Rental Management Apps and Software Recommendation?

[Laurence Plummer Jr]

HI everyone,

My partner and I are looking for an all-in-one software system/app to manage our rental properties on. We would like the system to provide:

1) Tenancy screening

2) Rent payments

3) Service requests

4) General tenant/landlord digital communication

We've seen Zillow Rental manager and a system called "Buildium", but would like some advice on what has worked for you if possible. Thanks! 

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Laurence Plummer Jr:

HI everyone,

My partner and I are looking for an all-in-one software system/app to manage our rental properties on. We would like the system to provide:

1) Tenancy screening

2) Rent payments

3) Service requests

4) General tenant/landlord digital communication

We've seen Zillow Rental manager and a system called "Buildium", but would like some advice on what has worked for you if possible. Thanks! 

Buildium is professional software and really not necessary until you have 50+ units.

There are many platforms available that are free or really, really cheap. TenantCloud is free for up to 75 rentals and can handle marketing your rentals to multiple sites, tenant application and screening, electronic signature of documents, payment tracking, maintenance tracking, owner reports, and more. For $10 a month, you can manage up to 150 units and accept online payments directly to your account.

Other options include Rentredi, doorloop, avail, rentecdirect, stessa, or apartments.com. My recommendation is to search "landlord property management software" and read about the first couple pages worth of results. Narrow it down to a few that look like they would work for you. Sign up for a free account, then run it through the wringer to see how it feels and what it's capable of. Choose one and stick to it.

You'll never find a perfect software, so don't kill yourself looking. Find one that meets 90% of your needs and use work-arounds or other tools for the other 10%.