property management software

Long Island, New York
General Landlording & Rental Properties
11moFollow

property management software

Sean Leahy
Member since 2018 · 14 posts · 4 votes

Hi everyone,

              I’m looking for some assistance in finding property management software for three rental properties. I need a comprehensive solution that can:

• Track the property from the initial purchase through ongoing management

• Record and categorize all rental expenses

• Allow me to scan and store receipts digitally

• Monitor additional costs associated with the properties

• Track rental income and proceeds

I would appreciate any recommendations or suggestions you might have. 

Thank you in advance for your help!

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Drew SygitBusiness Member
Property Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
11mo

Depends on how much you want to spend.

Doorloop, Hemlane, Innago, RentRedi, Stessa, Avail, Apartments.com, TenantCloud, TurboTenant, Buildium

[email protected]248-209-6824
Logical Property Management4.9460 Reviews
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  • William WhitleyBusiness Member
    Accountant · TN · Member since 2025 · 146 posts · 92 votes
    11mo

    I have investor clients who use QuickBooks Online Plus, and we do all of that within the platform.

    QuickBooks Online Plus can handle everything you’re describing really well: tracking each property from purchase through ongoing management, categorizing expenses, storing receipts, and monitoring income and costs.

    Some investors don’t love QBO at first, but that’s often because it isn’t set up specifically for real estate. Once it’s structured the right way, it makes tracking each property simple and gives you clean reports that make tax time a lot easier for both you and your CPA.

    If you’d like to talk it through or ask a few questions, I’d be glad to set up a complimentary call.

    Accountable Balance Bookkeeping, LLC
    WebsiteView Page
    1Reply
  • Drew SygitBusiness Member
    Property Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
    11mo

    Depends on how much you want to spend.

    Doorloop, Hemlane, Innago, RentRedi, Stessa, Avail, Apartments.com, TenantCloud, TurboTenant, Buildium

    [email protected]248-209-6824
    Logical Property Management4.9460 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    2Reply
  • Sean Leahy
    OP
    Member since 2018 · 14 posts · 4 votes
    11mo

    I have desktop 2020 that i never used, would this work?

    0Reply
    • William WhitleyBusiness Member
      Accountant · TN · Member since 2025 · 146 posts · 92 votes
      11mo

      @Sean Leahy 

      Are you talking about QuickBooks Desktop 2020? If so, it might be worth checking out QuickBooks Online Plus. It’s more flexible and easier to manage from anywhere. If you ever want to chat through the differences or figure out what setup makes the most sense, if that would be beneficial to you.

      Accountable Balance Bookkeeping, LLC
      WebsiteView Page
      1Reply
  • Fulton Abraham Sanchez
    CPA| New Clients Welcome| 50 States · Member since 2016 · 440 posts · 94 votes
    11mo

    @Sean Leahy, hi. Here’s a quick shortlist that fits your needs (3 doors):

    Stessa - built for small portfolios; auto-tracks income/expenses and lets you scan receipts via the mobile app.

    Hemlane - end-to-end PM: leasing, online rent, maintenance, accounting; good if you want workflows plus optional local agent help.
    hemlane.com

    Buildium - more robust if you plan to scale; solid accounting and document storage/e-sign for leases and notices.

    DoorLoop - all-in-one with straightforward pricing as you add units.
    DoorLoop

    1Reply
  • Max Emory
    Accountant · 100% Remote · Member since 2019 · 497 posts · 216 votes
    11mo

    @Sean Leahy QuickBooks Online (Plus) can actually do everything you've listed here. 100% of our clients are on QBO, and 100% of our clients are REIs.

    If you want a software that has a lot of tenant-focused features such as allowing them to submit maintenance requests and other items, you'll need a PM software like some others have listed in this forum.

    But, for the bookkeeping/accounting needs you've mentioned, QBO works great. I saw your other post about a receipt scan feature. QBO comes complete with an app and receipt scan feature. I use it weekly.

    Hope that helps!

    - Time Capital Bookkeeping (REI myself since 2019)

    0Reply
  • Srinivasa Subramanian
    Property Manager · Waterville ME · Member since 2020 · 43 posts · 39 votes
    11mo

    At Standard Management Company, we’ve tested quite a few tools over the years and ultimately settled on AppFolio for day-to-day property management and QuickBooks Online (QBO) for accounting.

    AppFolio handles the operational side — tenant portals, rent collection, maintenance tracking, document storage, and unit-level financials. It’s a great all-in-one system, especially once you’re managing multiple properties.

    QBO gives us more flexibility for bookkeeping, tax prep, and financial reporting across all properties. We integrate it with AppFolio to keep everything clean, transparent, and easy to reconcile.

    That combination has worked really well for us in managing properties efficiently while maintaining detailed financial records.

    If you’re just starting out with three rentals, I wouldn’t jump straight into the big platforms — they can get pricey fast. I’d start small: a Google Sheet to track rents and expenses, Google Voice for tenant communication, and Google Drive’s scan feature to digitally store receipts and invoices. (Me being a little frugal here, haha.)

    As you scale, tools like Buildium, Rentec Direct, or TenantCloud are solid stepping stones before moving up to something like AppFolio.

    Hope that helps — happy to share more details on setup or workflows if you’d like!

    — Srinivasa Subramanian
    Standard Management Company

    2Reply
  • Aaron ZimmermanBusiness Member
    Accountant · Chicago, IL · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    11mo

    I would second the recommendation for quickbooks online. You can track multiple properties by classes. 

    [email protected]
    Brick House CPAs53 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    1Reply
  • Jake BakerBusiness Member
    Flipper/Rehabber · San Diego, CA · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 696 votes
    11mo

    @Sean Leahy

    I agree with the recommendations of QBO. I use QuickBooks Online (QBO) for my flipping business, rental businesses, and bookkeeping clients.

    QBO has every feature you need to run a business, excellent reporting features, and integration with other software. It is the most popular software in the industry, and most Tax Preparers are familiar with it, which makes tax season easier.

    However, many on the forums will advise against QBO. It can feel like feature overload. The main reason is that it is not initially set up for a Real Estate business like other “real estate-specific” accounting software. It takes a certain level of QB knowledge to set it up correctly.

    [email protected]
    BookkeepingRE - Bookkeeping for Real Estate & Service-Based Businesses52 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    0Reply
  • Clem Fandango
    Member since 2025 · 2 posts · 1 vote
    11mo

    I'm actually working on software right now for this. If anyone wants to try it out please DM me and I'll give you a free account in exchange for some feedback.

    0Reply
  • Mohammed Rahman
    Real Estate Broker · New York, NY · Member since 2020 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10mo

    Hi Sean,

    I did a quick bit of research, and here are a few platforms you could try:

    1. AppFolio: rent collection, tenant portals, maintenance tracking, unit‑level accounting, and document storage
    2. Buildium: lease/tenant management, online rent payments, maintenance work‑orders, and basic property accounting

    3. Rentec Direct: online rent & owner/tenant portals, expense tracking/bookkeeping, lease management, and rent‑roll reporting
    4. Stessa: income & expense tracking, automatic categorization, portfolio‑level financial dashboards, tax‑ready reporting.
    5. Baselane: built for landlords: automated bookkeeping, bank‑account integration, rent collection, cash‑flow reports, and ready‑made tax reports (e.g. Schedule E)
    6. Landlord Studio: tracks income and expenses per property/unit, lets you scan and store receipts, supports bank‑feed automation, offers tax‑ready reports, and works well for small portfolios
    7. Avail: simpler, small‑landlord friendly tool: tracks rent payments and expenses, lets you manually or automatically log transactions, and exports reports for accounting or tax prep.
    Avail, part of the Realtor.com network
    8. TurboTenant Accounting (or similar landlord‑accounting tools): offers rental‑specific bookkeeping: cash flow tracking, categorization, downloadable financial & tax reports, and can replace spreadsheets for basic rental accounting
    9. TenantCloud: online rent collection with autopay, tenant screening & e‑leasing, income/expense tracking, and maintenance/records management

    Best of luck!

    0Reply
  • Tom Rofe
    Investor · Member since 2021 · 21 posts · 12 votes
    10mo

    Another option worth checking out is UnitHub - I've been using it for my rentals and it handles most of what you listed. The expense tracking and categorization is solid, and they have AI features that automaticaly extract key info from leases which saves time when onboarding new properties. Receipt scanning works through the app too. They have a free tier for smaller portfolios so you can test it out without committing. The interface is more modern than some of the older platforms mentioned here, which was a plus for me

    0Reply
  • Chris Chisholm
    Investor · Regina, SK · Member since 2025 · 54 posts · 42 votes
    9mo

    I currently use Stessa's free version for the last couple years for my portfolio (6 units over 3 properties) and it was really great and easy to use for tracking leases, accounting (great free reporting I would just click a button and email a package to my accountant) and other reporting like Rent Rolls, Net Cashflow, etc.  Used to run my accounting off a basic excel sheet and with a little work on rearranging/renaming columns it was pretty easy to upload all my historical data right in when I started using it so it was all in the right place.

    As a Canadian they don't offer a mobile app/browser option for me and recently changed it so you can't onboard properties outside the US so I have to find an alternative now, but if you're American I would highly recommend the free version as a starting point to get your feet wet on what software's can do and organize for you without messing around with free trials for a week trying to scramble to learn everything and figure out how it fits your portfolio/needs or jumping right into a paid software wasting money while you learn basics.

    0Reply
  • Tom Rofe
    Investor · Member since 2021 · 21 posts · 12 votes
    9mo

    @Chris Chisholm That's frustrating about Stessa dropping international support - especially after you've built up years of historical data there. Export everything you can before making the switch.

    For what it's worth, UnitHub (what I mentioned above) works for international landlords. No geo-restrictions on the core features. If you're already comfortable with the Stessa workflow the transition shouldn't be too painful since the concepts are similar - property tracking, expense categorization, reporting. The AI lease extraction might actually save you time re-onboarding your properties since it pulls the key terms automatically.

    Curious what features were most valuable to you in Stessa? That might help others chime in with alternatives that fit your specific needs.

    0Reply
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