Switching from Buildium
We'll move your books with you — not just your data
Corbica connects directly to your Buildium account and brings over your properties, tenants, leases, owners, vendors and payment history — reconciled against your live Buildium trial balance before anything goes live, so your accounting still ties out on day one.
Most software migrations are a data-transfer problem. A property management migration is an accounting problem wearing a data-transfer costume: the rent ledger has to keep making sense across the switch, deposits have to stay liabilities, owner balances have to survive, and no tenant can be billed twice on the way through. That is why this page spends more time on reconciliation and on what stays manual than on how many records move.
Everything below describes the actual migration path — the one that has been driven end to end with real portfolios — including the parts that are still manual because Buildium exposes no API for them. If a competitor tells you a Buildium migration is one click, ask them how they stop your recurring charges in Buildium. There is no interface for it except Buildium's own.
What comes across
Read from Buildium's REST API — not a CSV export you assemble yourself.
Properties and units. Including address, unit mix and the property records your reports scope to.
Tenants and co-tenants. The full roster on each lease, not just the primary tenant.
Leases. Terms, rent, and the go-forward billing schedules rebuilt for active leases so charges keep posting after go-live.
Owners and ownership links. Owner records and the property-to-owner links that owner statements and distributions depend on.
Vendors and work orders. So maintenance history and the vendors you pay come with you.
Chart of accounts and bills. Your Buildium GL accounts, mapped rather than replaced with a generic template.
Payment and charge history. Completed payments post as receipts against the tenant and the property, so the ledger reads the way your Buildium history reads.
Opening balances. Posted into the general ledger after a reconciliation step, so the books tie out on day one instead of starting at zero.
What does not come across
Naming this up front is cheaper for both of us than discovering it in month two. The practical consequence is that you should keep your Buildium account open in a read-only state for around a year rather than cancelling it on switch day.
- Documents and file attachments stored in Buildium.
- Signed lease PDFs from Buildium's e-signature history.
- Inspection records.
- Communication history — emails and messages sent through Buildium.
- Tasks other than work orders.
The six stages, and how long each one takes
Connect — about five minutes
You create API credentials in Buildium and paste them into Corbica. The connection is read-only for everything except the explicitly gated go-live steps — the importer pulls data, it does not write into your Buildium account while you are evaluating.
Preview and import — a minute or two for a small portfolio
You see counts of what will come across before anything is created — properties, units, tenants, leases, owners, vendors, work orders, accounts, bills and payments. Then the import runs. Nothing is sent to any tenant at this point.
Reconcile against live Buildium — human-paced — this is the step not to rush
The reconciliation is a trial-balance tie-out: Corbica's imported balances against your live Buildium figures, by key account and by transaction type. Differences are listed rather than smoothed over, and each one gets explained or tagged.
Post opening balances — after the tie-out passes
Opening balances post into the general ledger. An unexplained gap larger than 2% of assets — or $500, whichever is greater — blocks the post rather than letting it through quietly. Posted balances are reversible with a mirror entry if something needs redoing.
Go live on a date you choose — scheduled, usually the 1st of a month
The switch date is yours. Until it arrives rent keeps flowing through Buildium exactly as it does today, and your tenants have heard nothing. Notice waves are scheduled relative to that date and you review them first.
Verify — the first cycle after go-live
The first rent cycle in the new system is checked against what you expected — charges posted, payments landing, balances matching. If something is wrong, the switch can be cancelled and unsent notices stopped.
A guided migration, on purpose
We don't auto-flip your books overnight. Your data connects via Buildium's API, then we walk through a reconciliation review with you before go-live — the same discipline we'd want if it were our own portfolio moving. If something in your Buildium history is ambiguous, we flag it for your call instead of silently guessing.
The reconciliation is not decorative. It compares imported balances to your live Buildium trial balance account by account, and an unexplained gap larger than 2% of assets — or $500, whichever is greater — stops the opening-balance post until it is explained. That gate has caught real problems, which is the only reason to have one.
What stays manual, and why
Four steps have no Buildium API behind them. They are on the checklist and we walk them with you, but no vendor can automate them and any vendor claiming otherwise is guessing.
Stopping your recurring rent charges in Buildium
This is the one that costs real money if it is missed: a lease left on recurring charges in both systems bills the tenant twice. There is no Buildium API for it, so it is done lease by lease in Buildium's own interface, and it is on the migration checklist for exactly that reason. Watch the lead time — Buildium posts charges several days in advance, so a charge dated the 1st typically lands around the 26th of the prior month.
Tenant auto-draft enrolments
Buildium's e-pay acceptance can be switched off through its API, and the migration console does that behind a typed confirmation and a date gate. Individual tenant auto-draft enrolments are a different thing and Buildium exposes no API for them, so those are handled directly.
Setting the Buildium account read-only
Manual, and worth doing deliberately rather than cancelling. The usual recommendation is to keep Buildium for around twelve months for historical lookups — the documents and communications that do not migrate live there.
Pre-import data hygiene
Closing test or zombie leases and recording move-outs that were never entered. Whatever is active in Buildium imports as active, so half an hour of tidying before the import saves a longer reconciliation afterwards.
When your tenants find out — and what they're told
Nothing reaches a tenant during connect, import or reconciliation. Notices are scheduled relative to the go-live date you choose and go out in waves — an initial notice, a reminder, and a confirmation once the switch has happened — by email and text, from templates you review before they send. Tenant portal invitations stay valid for 30 days, which is long enough for the person who ignores the first two emails.
If you cancel the switch, every unsent wave stops with it. That is the point of scheduling them against the cutover date rather than firing them at import: right up to go-live, your tenants' experience is unchanged and rent keeps flowing through Buildium.
If you want to stop
Opening balances can be reversed with a mirror entry. A scheduled switch can be cancelled, which also stops every unsent tenant notice. Buildium e-pay acceptance can be switched back on. None of this is a one-way door while you are still evaluating, and we would rather you knew the exits before you walked in.
What it costs afterwards
Corbica is free for up to 5 units. Paid plans start at Starter at $59/mo with 60 units included, $2/unit after that. There is no per-door minimum, no onboarding fee, and no charge per business bank account.
Whether that is cheaper than your Buildium bill depends on your size and how your rent arrives, and the honest answer is: not always. The full comparison works through the arithmetic with Buildium's published fee schedule, including the band where Buildium comes out cheaper per rent payment than we do. Read it before you move — a migration you regret on cost is worse for us than one that never happened.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to export anything from Buildium first?
No. Corbica connects directly to your Buildium account via Buildium's own API — there's no CSV export/import to manage yourself. You create API credentials in Buildium and the importer reads from there.
What actually moves over?
Properties, units, tenants and co-tenants, leases, owners and their property links, vendors, work orders, your chart of accounts, bills, and payment and charge history — with opening balances posted into Corbica's general ledger after a reconciliation step, so your books tie out from day one.
What doesn't move over?
Documents and file attachments, signed lease PDFs from Buildium's e-signature history, inspection records, communication history, and tasks other than work orders. That is why the usual advice is to keep your Buildium account open in a read-only state for around a year rather than cancelling it the day you switch.
Is it instant / self-service?
No — and we'd rather be upfront about that than oversell it. A real migration means real books, so we walk through a reconciliation review with you before anything goes live. The data import itself runs in minutes; the cutover is scheduled around your switch date. Book a call and we'll scope your specific portfolio.
How long does the whole thing take?
Connecting takes about five minutes and a small portfolio imports in a minute or two. After that the pace is set by the reconciliation review and by the go-live date you pick — most operators choose the 1st of a month. There is no fixed end-to-end timeline and we do not publish one, because the reconciliation step is where the value is and rushing it defeats the purpose.
How do I know the numbers are right?
The reconciliation step ties the imported trial balance back to your live Buildium figures, account by account and by transaction type. If an unexplained difference is larger than 2% of assets or $500, whichever is greater, the opening-balance post is blocked until it is explained. A posted set of opening balances can also be reversed with a mirror entry.
What happens to my existing payment history and late-fee timing?
It comes across with your leases and charges — completed payments post as receipts against the tenant and property. Anything ambiguous in the source data is flagged for your review during reconciliation, rather than guessed silently.
When do my tenants find out?
Not during the import. Connecting and importing your Buildium data doesn't contact anyone — tenants only hear from Corbica at your scheduled go-live date, via notice waves you review and approve first. Waves go out on a schedule relative to the switch date, by email and text, and tenant portal invitations are valid for 30 days. Until go-live, rent keeps flowing through Buildium exactly as it does today.
What do I still have to do inside Buildium myself?
Two things matter most, and neither has a Buildium API: stopping your recurring rent charges there, and unwinding tenant auto-draft enrolments. If recurring charges are left running you will bill tenants in both systems — and Buildium posts charges several days ahead of their date, so the deadline is earlier than the 1st. Both are on the migration checklist and we walk them with you.
Can I stop partway through?
Yes. Opening balances can be reversed, a scheduled switch can be cancelled — which also stops every unsent tenant notice — and Buildium e-pay acceptance can be turned back on. Nothing about the import is irreversible while you are still evaluating, which is deliberate.
How much does it cost after I switch?
Corbica is free for up to 5 units. Paid plans start at Starter ($59/mo, 60 units included) with transparent per-unit pricing — no per-door minimum and no onboarding fee. The migration itself is scoped with you rather than sold as a mandatory line item.
Is Corbica always cheaper than Buildium?
No, and the comparison page says so in detail. Below six units Corbica is free and Buildium has no free tier. In the middle of the range Buildium's flat per-EFT fee is cheaper per rent payment than Corbica's capped percentage. At Business-plan scale Corbica charges no ACH platform fee at all. Read the full breakdown before you move.
Ready to talk through your migration?
Tell us the size of your portfolio and we'll scope the move — no obligation.
Want the full feature-by-feature picture first? See Corbica vs Buildium, or compare every alternative side by side.