By Eva Williams 15 days ago, Apps and Software
Instead of face-to-face meetings with tenants, hiring a team of maintenance specialists, advertising, accounting and management, install a property management software – a modern comprehensive way of doing business in real estate. It automates critical tasks related to leasing, tenant and facility management, as well as accounting functions.
Property management programs will replace a lot of manual labor, personal responsibility, optimize all interrelated work processes and let users digitize and store the necessary reporting documents.
In this article, you will find my top picks for companies with property portfolios of different sizes, so that you could select the option for your needs and budget. When reviewing these products, I took into account whether they make it easier to manage rental properties, keep in touch with tenants, and create financial documents.
For top-performing professionals, it’s also crucial to select a program that enables them to connect and synchronize bank accounts. Below, I go over the best programs you can use for screening your tenants, preparing leases, collecting rent online, managing requests, and storing your documents.
Verdict: AppFolio is widely used by landlords with extensive rental portfolios. It comes with exclusive options for managing residential and commercial units remotely. Thanks to its impressive set of in-built tools, users can optimize their businesses and make them more efficient. This online rental property manager offers accounting and management tools for public associations, residential, commercial, administrative and student buildings.
AppFolio is an all-in-one solution packed with a set of tools that will come in handy for any landlord. It supports several features and capabilities, including accounting, rent collection, maintenance request management, marketing, utility billing, and online lease management that allows you to cut down on paperwork. It lets users communicate with tenants and sellers on the portal.
Similarly to other real estate CRM software, this offering provides the necessary functionality for managing various assets and financial data. Users can get access to such extra features as an AI-driven leasing assistant, easy-to-convert leads, tenant screening options, insurance, online payments, websites, utility management, online payments, debt collection.
Verdict: MRI Software is a comprehensive solution for generating investment reports, analyzing the market, and planning the best strategy for increasing profits. Positioned as the best property management software for collecting rent online, it comes with in-built accounting tools and gives users an easy way to manage maintenance requests, keep in touch with investors and residents, track rent and vacant units, manage credit risks and tenant screening insurances.
There are convenient modules and applications for each area, for instance, real estate apps. This real estate management software provides a plethora of leasing tools for managing estimated payments, clauses, breakpoints, offsets, etc.
While MRI Software covers both commercial and residential properties, it was primarily designed for managing commercial units. Aimed at optimizing the workflows of various types of users, this software doesn’t have a fixed price. Pricing depends on the number of features that a client wants to order to manage their properties.
Verdict: It is a comprehensive cloud-based solution for real estate management, accounting, business operations and leasing. The software covers public associations, student and affordable housing, commercial and residential real estate. This is a great product for a mid-sized property manager or owner, firm or company.
This residential property management software processes property records, company’s financial indicators, reports, online payments, and can combine property listings on nine partner sites. It offers an integrated general ledger.
The orders can be converted to invoices and paid online. Buildium uses Adobe’s Document Cloud to collect electronic signatures of the lease documents. You will find online rental templates with AutoFill fields as well.
Verdict: This free cloud platform has everything for self-management of real estate. Landlords have an opportunity to receive online payments, manage finances and create a free listing website. Tenants can apply for rent, pay online, keep a record of payments and send service requests.
TenantCloud offers cloud storage and free entry to the real estate website. There is no need to use third-party accounting software for medium sized business since this program comes with in-built accounting features for managing receipts and financial reports. Besides, it offers convenient leasing tools: online rent collection, online service requests, online rentals and electronic signatures, as well as a template builder and an online rental app.
After expanding your rental portfolio, you can purchase the paid version of the software to get access to its extra features. You will get access to high-quality leads, vendor network, tax and vendor management tools.
Verdict: It is the best property management software for homeowners who wish to upgrade and advertise their list, check candidates and manage rentals in one place. You can use TurboTenant without paying a dime regardless of the size of your real estate portfolio and the number of units you need to manage.
Similarly to Tenant Cloud, it includes tools for screening potential renters and advertising your properties, however, you will need to use third-party tools for collecting rent online. This free platform lets them create special pages with a list of characteristics to rent out their properties faster. It simplifies communication by allowing them to send mass messages. The software consists of extensive tenant requests that can be filled in on any device.
Homeowners can track all leads, send and receive apps, as well as store rental documents on any device without the need to use another third-party free personal document management software. The software collects all information about the rental list, including photos, description, location, and advertises the property on a dozen rental list websites.
Verdict: Rentec Direct positions itself as a “complete solution for professional property managers”. This free rental property software for Mac boasts automatic ACH payments, tenant verification, tenant and owner accounts, data security and the ability to post jobs online.
Initially, the software was developed as a simple free application for optimizing the operations of a small rental business. Now it has become a reliable real estate management platform with an integrated reporting and accounting system that can be customized for your business, to manage work orders and fill vacancies using marketing tools.
It is possible to try Rentec via the free version (Rentec Basic), which is better suited for small homeowners with fewer than 10 properties. Rentec Pro is a paid option for homeowners, while Rentec PM is designed for property managers who manage on behalf of the owners.
Verdict: Propertyware is a universal solution and a cost-effective tool for scaling single-family properties. It is meant for property managers and landlords who need a way to manage rental units at scale. This online property management software provides flexible pricing and fully integrated accounting, marketing, and service functions, as well as one of the most flexible reporting options among property management tools, including the ability to create custom fields.
The software offers auto-notifications via email, owner’s ACH contributions via the owner’s portal. It is also notable for a leasing management system where each leader is responsible for planning property inspections, planning maintenance projects and deadlines. You will find such marketing tools as combining syndication on all major real estate sites.
Propertyware tracks where your leads come from and plans subsequent calls and emails. The integrated tenant verification system creates comprehensive and easy-to-read reports. It has a system of accounts receivable and payable, as well as bank reconciliations. A reliable accounting tool tracks payments and lets you create your own budget and accounts on the platform.
Verdict: Rent Manager is a sophisticated rental unit management solution with an integrated asset management database and in-built accounting tools. It includes contact management and work ordering features. You can use it for your marketing needs as well. It’s a centralized platform for tracking, managing and fixing service issues. This full-featured software has advanced finance management tools and enables you to analyze your profits by getting comprehensive reports.
With it, you can market your rental units and find potential tenants or buyers online. To do it, use the integrated website builder. The platform can be accessed from mobile devices, which allows property owners to accept online payments, manage their properties, and organize service inspections regardless of their whereabouts.
Another advantage of this contact management software is that it facilitates online communication between tenants, property owners, and vendors. Use it to optimize your workflow by automating all the processes. This software integrates with rmVoIP, which makes it easier for property owners to reach out to their clients.
When hand-picking the most reliable rental property management software for this list, I based my selection on several criteria. Make sure to consider these factors when looking for the best solution for managing your rental units.
Property types. If you have an extensive portfolio and need to manage properties of different types, choose the software that has plenty of tools for controlling many property units. While some options enable you to manage only a handful of properties, there are plenty of real estate management platforms for leasing commercial, industrial, and residential properties.
Number of units. Make sure to consider the size of your property portfolio. In some cases, pricing depends on the number of units that you need to manage. Some platforms are better orientated towards larger portfolios. In most cases, they include additional features, which makes them less affordable. If you need to manage a few units, you can easily find free software with basic options.
Features. When selecting rental property software, check whether it can facilitate your workflow by supporting such features as:
Real estate management platforms with premium options tend to be more expensive. Before making your choice, think about whether you actually need to use all the features covered by a paid plan.
For whom the software was originally developed. Most options on this list were designed for a specific purpose. While some of them are handy only for landlords, others are better suitable for real estate management companies.
Large companies are looking for software that can be used by several team members. Some programs cater to the needs of landlords and tenants alike.
Landlords with small portfolios can use basic versions of some programs to manage their properties on their own.
Price. Most options on this list have monthly subscription plans. Pricing usually depends on the number of units you need to manage and the additional features covered by a plan.
While some paid platforms claim that you will be charged as little as $0.80 per unit, keep in mind that they usually have a minimum monthly payment of about $250.
Another key disadvantage is that some options have paid add-ons. Many programs have a free basic version, but you are required to pay extra for additional features that allow you to screen your potential tenants, get detailed financial reports, and use other top-tier options.
