Rental Software opinions
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Drew SygitBusiness Member
Property Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votesQuote from @Chris Da:
I currently run my portfolio of 22 units. It’s is made up of single family houses, 3 duplexes and a 5 unit.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have several tenants for over 15 years.
Some of my tenants pay cash, others are on Section 8 and part of the rent is paid via the housing authority and the rest by them.
For years I’ve been using Venmo,Cash App and spreadsheets. It still works well to this day, but I was switched to a business account being i had such large transactions monthly and now they charge 3% per transaction which is about $6500/year in fees.
Obviously this can’t go on and I plan on making more purchases of buildings so that being said, what is the best rental property software for me?
I am hands on and still like my spreadsheet as my CPA and I made them, and they work well, however I would like find software that isn’t complicated and my tenants will find simple as well and not charge them fees for paying the rent.
Thoughts???
Other than depositing their rent directly to your bank account - their will be a fee to someone!
Paper Checks: most banks give you x for free than charge a per check fee.
ACH: either the sender or receiver, sometimes both, pay for this.
Venmo/ CashApp / Etc.: we charge any receiver fees back to tenants
Not aware of any true "free" online payment option.
Logical Property Management4.9460 Reviews
18 Replies
- Investor · Charleston, SC · Member since 2018 · 198 posts · 85 votes2mo
At 22 units, I would separate the rent collection problem from the bookkeeping problem.
You need an ACH tenant portal that does not pass a 3 percent tax to you or the tenant, but you also need clean books by unit, payment source, HAP portion, tenant portion, deposit date, and Schedule E category.
I would test any software with one Section 8 unit first: can it split HAP and tenant rent, handle cash payers without making a mess, export the ledger your CPA already trusts, and show late or short payments before month end?
If it cannot do those 4 things, it is prettier than the spreadsheet but not safer.
- Member since 2026 · 9 posts · 1 vote2mo
Quote from @Chris Da:
I currently run my portfolio of 22 units. It’s is made up of single family houses, 3 duplexes and a 5 unit.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have several tenants for over 15 years.
Some of my tenants pay cash, others are on Section 8 and part of the rent is paid via the housing authority and the rest by them.
For years I’ve been using Venmo,Cash App and spreadsheets. It still works well to this day, but I was switched to a business account being i had such large transactions monthly and now they charge 3% per transaction which is about $6500/year in fees.Obviously this can’t go on and I plan on making more purchases of buildings so that being said, what is the best rental property software for me?
I am hands on and still like my spreadsheet as my CPA and I made them, and they work well, however I would like find software that isn’t complicated and my tenants will find simple as well and not charge them fees for paying the rent.
Thoughts???
The fee part has real answers, although the fine print matters. Baselane runs ACH rent collection with no fee on either side, but only if the rent lands in a checking account with them; otherwise it's $2 per payment. Avail charges the tenant $2.50 per transfer on its free plan, and making it free for tenants costs $9 per unit per month, which at your 22 units is around $200 a month. Either way you'd be well under the $6,500, it's just worth reading the fee pages closely at your unit count before moving everyone over.
Eduardo's test above is the right one, and I'd expect most options to fail it at the same place: none of them will keep the spreadsheet you and your CPA built. They all want to become the system of record instead, and then you're carrying their reports back into your own books by hand each month, which at 22 units with cash payers and HAP splits is roughly the matching work you're doing today, just from a different starting file.
That matching step is the part I'd put the effort into. It can be built as a small custom tool. It reads the payment exports from the bank, Venmo, Cash App and the housing authority, plus whatever you enter for cash, matches everything against your rent roll, and writes the result into the spreadsheet you already use. It keeps the same file and layout, flags who's short, and splits the HAP portion from the tenant's portion per unit. You'd keep collecting however works for you, and the monthly matching would stop being your job.
For context, I build small custom tools like this for individual investors. If you'd be curious to see one working against your spreadsheet's layout with made-up numbers, I'd be happy to show you. Feel free to send me a DM.
I use quicken for the bookkeeping and have the tenants set up ach with their own banks for deposits. Any tenant without a bank account. (Slightly scary.) I’d have pay their rent through one of the money transfer systems at 7-11 or Walmart. You really don’t want to be accepting cash.
- Member since 2026 · 4 posts · 1 vote2mo
- Real Estate Agent · Memphis · Member since 2026 · 583 posts · 345 votes2mo
I think you've reached the point where it's worth making the switch.
Twenty-two units is a lot to manage with multiple payment apps and spreadsheets, especially when you're dealing with split Section 8 payments. If your current system has been working, that's great—but the new transaction fees are a pretty good signal that it's time to look for something that's built for rental operations.
I'd focus less on finding the platform with the most features and more on one that fits your workflow. For me, the must-haves would be handling HAP and tenant payments cleanly, making rent collection easy for residents, and keeping maintenance, communication, and accounting organized in one place. That tends to pay off as the portfolio grows.
- 2moDrew SygitBusiness MemberProperty Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
Quote from @Chris Da:
I currently run my portfolio of 22 units. It’s is made up of single family houses, 3 duplexes and a 5 unit.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have several tenants for over 15 years.
Some of my tenants pay cash, others are on Section 8 and part of the rent is paid via the housing authority and the rest by them.
For years I’ve been using Venmo,Cash App and spreadsheets. It still works well to this day, but I was switched to a business account being i had such large transactions monthly and now they charge 3% per transaction which is about $6500/year in fees.Obviously this can’t go on and I plan on making more purchases of buildings so that being said, what is the best rental property software for me?
I am hands on and still like my spreadsheet as my CPA and I made them, and they work well, however I would like find software that isn’t complicated and my tenants will find simple as well and not charge them fees for paying the rent.
Thoughts???
Other than depositing their rent directly to your bank account - their will be a fee to someone!
Paper Checks: most banks give you x for free than charge a per check fee.
ACH: either the sender or receiver, sometimes both, pay for this.
Venmo/ CashApp / Etc.: we charge any receiver fees back to tenants
Not aware of any true "free" online payment option.
Logical Property Management4.9460 Reviews - Real Estate Broker · Atlanta · Member since 2024 · 1k+ posts · 607 votes2mo
@Chris Da With 22 units, it definitely makes sense to move away from payment apps charging 3%. I would look at property management software like Buildium, Rentvine or TenantCloud which offer ACH rent payments with little or no fees for tenants. Since you already have a system that works, I would prioritize software that is simple to use and integrates well with your existing accounting workflow.
Hi @Chris,
I'm one of the co-founders of RentRedi, so full disclosure there.
Based on what you described, I think you've reached the point where it makes sense to have one platform handle your rent collection, maintenance, accounting, communication, performance, and reporting together instead of piecing together multiple apps.
Since you have Section 8 units, I'd also make sure whichever platform you choose can easily handle split payments from the housing authority and your tenants, while keeping everything organized by property.
One thing I wouldn't overlook is reporting. Even if you move to property management software, make sure it lets you export your financials and reports to spreadsheets so your accountant can continue working in the format they're comfortable with.
FYI - Since you're a BiggerPockets Pro member, RentRedi is already included with your membership, so you can try it without paying for another property management platform.
Best of luck—and congratulations on building a 22-unit portfolio!
Hope to see you at BPCON in Orlando
Ed- Rental Property Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2021 · 778 posts · 504 votes2mo
@Chris Da - Definitely try out the systems others mentioned, including RentRedi. I use Hemlane for my software system and I know a few others that use DoorLop. Go have a few conversations and choose the one that works best for you!
- 2moAlex BekezaBusiness MemberLender · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
Hey @Chris Da, I'm personally an out of state investor so I rely on a third party PM and they use RentVine but I've heard a lot of my self managing investor clients (mortgage) saying good things about Innago. I'll send you a link to check them out.
Investor Property Loan5308 Reviews At 22 units and planning to grow, I would look at Buildium. This is around the size where I think having a real property management system starts to make sense, especially if you're currently using Venmo/Cash App plus spreadsheets.
One of the biggest benefits for you would be the flexibility in rent collection. Tenants who are comfortable paying electronically can pay through the resident portal and even set up autopay. It also looks more professional than having tenants send rent through Venmo or Cash App.
For tenants who have been paying cash, Buildium has PayNearMe, where the tenant gets a payment code and can take their cash to participating retail locations such as CVS, 7-Eleven, Walmart, etc. The payment then gets posted to their account in Buildium, so you don't have to physically collect the cash, deposit it, and manually record the payment.
For checks, I would gradually encourage those tenants to transition to ACH through the portal. On Buildium's Essential plan, the current incoming EFT fee is $2.35 per transaction, which you can choose to absorb. I would compare the total Buildium subscription and transaction fees against the $6,500/year you're currently paying. Even if Buildium isn't free, you may still come out ahead while getting a lot more functionality.
Beyond the cost savings, I would also put a value on the convenience and flexibility. Tenants can pay through ACH, credit card, autopay, or retail cash payment, while you get one system to track rent, tenant balances, leases, maintenance requests, communications, and property-level reporting.
I manage properties myself as well, and once you start getting into 20+ units, I think the time saved and having everything in one place starts becoming just as important as the software cost.
I’ve been self-managing a 30+ unit portfolio of my own for more than six years, and I’ve found that you don’t necessarily need to force everything into one property management platform.
I use Innago as my primary property management system. It handles my leases, tenant ledgers, rent tracking, maintenance, and payment processing. It also works well for my Section 8 tenants because I can split the rent payments between the tenant portion and the housing authority portion.
For the few tenants who prefer to pay cash, I use ScheduleMyRent. It allows them to take cash to a MoneyGram location—such as Walmart or CVS—and make their rent payment using a unique account/payment code.
This has worked very well for tenants who don’t want to use ACH. Their biggest concern with ACH is that it can take several days to process, and they don’t always want to keep the rent money sitting in their bank account while waiting for the payment to clear.
The MoneyGram fee is currently $7.99. In some cases, I split that cost with the tenant. For example, when setting up a new lease, I may have the tenant pay $4.99 of the fee and build the remaining $3 into the monthly rent.
For accounting, I don’t try to make either system do everything. I download reports from both Innago and ScheduleMyRent and reconcile them quarterly. I then use the reconciled information for my rental property accounting and Schedule E tax preparation. I also prepare my own taxes.
So far, this setup has worked for me for more than six years without any significant issues, and it has been one of the most cost-effective setups I’ve found.
- 2moDanielle DalyPro MemberRental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2021 · 54 posts · 77 votes
Hey Chris! Given your portfolio and what you’re looking for, I’d personally look at RentRedi and Baselane. I currently use both, and they solve slightly different problems.
I’ve used RentRedi more from the property-management side. It’s a good option if your priority is getting rent collection, tenant communication, background checks, maintenance requests, leases, etc. into one place without making things overly complicated for tenants. For 22 units and a mix of payment situations like yours, I think it’s worth looking into.
I also use Baselane, which I really like for the financial side of managing rentals. It combines banking, rent collection, bookkeeping, and property-level financial tracking, so it can eliminate a lot of the manual work that comes with spreadsheets while still giving you a clear picture of how each property is performing.
Since you already have spreadsheets that work well for you and your CPA, I wouldn’t necessarily try to replace your entire system overnight. I’d probably look at which platform can first solve the biggest problem (which seems to be getting you off Venmo/Cash App and eliminating those transaction fees) while keeping rent payment simple for your tenants. Then you can gradually move more of your management/accounting into the platform if it makes sense.
One thing I’d specifically confirm with both before switching is exactly how they handle ACH fees, tenant-paid fees, and split/partial payments, given your Section 8 tenants.
Best of luck!
- 2moAshish AcharyaBusiness MemberCPA, CFP®, PFS · FL · Member since 2017 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
Chris, at 22 units, I’d care less about finding the “perfect” property-management software and more about whether the system gives you clean property-level books your CPA can actually use.
From the tax side, I’d want every property separated clearly enough to track rent, Section 8 payments, repairs, utilities, management expenses, security deposits, and especially repairs versus capital improvements. The IRS specifically emphasizes good rental-property records because they help track deductible expenses, depreciation, and support what ultimately goes on the tax return.
Since you’re still hands-on and like your spreadsheets, I wouldn’t necessarily abandon them. I’d choose a platform that handles rent collection and tenant records while still letting you export clean data back into the reporting system you and your CPA already understand.
With a portfolio this size, I’d also review cost segregation across the properties if you haven’t already. It may accelerate depreciation on qualifying components, but the real question is whether those losses are actually usable under your passive-loss situation.
And as you replace roofs, HVAC systems, water heaters, flooring, or other major components, keep those costs tied to the specific property and asset. Good tracking can make future depreciation and partial-disposition analysis much cleaner.
The right software is the one that makes the portfolio easier to manage without making tax season harder.
Happy to connect!
INVESTOR FRIENDLY CPA®5240 Reviews - Real Estate Agent · Milwaukee · Member since 2026 · 7 posts · 2 votes1mo
At 22 units, I’d evaluate the payment workflow before all the additional software features. Your current $6,500 annual cost gives you plenty of room to find a better system, but you’ll want to test your less-traditional payment situations carefully.
I would ask each provider:
• Can cash payments be recorded manually?
• Can a housing-authority payment and the tenant’s portion be applied separately to the same monthly balance?
• How are partial payments reflected on the tenant ledger?
• Can you choose whether the landlord or tenant pays transaction fees?
• How quickly are payments deposited?
• Can everything be exported for your CPA without rebuilding your spreadsheets?I’d test the platform with one conventional tenant and one Section 8 tenant before moving the full portfolio. The best option for you probably isn’t the one with the most features—it’s the one that handles those payment situations cleanly while remaining simple for your long-term tenants.
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