The U.S. is facing a housing deficit of about 3.2 million units, and the situation is especially dire in urban areas like New York. It’s one of the reasons prospective homebuyers are finding […]

Do You Think It’s a Tough Time to Invest? It’s Not When You Can Get Deals Like This

Are you sitting on the sidelines in this market? Many investors are. There’s a lot of fear and caution. But we’re not. And you don’t need to be, either. Of […]

Back

All Books

Browse All Best Sellers New Books & Pre-Orders Bundle & Save Books for Beginners

Simplify your goals and find clarity for your investing

Dave Meyer's newest book gives a practical framework to craft and execute YOUR personalized real estate plan.

Get the Book

Save money and time with efficient property management

Make the most of your time and money as a DIY landlord. Pre-order your copy before April 25 for exclusive bonuses!

Pre-Order Now

Welcome! Are you part of the community? Sign up now.

Stessa Property Management Software: BiggerPockets Review

By Brandon Turner

Jun 29, 2020

These companies are not responsible for any reviews posted on the website, nor do they endorse or guarantee any posted comments or reviews. Reviews should not be relied upon as the sole basis for choosing a financial product. Read our editorial guidelines for reviews.

Stessa allows users to organize their rental property finances, bringing all transactions together in one place for streamlined, tracking, managing, and performance reporting.

Quick facts

Features

FINANCIAL TRACKING
Stessa offers income and expense tracking for free for individual investors. Its goal is to simplify rental property finances by keeping everything together in an organized way. With Stessa, users can automate reporting, and track and record income and expenses on the go. A visual dashboard allows you to see your portfolio’s monthly net cash flow at a quick glance.

RECEIPT MANAGEMENT
You can upload and categorize property-related receipts through your iOS device. All receipts you scan with the mobile app are automatically on the online platform, so you can stay connected with real time data wherever you are.

EASE OF USE

Users note it’s easy to use. Add your properties and link financial accounts—Stessa uses bank-grade security to protect sensitive financial data. Once you're set up, you can access your data from anywhere.

TAX PREP

Stessa also helps users prep for a more painless and streamlined tax season. Categorize expenses and organize them into categories through the software to help maximize your deductions. Stessa also automatically generates tax-ready financial reports for properties.

Pricing

BASIC SERVICES: Free
Stessa is free to use. However, keep in mind that Stessa earns its share by referring its users to various other service providers, such as mortgage lenders, insurance companies, and other real estate investment services.

PREMIUM SERVICES: Individual pricing

Optional premium services for investors include tools for things like rent analysis, mortgage financing, and market research. But these services aren’t aggressively promoted across the platform, nor are the marketing messages from partners very overt or distracting. So the free tier is really the bulk of the service, and not merely a jumping-off point for upcharges.

Pros

Many users note Stessa’s intuitive, easy-to-use interface.
Stessa is free to use for individual investors (with optional premium services available).
It’s a platform that earns users’ trust.
Users appreciate that Stessa allows them to upload receipts and easily file them digitally, all while on the go.
Users appreciate that Stessa continually rolls out helpful enhancements.

Cons

Despite users’ faith in the system’s security, some just plain don’t like to connect bank accounts with other platforms.
Some forum users note spotty customer service response time.
Some users wish Stessa provided more options for customization.

Stessa and real estate investors

Stessa has features for investors across the gamut of scale and experience, but many forum users note that it is an ideal platform for novice and smaller-scale investors—perhaps those just making the leap beyond Excel spreadsheets to manage a handful of properties or fewer.

What BiggerPockets users are saying...

“I'm speculating, but I don't think I'd use it for more than say 7 properties. My goal is to continue to acquire properties (40 doors in the next 4 years), and I expect I'll ultimately need to upgrade to Quickbooks.”- Tom Lipps

“I connect my accounts to ease the data entry work. I’m also deeply aware of the system they are using to connect to my accounts. It’s one of the top systems in the market. I’m not concerned from a security perspective. They continue to improve the functionality and I know they have some great upgrades coming.”- Ralph Poirier

“I like that I can upload expense receipts and attach them to the specific expense transaction.” - Brian Findley

“I love the Stessa platform look, but to be honest, they haven't been very responsive to me. I have tried contacting them multiple times regarding why a certain bank wasn't allowing transactions to pull and no response.”- Cassidy Burns

“Stessa is great, don't get me wrong. But, it isn't great from a customization perspective. There are a couple of reports I'd like to run, like break-even occupancy.” - Sean O'Dowd

“My associate has just a handful of units and likes to measure the metrics of her properties so Stessa works well for her. Now I use Rentec Direct as it has more complete accounting, work orders, etc. for investing at a larger scale."- Daniel Dietz

Learn more on BiggerPockets:

Stessa not for you? Read more property management reviews.

Our editorial team’s recommendations are a result of their independent and vigorous research. Our writers and editors are never made aware of which companies have established partnerships with our business team prior to writing their reviews.

Partner relationships