Feedback on Rentvine
Hello!
As the title suggests I'm looking for feedback on Rentvine from someone who has or does use it. I have seen a lot of discussions on other PM software (Buildium, Propertyware, Property Manager, Appfolio, Yardi). The appeal of Rentvine is the customer service and help getting set up. I am not an accountant, but need to start using more sophisticated accounting software. Rentvine's claim is that they offer help getting set up with double entry accounting.
Additional features I like are free esigning and document management, online payments, tenant screening, maintenance requests, vendor payments, owner payouts, owner statements, communications at the property level and with tenants.
Portfolio currently consists of:
Owned
7 family long term
5 family long term
2 Short term SF
Managed
2 Short term SF
Future plans for growth are to continue buying LTRs and managing additional STRs. I know the portfolio isn't huge, but it's somewhat diverse. It would be helpful to have some software to stay organized. Currently using Stessa for accounting, apartments.com for rent collection and document sharing. Everything else is manual (email, writing checks from the bank, ect).
Also open to any suggestions if you are using something that you think would fit these needs.
Thank you in advance!
Most Popular Reply
- Real Estate Broker
- Cody, WY
- 41,509
- Votes |
- 28,242
- Posts
I have not used RentVine but I know some large PM companies that use it and think it's great. Buildium is commonly recommended for smaller PM companies. I used them when I first started 13 years ago, but switched to something more robust when I hit 150+ units.
Software is a common question on BiggerPockets. Here are some things to consider:
- Most investors don't need software until they have 5-10 rentals. All you need is a single place to track tenant information, payment history, maintenance, and a few other things. You can easily do this on a spreadsheet and it will take less time to track than it would to find and learn a new software. If the software is not simplifying your life or making you more accurate, you shouldn't use it.
- Software does have extremely helpful features like online payments, marketing syndication (click a button and your property is advertised on multiple sites), electronic document review/signing, maintenance tracking, and owner reports. But do you really need that for your one rental?
- There's no perfect software out there. Every system you try will have flaws or you'll salivate over a feature that shows up in other software.
Some common names you'll see thrown around a lot: Stessa, Apartments.com, RentRedi, TenantCloud, Innago, RentManager, Avail, Rentec Direct, Doorloop, etc.
I recommend you search for each of those apps online and see what they offer, how much they charge, etc. Make a simple spreadsheet or written list with the features of each and see which ones appeal to you most. Try to narrow it down to your top 3-4. Once you have a short list, get an account with each one and run them through the wringer to see how they really function. Do one task at a time in each app so you can compare apples to apples.
- Load a property with pictures and details.
- Market that property.
- See what your marketing looks like from the public's perspective.
- Submit a fake application to see how easy the process is.
- Run a credit/screening report on yourself.
- Enter a maintenance request, assign a vendor, attach a fake invoice.
- Enter charges to the tenant's ledger.
- Enter recurring charges and automatic late fees.
- Sign documents electronically.
- Run owner reports.
After testing a few apps, one of them should stand out for you. Choose that one and use it. No system is perfect, so don't waste your time chasing after the next shiny object. You should only have to change when your current software has a flaw or lacking feature that is causing you to spend too much work on a work-around. Then you can consider researching and finding something that meets your needs better.
- Nathan Gesner
- Real Estate Broker
- Cody, WY
- 41,509
- Votes |
- 28,242
- Posts
I have not used RentVine but I know some large PM companies that use it and think it's great. Buildium is commonly recommended for smaller PM companies. I used them when I first started 13 years ago, but switched to something more robust when I hit 150+ units.
Software is a common question on BiggerPockets. Here are some things to consider:
- Most investors don't need software until they have 5-10 rentals. All you need is a single place to track tenant information, payment history, maintenance, and a few other things. You can easily do this on a spreadsheet and it will take less time to track than it would to find and learn a new software. If the software is not simplifying your life or making you more accurate, you shouldn't use it.
- Software does have extremely helpful features like online payments, marketing syndication (click a button and your property is advertised on multiple sites), electronic document review/signing, maintenance tracking, and owner reports. But do you really need that for your one rental?
- There's no perfect software out there. Every system you try will have flaws or you'll salivate over a feature that shows up in other software.
Some common names you'll see thrown around a lot: Stessa, Apartments.com, RentRedi, TenantCloud, Innago, RentManager, Avail, Rentec Direct, Doorloop, etc.
I recommend you search for each of those apps online and see what they offer, how much they charge, etc. Make a simple spreadsheet or written list with the features of each and see which ones appeal to you most. Try to narrow it down to your top 3-4. Once you have a short list, get an account with each one and run them through the wringer to see how they really function. Do one task at a time in each app so you can compare apples to apples.
- Load a property with pictures and details.
- Market that property.
- See what your marketing looks like from the public's perspective.
- Submit a fake application to see how easy the process is.
- Run a credit/screening report on yourself.
- Enter a maintenance request, assign a vendor, attach a fake invoice.
- Enter charges to the tenant's ledger.
- Enter recurring charges and automatic late fees.
- Sign documents electronically.
- Run owner reports.
After testing a few apps, one of them should stand out for you. Choose that one and use it. No system is perfect, so don't waste your time chasing after the next shiny object. You should only have to change when your current software has a flaw or lacking feature that is causing you to spend too much work on a work-around. Then you can consider researching and finding something that meets your needs better.
- Nathan Gesner
Thank you for your reply @Nathan Gesner!
I have started the process you mentioned about comparing different software and that is how I landed on rentvine. I just had a demo call with rentvine this morning and it seems mostly perfect for what I’m looking for. I also did a trial of buildium and liked it, but I felt rentvine was a little more user friendly.
Understandably, it probably appears that I am jumping the gun with only 16 units (maybe I am). However, we just started STR property management and it would be very helpful/look more professional to have the ability to esign contracts, autogenerate payout statements, direct deposit payouts, ect. Also, the current system I use for LTR won't be sustainable as we continue to purchase. We will likely have to make an adjustment at some point, and I would rather perfect our systems while we are small. Every property/venture we add to the portfolio forces me to reinvent the systems we use. I would like software that will grow with us.
If I do choose to move forward with Rentvine, I will report back here.
- Property Manager
- Royal Oak, MI
- 8,821
- Votes |
- 12,429
- Posts
@Michael Fucillo haven't played with RentVine also.
Would recommend Buildium for what you need as it covers all the basics.
Everything else is more geared to managing for others.
- Drew Sygit
- [email protected]
- 248-209-6824
@Michael Fucillo You are not jumping the gun at all. 16 units is still a lot to manage by hand, and getting a system that makes your day to day easier is going to be key to your own sanity. Not to mention, the right system will enable your tenants to pay rent online, have a tenant portal, and all the other features that both tenants and owners need this day and age. In addition to what was said above, for the software that has a free trial option, sign up for it and use the software for a day (or at least a few hours) as if you are using it for real, then call their customer support too and get a feel for that. Pick a software that has a workflow that feels good to you, and above all has amazing customer support.
Late to the discussion here, but wanted to weigh in. I've ben using RentVine for about two years now and am very happy with it. As others have noted, it's not perfect (no software solution will be), but It does get the job done. Some of the accounting features are a little clunky, but now that I've got the hang of it everything runs pretty smoothly day-to-day.
The thing I like most about RentVine is their customer support. Whenever I have an issue/question/problem my emails are always answered same day and a solution is usually worked out within 48 hours. The support team is always happy to hop on a Video Call with me to walk me through the solution if I can't understand it via email. Now that they've coached me up I feel very confident using the software and closing out my books each month.
Hi Michael,
Azibo offers double entry accounting, which we built in partnership with CPA firms. To be frank, there aren't many good rental accounting solutions out there, so we built it to make bookkeeping and reporting as simple as possible for investors. It scales easily with unlimited portfolios and properties. Additionally, we offer free rental checking accounts which makes vendor payments, payments easy and all consolidated in one platform.
There are a few features you are looking for will become available only in the next 2-4 months, namely document management, maintenance requests and communications. The teams are working on them! Feel free to reach out if you'd like to learn more.
We are in the onboarding process with Rentvine. We shopped around and compared features and prices. Our final 2 were appfolio aor rentvine, we went with rentvine because it was 2.50 a unit and that was everything they have to offer, appfolio would give you some for 1.49 a unit then a little more for 3.50 a unit then the whole enchilada for 5.00 a unit. That was not appealing to me, I want everything they have to offer but not at 5 a unit8. We have aroun d420 units , and about 200 owners, we are coming off software developed in house, which made it hard to choose because our inhouse software had everything we wanted and nothing extra. (Upkeep became unmanageable)
Rentvine made some big promises, some of which arent really going to happen, we are only in stage 2 of the onboarding process. I am not sure how everyone else manages the repairs on their properties, but I like the history. If i have a unit with a bad garbage disposal, I want to quickly see when it was put in and by whom. If I am doing the security deposit I want to quickly see how old that carpet or paint is. Well Rentvine's onboarding team said they only import your unpaid repair orders and thats it. But I was told "another one of our customers just imported his on his own with our API." Not happy with that answer but ok. Then came investor financial data, I wanted at least a few years in there, I got a totally different-identical answer:
"another one of our customers just imported his on his own with our API."
I have a funny feeling I am gong to be hearing that a lot, I am almost guessing they have a macro of some sort to spit out that answer.
I am a software developer and I authored our current software, so interfacing to their API is not really a big issue, but I am not sure if anyone is familiar witth the process of using an API, If you arent familiar with the good ol nitty gritty programming, you arent going to get very far before pulling out all your hair. The people who write it are backend programmers, their is no user interface or anything, it is a raw portal, All systems with an API are like this and they are very convent if you have someone who knows how to use them. Luckily I do and Rentvine has a pretty extensive set of commands to use.Plus they have a demo account which you can test your code on by importing fake data into that account.
One other disturbing thing, they send me a spreadsheet to dump my data in, then 2 weeks later we can use it. 2 Weeks, so we just stop operations for 2 weeks? With all the other year end stuff, I have to deal with that.
But I do like the software after exploring it
I will Update as we progress.
Rentvine is the worst! Absolutely NO support or even a phone number to call. Do not use them.
I used to use Buildium and switched to rentvine a few years ago. I have much to say about this topic, but here are some key points.
- The support is great. It'll be mostly via email. Recently they added a feature where you can text or chat.
- You can create custom fields, which is great. You can create furnace filter size, when XYZ got installed, lockbox number, etc. You can also create custom reports.
- The accounting feature is rock solid. Please know that it's not really meant for your company expenses, such as paying BiggerPockets, seminar fees, software subscriptions, etc.
The negative is it doesn't have a mobile app (yet.) The problem with that is it'll be harder for the residents and the vendors to use the rentvine features as fewer people want to log in to a website from a smartphone.
Also, it requires a lot of clicks/scrolling/opening new pages/tabs to get to where you want.
Overall, I'm very happy I'm with rentvine, and I have no regret switching from Buildium.
Hello Michael.
We were using the Meld site. 1000 times better than rentvine. I don’t know how or where you have a phone number or email address for help but we have had 3 people searching with no results. We are switching back to Meld but it is a little more expensive but worth every penny. “Meld” works. Thanks
@Mike Johnson When you say "Meld," are you referring to "Property Meld"? If so, they are different animals.
If you go to help.rentvine.com, you will see the phone number. I think it's just for text, not to talk with a live person.
Switching from Appfolio to RentVine with 1100 SF doors was a game-changer for us, and our only regret is not making the transition sooner. RentVine's customer service is exceptional. Our owners find the statements easy to read, and the platform allows for setting alerts at the property level, creating custom and reportable fields, and offers robust reporting features.
While we appreciate RentVine, one feature we miss from Appfolio is its very granular access control. Nevertheless, we're happy to discuss further offline. Overall, RentVine has won our hearts with its user-friendly platform and excellent customer service. The simplified layout eliminates the need for excessive finger scrolling, putting everything at our fingertips.
- Melanie Thomas
- [email protected]
Yes Property Meld. A little more money but 10 times better service. We have tried to do the phone number through email. Nobody is there.
I'm jumping on very late from the start of this forum and currently looking at RentVine and making some comparisons. Has anyone's opinion of RentVine changed recently? How does it compare to DoorLoop? We currently use a mixture of RentRedi, Stessa, and PropertyMeld. The software accomplishes what is needed individually, but I prefer a "one-stop shop" solution. *The chief complaint about PropertyMeld is that you cannot pay vendors through the system.
Reference- ~50 units under management
Interestingly, I found this forum by Googling "Does RentVine have a mobile app?"
We are currently onboarding from PropertyWare to RentVine. PropertyWare is a dinosaur owned by RealPage who is now moving everyone to Buildium (another RealPage software). Our two choices were Appfolio and RentVine. We chose RentVine because it's a new company with an ambitious development team. During the Demos we were told that they had plenty of clients that used auxiallry software like PropertyMeld maintenance and FinDigs application screening with RentVine and loved it. I mistakenly took that to mean that there was integration between PropertyMeld and RentVine. Now that we are onboarding I am finding out that there is no integration. Without an integration for some of our vendors, we are considering halting RentVine onboarding and moving to Appfolio.
Any advice or experience stories would be welcome here. Can anybody talk me off the Appfolio ledge?
- Greg Abel
Have used them and liked the experience.
@Melanie Thomas are you using RentVine to handle all maintenance for your 1100 doors? Or are you manually working with PropertyMeld? This is my biggest hangup.
- Greg Abel
@Greg Abel I think it's important to consider the long-term, as changing property management software is difficult. This is just my guess, but I'm sure someday Property Meld will be integrated with rentvine.
I never used Apfolio, but everyone says the customer service is terrible. Rentvine's excellent customer service spoils me, and I can't imagine using software with lousy customer service.
For the rentvine, work orders can use some improvements, in my opinion. That said, I'm using Aptly to handle work orders, and I like it so far.
Meld. IMO RV still has some work to do in the maintenance department. Meld is king of maintenance!
- Melanie Thomas
- [email protected]
@Greg Abel Ive been using AppFolio for about 2 years now (took over from an old school firm that did everything by paper and had minimal record keeping at best). Support has gone down substantially imo while costs have gone up. big issue for us was the announcement lady year that tenant ACH payments were going from free to $2.50/pop, or you can cover it for $1/unit but you have to do all doors and can’t pick and choose (despite there being a beta that they announced, told me I could join, then later told me I couldn’t join bc it was too late and blamed me for not asking sooner when I literally asked right away and followed up repeatedly). I can’t afford the $5/unit tier so maybe their support is better but our definitely sucks and definitely shows their internal teams are not on the same page, resulting in mixed messages constantly, sub par support and honestly a lot of gaslighting.
I manage 210 units (mix of mostly multi fam, some mixed use/commercial and a handful of single fam). I personally do not use their maintenance features much bc they’re pretty clunky and honestly don’t make much sense unless you manage an in-house maintenance team. We vend out mostly Ave none of our vendors want to use the vendor portal to communicate—they have their own business management systems and don’t need to bother using a new one just for us.
Im contemplating a move away bc i see the writing on the wall with AppFolio. Im growing my biz, but im never gonna be a mega 1000+ unit manager and i cant afford the higher tier list to get features i feel flood be more suited to my mud-size needs already. I have other thoughts, but that’s the quick explanation. Im weary of the work it takes to switch, but am looking and definitely considering it before we get in too deep.
I've had a couple of friends moving from Appfolio to Rentvine, seems like Rentvine is getting much more popular. Haven't made the jump yet!
@Thea Chard Rentvine has no mixed-use building type. This has been a frustration for us. As a work around, we use a residential building and mark rents as commercial income. We used to have the commercial unit and the apartments as separate buildings but that caused other issues. It was very difficult to combine the buildings later and caused problems in the ledgers. I would suggest anyone using Rentvine for the first time to carefully set up the portfolios in the first instance. Making changes later is unforgiving.
UPDATE: WE moved from Propertyware to RentVine in November 2024. While there are certain features that are cleaner and modern, the majority of the system is not ready and there does not appear to be any updates coming down from development. It feels like with the recent investment of venture capital and their sudden growth, the system has stopped improving. We are currently regretting our move to RentVine and evaluating how to proceed.
Their customer service remains strong and they are prompt to reply, we have been told that some fixes are in the pipeline but nobody is able to say when or what the fixes will be. I miss not having a feature request or roadmap presented so we know what we can expect in the future.
Here is a list of our main issues:
1) Maintenance. We had to leave PropertyMeld since RentVine does not have an integration. RentVine maintenance is not ready to be used for maintenance coordination past a few hundred doors. The communication features are fragmented to chat with residents and only email owners. There is no automation or even ability to have chat templates. It is a very manual and tedious process when managing 700 doors. We would just go back to PropertyMeld, but there is not integration.
2) reports. reports are very limited in the information you can include on a report. We find ourselves having to manually pull several reports and having to combine them in excel just to find basic data. Available fields are limited
3) Screening. the screening has been problematic for us. We are used to having full reports within minutes and there are random applications in RentVine that get stuck waiting for up to five days. We would just go back to using a system like FinDigs, but there is not integration with RentVine.
4) Payments. The cash payments at locations around the city was a great feature, but there is many errors and apparently RentVine is doing this manually. Cash payment is now the slowest and most inaccurate form of payment. The credit card fee for tenants and owners is 1% higher than other systems which creates constant complaints.
5) API integration. Our integration with LeadSimple is the only thing that makes it possible to manage 700 doors with RentVine, but recently we have been having issues with data such as lease end dates not syncing creating issues with renewal process etc.
6) Branding. Everything including emails is branded as "RentVine" which has created confusion with our tenants and some owners. We have had tenants thing that RentVine is the Property Management company and drop off checks made out to RentVine. In our old system everything was branded as our company.
8) communication tracking. RentVine sends out various notifications to tenants/owners but there is no record or way to see a history of what has been sent. with our old system there was a great audit trail, message history and ability to BCC our support email so LeadSimple could keep a history of all communications. We are struggling with this.
9) RentSign. we were not able to use this feature due to lack of automation. You can send manual documents to be signed, but when they return there is no way to update lease end dates or even set a reminder to update lease end dates. With hundreds of renewals per month, were are still using LeadSimple with PandaDoc automation.
*I'll try to update this post if any updates or improvements are completed, but since November there have been no improvement or fixes.
- Greg Abel
