I'm ready to rent out to tenants. What is the best software to use?

Question

Hello BP community. I am new to the Landlord realm. I'm ready to rent out to tenants. What is the best software to use? I've narrowed it down to BP's Rent Redi or Tennant Cloud. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Chase Busick · Answer

@Lou Burnett

If you are just starting out & have one or two rentals. I'd just recommend utilizing a free software like apartments.com (rent collection is free). This is a great place for just starting out & I am sure there are others too. With Apts.com I think they have most general forms if you don't have any from lease, to application, to others. You can take applications, screen, take maintenance requests & market/advertise on there.

You can also utilize marketing/advertising on Facebook Marketplace, Zillow (which they also have a ton of the same features as Apts.com), etc. Most will syndicate to other websites for marketing.

With Tenant Cloud, I know it can be a little pricey just starting off & unsure on the price for BP's. You should try to actively keep costs as minimal as possible when first starting off, unless it is an absolute necessity. You can always do trial periods on some, grow, then when need be scale & try new systems as well. I know a decent amount of people who use Tenant Cloud & like it, but has it's own things they need to internally update on like most others.

Theresa Harris · Answer

What specifically do you need software for?  I don't use any, I keep track of things in a notebook.

Yanik Parsch · Answer

Welcome to the landlord life—and congrats on getting ready to rent out your first place!

I looked at RentRedi and TenantCloud too, and they both have some solid features. That said, I ended up going with Baselane. It’s designed specifically for independent landlords and covers the essentials like rent collection, expense tracking, and tenant screening—all without being overly complex.

What I liked most is how easy it is to stay organized by property, and everything from leases to payments is in one place. Might be worth checking out if you're still weighing your options.

Good luck with your first tenant—you’re off to a great start!

Paul Novak · Answer

I have a small portfolio of 8 doors about an hour north of you in Sheboygan and we use a few different software systems to manage our properties.  We use Zillow and Apartments.com to list our properties.  We also like using that software for screening tenants.  The tenants pay for their background check.  The next software we use is Stessa for basic bookkeeping.  Other than that we do most of our process outside of software.  We have documented work instructions for all processes we follow to market properties and select tenants.  If you are interested message me as I would be happy to share what we have put together.  It could be a good starting point for you as we have shared these with other investors on BP starting out in the past.

Michael Fraulo · Answer

Whatever software you end up choosing, make sure it can connect to your bank feed, categorize expenses, tracking by property, and most importantly, be able to export a Schedule E report at the end of the year. With proper bookkeeping systems in place, tax time will be super smooth. Just export the Schedule E report and hand it over to your CPA.

Gregory Chadwell · Answer

Ive been using Rent-Redi for 3 years now which was recommended on a BP Podcast I believe its around $80 a year.  Here is a link  https://app.rentredi.com/signUp/DZS602?utm_medium=copylink&a...

Charles Clark · Answer

@Lou BurnettWelcome to the landlord journey! Both are great options, but RentRedi integrates seamlessly with BP and is super user-friendly—I'd lean that way!

Stephen Nichols · Answer

@Lou Burnett  We keep track of everything through QuickBooks.  It is an extra step to record it but it works for us.  We have tenants who still send checks, some pay cash and some send funds through online methods.  Not all our renters are up on all the "modern" methods.  We happy to accept payments any way someone wants to give them to us:)  Again we are small, normally around 10-15 properties max.

Stephen Nichols · Answer

We have 10 and get renters through Zillow, use zelle to get rent.  Don't really need anything else on this scale.

Coty B Lunn · Answer

I personally use and recommend TurboTenant.

There are free and paid versions depending on what you want it to do, but it's not that expensive if you go for it.

What it does:

• Online tenant screening & applications: Tenants apply digitally; ordering credit, criminal, eviction checks via TransUnion. Fees are generally tenant‑paid, or landlords on paid tiers pay less 
• Listing syndication: Post listings once, and TurboTenant distributes them to Zillow, Apartments.com, Craigslist, and others 
• Digital leases & e‑sign: Use state‑specific lease templates. Paid tiers allow unlimited agreements and signing.
• Rent collection & accounting: Supports ACH and card payments; automatic reminders, late fees, receipts, and optional autopay. ACH fees waived on Premium 
• Resource tools: Message inbox, maintenance tickets, condition reports, expense tracking, document storage, and an owner portal

Online tenant screening & applications: Tenants apply digitally; ordering credit, criminal, eviction checks via TransUnion. Fees are generally tenant‑paid, or landlords on paid tiers pay less

Listing syndication: Post listings once, and TurboTenant distributes them to Zillow, Apartments.com, Craigslist, and others

Digital leases & e‑sign: Use state‑specific lease templates. Paid tiers allow unlimited agreements and signing.

Rent collection & accounting: Supports ACH and card payments; automatic reminders, late fees, receipts, and optional autopay. ACH fees waived on Premium

Resource tools: Message inbox, maintenance tickets, condition reports, expense tracking, document storage, and an owner portal

I'm ready to rent out to tenants. What is the best software to use?

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