works for a while, but it is an incredibly fragile way to do things.

The biggest issue is that I manage my rentals under a company structure. This requires proper accounting and clear paper trails. Every year, I have to hand over records to my accountant. Trying to match exact payment dates on a messy Excel sheet with actual bank statements was a nightmare.

This isn’t an exaggeration; this is what my “system” actually looked like:

I had waste a lot of time trying to improve the efficiency with using spreadsheets, but I notice I ended putting effort and time in something that I could’ve put on else where and generated more income.

For example, I tried to make an automated email reminder for coming due and paste due using Appscript, but it’s just a messy implementation, and somethings are even harder to implement properly such as email receipt to tenant on new added record of payments.

I looked into existing property management software, but I hit a wall. Most are tailored for the US market, full of features we do not need in Malaysia, and charge heavy monthly fees in USD.

So, I ended up building my own solution.

Enter Ruma Pulse

I wanted a simple, affordable, and practical tool that I can refer to and check the “health status” at any time. So I named it Ruma Pulse.

Right off the bat, the highest ROI feature for me has been the automated reminders. The system automatically reminds tenants before the rent is due and follows up if it is past due.

Since implementing this, my tenants have been paying much more consistently. It removes the awkwardness of manually chasing for money, as some of my tenants kinda built a habit on paying me on time.

Here is how I organized the core features within Ruma Pulse:

1. The Overview Dashboard

I needed a snapshot. A quick dashboard gives me a high level view of all payments received, what is expected, overdues, and upcoming dates without having to dig.

2. Automated Tracking and Reminders

This is the automated rent and lease expiry notification system that fixed my tenant payment consistency issue. You manage leases, tenants, payments, and expenses in one centralized place.

3. Clean Reporting for Accountants

This was an important requirement for my annual reporting. Ruma Pulse generates clean breakdown statements and income/expense PDF reports. It essentially creates the report my accountant needs, directly from the payment data I already logged.

You can also upload and keep tenancy agreements or receipts attached to the relevant property.

The Fees and The Catch

I hate bloated subscription models, so I kept the Ruma Pulse pricing strictly pragmatic.

If you only have one rental property, it is completely free. No catch. I intend to keep this tool remain free for all the landlords are just starting out with their first rental properties.

You can upgrade to Pro plan later when your portfolio grows into more units. If you pay yearly, you essentially get two months free.

For property managers or landlords with larger portfolios, the volume pricing scales reasonably (check the exact tiered volume pricing on the pricing page).

My Personal Take

The short answer: if you only have one rental unit, just use the Free plan on Ruma Pulse. It will save you the headache of building a spreadsheet from scratch.

You can signup and give it a try at https://rumapulse.com/

If you have multiple units or manage them under a company, the RM190 a year for the Pro plan easily pays for itself. The time saved during tax season alone, not to mention avoiding late payments, makes the cost trivial.

Personal finance is about optimizing your assets and protecting your time. Ruma Pulse is just how I chose to protect mine.

Are you guys still using spreadsheets for your rentals, or have you found another system that works for you?