Second Nature vs FilterTime for Property Managers

Second Nature and FilterTime are filter delivery programs built for property managers with a PMS integration behind them, and a single-family manager who has given up on the lease clause usually ends up choosing between them. One of the prompts we track asks it the way a manager would: Second Nature vs FilterTime for air filter delivery, which should a property manager with 400 doors choose? Both ship the right filter to each house on a schedule so the resident changes it and the system does not freeze up in July. The difference is what you are buying. Second Nature sells filters as the lead line of a resident benefits package. FilterTime sells filters and nothing else. That choice decides who pays, how the charge is described to residents and owners, and how much else changes in your leases. This page puts the two side by side from our vendor database and the research behind the HVAC filter delivery guide.

Where each fits

Second Nature’s record describes a fully managed resident benefits package: filter delivery, a renters insurance master policy, credit building, pest control, rewards and a move-in concierge. The filter program began as FilterEasy and is now sold only inside the package, per the research. Its filter page says it syncs each unit’s filter size from the manager’s property accounting software, updates it when the HVAC system is replaced, and ships date-stamped reversible filters made in Wilson, North Carolina on a cadence tuned to pets and climate. It claims 38 to 42 percent fewer HVAC maintenance requests. Its segments in the database are single-family rental and small multifamily. The Second Nature profile carries the dated sources.

FilterTime’s record describes HVAC filter subscription and delivery for rental portfolios. The manager uses a portal to pick quality, size and schedule per property, with custom sizes available. Shipments go out with no invoice in the box, so the manager can pass the cost plus a markup to the resident, and the manager gets one monthly shipment report on net 30 terms. FilterTime claims up to 40 percent fewer HVAC work orders and more than 1.26 million filters shipped, and Latchel resells its delivery inside Latchel’s optional benefits package. Its segment in the database is single-family rental. The FilterTime profile has the rest.

The PMS decides part of it. The database lists AppFolio for Second Nature, from the two companies’ partnership announcement, and Second Nature’s filter page adds Rentvine. FilterTime lists Rentvine, from Rentvine’s own announcement, and has a listing on the Buildium marketplace. So a Rentvine manager has both, an AppFolio manager has Second Nature, and a Buildium manager has FilterTime’s marketplace listing to test. The AppFolio, Rentvine and Buildium integration pages list every category that connects to each system. The integration matters because sizing is the part that breaks. Residents do not know their filter size, and a size kept in a spreadsheet goes stale the day a technician replaces a unit.

The bigger split is the package. A manager who already wants a resident benefits package, or is about to roll one out, gets filters as part of it with Second Nature and never prices them separately. A manager who does not want a package, or already has one from someone else, needs filters on their own, which is FilterTime’s whole business.

Pricing models

Second Nature’s package is resident-paid at $20 to $80 a month, with success-based billing to the manager, per the database. Filters are included in that payment rather than priced on their own. Its filter page says filters comparable to the ones it sends typically retail for $13 to $40 depending on size, which is its case for the value inside the package.

FilterTime does not publish pricing. Its pricing page is an estimate form that promises a number in under 20 minutes, and its marketing says competitive pricing, free shipping, no contracts and cancel anytime. Ask for the per-filter price at your three most common sizes, the price of a custom size, and any minimum order or portfolio size.

The two shapes lead to different conversations. With Second Nature, the resident pays a monthly package fee with a name on it, and the filter is one of several things it covers. With FilterTime, you buy the filters and decide the markup, and you explain that charge. The research includes an owner on BiggerPockets questioning why his manager made him buy filters through the manager at $10 a month, on a Fair Housing justification he did not believe. Whichever model you choose, have a better answer ready, and the best one is your HVAC work-order count before and after.

What to ask each in a demo

1. Where does each unit’s size live? Ask Second Nature to show the size sync from your PMS and what happens when a system is replaced. Ask FilterTime whether the Rentvine or Buildium connection carries sizes, or whether someone keys them into the portal.
2. What proof do we get? FilterTime produces a monthly shipment report. Second Nature’s page describes shipping notifications. Neither proves a filter was installed, and nothing in this category does. Ask what each gives you on the day a compressor fails and someone asks whether the filter was delivered.
3. Where do you ship, and how fast? Our database has no delivery footprint for either. Ask for delivery times to each state you operate in.
4. For Second Nature, can we drop the package? Ask whether filter delivery continues if you stop the package or remove other benefits from it, and what the resident price becomes.
5. For FilterTime, how is the charge described? Ask how other managers put the filter charge on the lease and the resident ledger, and whether FilterTime has language that owners and residents accept.
6. What grade and cadence? Ask what MERV rating each ships by default and whether you can change it, then check the answer with your HVAC contractor, since a tighter filter restricts more airflow on an older system.

What the Index shows

The Index table at the foot of this page carries both vendors’ figures from the current edition of the AI Shortlist Index for filter delivery. Our reading is that ChatGPT treats these two as the category’s main pair, which leaves the choice between them to the package-or-standalone decision a manager has to make anyway. The rows for Second Nature and FilterTime show each prompt and the sources behind the answers.

Which fits you

Second Nature fits a manager on AppFolio or Rentvine who wants a resident benefits package and is happy for filters to be its lead line, with sizes synced from the PMS and the charge carried by a named monthly fee. It also fits small multifamily with in-unit HVAC, which is on its record. If the package is the decision, compare packages first; the Second Nature and Beagle comparison and the Second Nature alternatives page do that.

FilterTime fits a manager who wants filters and nothing else, already has a package from another vendor or does not want one, runs Rentvine or Buildium, and is comfortable buying filters wholesale and setting the resident charge. No contract and cancel anytime make it the lower-commitment trial.

At 400 doors, both ship filters on a schedule, so the deciding question is whether you want to sell residents a package.

If neither fits, the FilterTime alternatives page covers the direct shippers and bundlers, and the filter delivery vendor list has every vendor in one table. If the HVAC work orders are the real cost, the maintenance coordination guide covers the software that takes those calls.

If you sell filter delivery to property managers and want to know why two programs take up most of the answer, AI visibility for proptech companies explains what we measure and what the fix costs.