I manage a portfolio of 12 short- and long-term rental apartments in Dubai. For 3 years, I've tracked leases, security deposits, building fees, and maintenance costs in Excel spreadsheets. But between tracking overdue payments, invoice copies, and cleaning schedules, the sheets are turning into a mess. Annual turnover is around 450,000 AED, and operational blunders are costing me real money.
A software dev friend pitched me: "Let's turn this into a simple web dashboard, we can sell it to other landlords later, let's partner up." It sounds appealing, but I'm on the fence. Right now, I don't want to pay steep monthly subscriptions for off-the-shelf enterprise property management software, nor drop 40,000 AED on an agency for a custom build, but does it make sense to give away equity in my company or the idea just for 12 units?
Who should own the code, how should profits split if the system sells later, and most importantly, who handles ongoing maintenance and how? What needs to be nailed down in the contract?