All Forum Posts by: Yanik Parsch

Hi Leslie, congrats on your first rental! For one unit, it might make sense to keep things simple. Listings still usually need to go on Zillow or similar platforms, so using Rentredi just for that is fine, but tenant communication and maintenance requests for a single unit might not need a full app yet.

Where Baselane really stands out is on the financial side—banking, bookkeeping, and rent collection. Collecting rent through Baselane Banking is seamless for you and $0 for the tenant, which they’ll likely appreciate. Even if you use another platform for listings, having Baselane manage the money side gives you a strong foundation as you scale.

Hey Alicia, welcome! For managing an STR remotely, having strong online banking tools can make a huge difference. Some people go with traditional banks like BofA for familiarity, but fees and limited business-focused tools can be a headache. Local banks can help if you want in-person support, but that's not always convenient from out of state.

I’ve found that solutions designed for small business and rental owners can save a lot of time—things like easy online payments, integrated expense tracking, and simple account management. Tools like Baselane Smart, for example, are built for property owners and can streamline both banking and property-related finances without the usual bank fees or extra hassle. Makes handling everything from out of state a lot simpler.

Congrats on the upcoming first purchase, Daniel — that’s a big step!

When I started out, I tracked everything in spreadsheets. It worked fine for one or two properties, but as soon as I added more, it quickly got messy — especially when trying to keep up with income, expenses, equity, and cash flow across multiple doors.

What made a huge difference for me was switching to a platform built for landlords. I use Baselane, and their new Baselane Smart features have been especially helpful. It automatically categorizes transactions, gives you real-time dashboards on cash flow and equity, and keeps things organized for tax season (no more digging through receipts or late-night spreadsheet updates).

Even if you’re just starting with one property, setting up a system now will make scaling much smoother when you get to 3, 5, or 10. My advice — try something lightweight and landlord-focused instead of building it all manually.

Hey Luke, great question. I think AI is becoming less of a “buzzword” and more of a practical tool if used in the right areas. For example, a lot of landlords I know are experimenting with AI to streamline tasks like drafting rental listings, organizing lease clauses, or even triaging maintenance requests.

One thing I’ve found really useful is leveraging platforms that already build AI into their workflows. Baselane recently introduced Baselane Smart, which layers AI-driven insights on top of rent collection and expense tracking. It automatically categorizes transactions, highlights trends in cash flow, and even helps surface tax-deductible expenses you might miss. That saves a ton of time vs. spreadsheets or manual tracking.

For me, that’s where AI shines: reducing busywork and surfacing insights so you can focus on higher-level decisions. Curious to hear if others are using it in more tenant-facing ways.

Hi Ron, welcome!

If you’re looking for a cloud-based platform where you can see your full portfolio in one place, I’d recommend checking out Baselane. It’s built for independent landlords and smaller portfolios, but it scales well if you add more units over time.

A few features that stand out for portfolio management:

• Dashboard view – Track rent collection, leases, expenses, and cash flow across all your properties at once.
• Tenant tools – Screening, leases, and rent payments all in one place.
• Banking integration – You can connect your existing accounts or use Baselane’s banking to keep rental income and expenses organized (helps a lot with bookkeeping and reporting).
• Mobile-friendly – Even though there’s no dedicated app, the platform is cloud-based and works smoothly on your phone browser, so you can manage things on the go.

It’s a nice balance between property management software and financial tracking, so you always have the full picture of your portfolio. 

Hi Ashley, welcome to landlording!

I’ve tested a handful of platforms, and I’d recommend looking at Baselane. It’s landlord-focused and covers pretty much everything you mentioned — tenant screening, custom rental applications (so you aren’t stuck with a rigid template), lease creation, rent collection, and maintenance tracking. You can even market your rental by generating a professional listing and pushing it out through Zillow’s network, which saves a lot of manual work.

A couple of things I’ve found helpful as a beginner:

• Tenant applications & screening – You can upload your own rental application if you have specific questions you want answered, and screening integrates right into the process.
• Leases – The platform lets you build state-specific leases with e-signatures.
• Payments – Rent collection is streamlined and connects directly to your bank.
• Maintenance – Tenants can submit requests online with photo attachments.

The nice part is that it’s designed to be simple enough for one or two units but still robust enough to grow with you if you scale up.

If you want to test it, you can set up a free account and see if it feels more intuitive than Avail.

Great question, Becca — I’ve been thinking about this too. Personally, I think AI in property management can be super helpful if it’s used to handle the repetitive stuff, but it shouldn’t replace the human touch with tenants (like your example with the corny emails).

For me, the big wins have been automating things like expense tracking, rent reminders, and late fee notices. I use a platform called Baselane that recently added more automation with their Smart plan — things like auto-tagging transactions to properties/categories and auto-matching receipts. That’s the kind of stuff I’d much rather have software handle so I don’t spend my weekends buried in spreadsheets.

But when it comes to communication with tenants, I keep that personal. I think automation works best when it supports the “back office” side of landlording, and leaves the actual relationships to you.

Honestly, I used to struggle with exactly what you’re describing — receipts everywhere, spreadsheets that never quite matched, and tax season creeping up like a surprise. Switching to Baselane has made a huge difference. It automatically organizes expenses by property, tracks repairs, supplies, and other recurring costs, and makes it really easy to pull reports at any time.

What I like most is that I don’t have to spend hours tagging everything manually — Baselane does a lot of the heavy lifting, and you can even set rules for recurring transactions. It’s made staying organized throughout the year much less stressful, and tax season is no longer a headache.

If keeping everything straight is your main challenge, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Congrats on the first property! 🎉 Managing one unit from out of state is definitely doable if you have systems in place. I self-manage a few doors remotely and the key has been keeping everything organized under one platform so I’m not chasing spreadsheets, texts, and random notes.

For software, I’d recommend checking out Baselane. It’s not a full-service PM replacement, but it covers the parts that save you the most headaches:

• Automated rent collection with reminders and late fees
• Online tenant screening (credit, background, eviction) so you don’t have to piece it together yourself
• A portal for tenants to submit maintenance requests (much cleaner than random calls/texts)
• Expense tracking and reporting that makes tax time way easier

On the home warranty piece — experiences are mixed. I’ve used them before and they can be helpful for major systems (HVAC, water heaters), but response times can be slow and you don’t always get a choice in contractors. Some landlords love them for peace of mind, others cancel after a year and just set aside a repair reserve fund.

I was in a similar spot — too much back and forth with Zelle and texts, especially chasing late fees and sending reminders. I didn’t want something as heavy as Buildium either.

I switched to Baselane and it’s worked well because:

• Rent reminders and late fees are automated, which saves me a ton of time.
• Tenants can pay by ACH, debit, or credit card, and set up auto-pay if they want.
• There’s a tenant portal where they can also submit maintenance requests, so I’m not juggling texts anymore.
• I can send messages to tenants directly through the platform instead of mass texting.

It’s more lightweight than the big property management systems, and it hasn’t felt like overkill. If your main goals are rent collection, reminders, and communication under one roof, it could be worth looking into.