Owning and managing rental property is very time-consuming, whether it’s a full-time occupation or a side gig. You can save time and money by streamlining the accounting process of your business.
There are many accounting software options for landlords that will automate and capture the financial status of your rental property with very little effort. Here, we’re revealing the best accounting software for landlords so that you will have more time to meet the needs of your tenants and stay on top of property maintenance.
Short list of best accounting software for landlords:
We get more detailed later, so if you only have time for a summary, here is our short list of the best accounting software for landlords:
- AppFolio Property Manager: Best accounting software for landlords with the best features. Ideal for a variety of users ranging from beginner to advanced. With that comes a combination of basic and advanced features that result in accounting software with the most comprehensive list of features. However, it is expensive.
- Buildium: Best accounting software for landlords overall. Most accounting software zones in on one type of user. Buildium covers all property portfolio sizes, including small, midsize, and large. Not only that, it ranks at the top based on price, features, customer support, and ease of use.
- Rentec Direct: Best accounting software for landlords that offers the best customer support. Rentec Direct offers unlimited access to customer support by phone, email, and live chat. Their support team knows their product inside and out.
- Stessa: Best accounting software for landlords that is the most affordable. Stessa offers a free platform for landlords. They also offer optional premium services for a fee, making this software the most affordable and the best value.
- Landlord Studio: Best accounting software for landlords based on ease of use. Landlord Studio has a very intuitive, simple, and clean user interface with straightforward and visually appealing screens.
- QuickBooks: Best accounting software for landlords that is non-industry specific. While QuickBooks is a generic software, there are a lot of landlords that use it to track their rental property. It’s great value and easy to use.
Best accounting software for landlords
Here’s our list of the best accounting software for landlords.
1. AppFolio Property Management
Best accounting software for landlords with the best features
AppFolio Property Management gives users the ultimate experience in automation and streamlining rental property and property management tasks with its wide selection of features that will save a tremendous amount of time and improve the accuracy of the financial picture.
Ease of use:
With its easy setup and onboarding process, AppFolio introduces you right away to its vast array of features. The software is intuitive and user-friendly with its customizable performance dashboard and clean screen presentation. The dashboard and task menu are both easy to navigate.
Features:
Here is where AppFolio outshines its competitors. AppFolio exudes an extra flair and air of professionalism with its comprehensive selection and presentation of features. There is a feature for just about every task you would want to execute.
There are many features offered that most other software packages don’t include. While a few of the other software platforms may include some of these, AppFolio’s features are executed more efficiently. These features include:
- Task scheduling and tracking
- Role-based permissions
- Reporting
- Event calendar
- Email marketing
- Data migration
- Call center management
- Appointment management
- Repair estimates
- Mobile alerts
- Membership management portal
- Event scheduling and tracking
Customer support:
Their customer support consists of training, help resources, and a customer support team where customer issues are handled fairly quickly. Their biggest strength under customer support is that the developers listen and act on customer suggestions and requests if feasible, so their software is constantly evolving and makes them a very progressive software company.
Price:
If it hadn’t been for the price, AppFolio would have been rated best overall, but their price is more than the others we reviewed. Their price starts at $280 per month. If you decide to go with AppFolio, it’s a good idea to take advantage of their free trial period to make sure the software is worth the price.
2. Buildium
Best accounting software for landlords for the price
Buildium is best for residential property managers, commercial property managers, and homeowners associations. They cater to a broad spectrum of users, from small property investors to those with large portfolios.
Ease of use:
Buildium is easy to set up, easy to integrate, simple to use, and easy to navigate. The cloud-based software is very accessible no matter the location of the user, therefore, certain tasks can be handled in real-time. We found the learning curve to be very low and, if needed, there is plenty of online help available. Overall, the user interface feels very intuitive and personable.
Features:
Buildium has all the standard features and then some. You can create your marketing website by using the program’s DIY tools. On the website, you can include a list of your properties, communicate with tenants and vice versa, and accept applications.
Buildium has a lease tracking feature that tracks leases, deposits, and monthly payments. It tracks both leases and tenants. The online dashboard notifies you which leases will expire in 30-90 days. The advantage of this is that it reduces vacancy rates, which results in more profit.
There’s also an app where both owners and tenants can generate reports. Reports can be run to show which tenants have paid and which have balances due. Reports can also be generated to show a comparison of budgets by property.
Not only do owners have access to information, but via portals, tenants can access information as well. Tenants can track previous payments, track maintenance requests, make online payments, and access documents. This saves the owner time by not having to do all of this leg work.
Customer support:
Between email, the help desk, FAQs, a forum, knowledge base, chat, phone support, live online training, webinars, documentation, and videos, Buildium has a great all-around support system. Their support team is very knowledgeable and helpful.
Price:
The price for Buildium is reasonable. Plans start at $50 a month. They offer a free trial so you can try it out before purchasing.
3. Rentec Direct
Best accounting software for landlords that offers the best customer support
Rentec Direct offers users one of the best customer support systems out of the landlord accounting software we reviewed based on knowledge, responsiveness, and availability.
Ease of use:
Rentec Direct is another software program that is very user-friendly, even with its modern integrations. You don’t need any accounting or business background to operate the software.
The process for managing monthly rent collection and on-time lease renewals is very transparent. Onboarding new properties and tenants is very straightforward. Not only is it user-friendly for owners but tenants as well. Tenants have their own portals they can use to check their balances and make payments.
Features:
Rentec Direct has all the bells and whistles when it comes to its features. The software has a lot of modern integrations, such as online rental payment, online rental applications, and electronic signatures for lease agreements.
It has a useful feature where it screens potential tenants. You can order tenant screening reports, such as rental background checks and credit reports. There are built-in marketing tools where your property listings will automatically populate to your website and publish your rental property and property vacancies.
Other standout features include:
- An API for integration into in-house solutions
- Archiving and retention capabilities
- Automatic backups
- Cash flow management
- Applicant tracking
- Approval process control
- QuickBooks integration
- Real-time analytics and data
- Secure login and data storage
- URL customization
- Administrative reporting
- Advertising management
- Credit card management
- Customization
- Deadline management
- Image library
- Income and balance sheets
Customer Support
Their customer support is above and beyond the other software programs we reviewed here. What stands out is their quick response time. Their support team is extremely responsive and will help you with any issues you are experiencing.
It doesn’t matter whether you call or email, you will get a response right away. They know their product inside and out and are extremely helpful. Their support system includes email, help desk, FAQs, a forum, an extensive knowledgebase, phone support, chat, live online help, webinars, documentation, and videos.
Price:
Pricing starts at $35 per month. You can try Rentec Direct out with a free trial period.
4. Stessa
Most affordable accounting software for landlords
Stessa offers users one of the most affordable software packages on the market. It is a free platform that offers optional premium services, such as mortgage financing, rent analysis, and market research for a fee.
Ease of use:
The software is user-friendly and intuitive, with visually appealing dashboards that merge analytics and puts everything right at your fingertips. The software walks you through property setup one question at a time. Once the property profile is set up, you can connect the profile to your business bank account and transactions will automatically upload.
Features:
Even though Stessa is the most affordable, the developers have not skimped on any of the features. Some of the key features include:
- Cash flow management
- Document storage
- Real-time data
- Sales forecasting
- Personalized dashboard to monitor key metrics
- Apps to scan invoices and receipts
- Automated expense tracker that categorizes and consolidates loan and bank transactions
- Tax ready financial reports
Customer support:
Their customer support is very helpful. You can get in touch via email or chat, and they also have an extensive knowledgebase.
Price:
They offer a free version and a free trial. There are optional premium features for a fee.
5. Landlord Studio
Best accounting software for landlords based on ease of use
Landlord Studio just goes to show that you don’t have to compromise performance when developing a simpler platform.
Best for:
This software is best for landlords who are self-managing single-family and small multi-family residential rental property.
Ease of use:
While all the software programs reviewed have been user-friendly, Landlord Studio is the most intuitive, even with all of its powerful features. The software is easy to access on multiple platforms and the interface is simple and straightforward, both on mobile devices and on desktop.
Features:
Landlord Studio offers a broad range of features. Some of these include:
- Tracks income expenses
- Manages tenant screening through credit reports and rental background checks
- Runs professional tax reports
- Manages tenant communication
- Automated rent collection with secure online payments
- Integrates bank accounts
- Scans paper receipts
- Offers financial insights
Customer support:
Customer support is very responsive and open to suggestions. Their response time is usually a couple of hours and always within 24 hours. Their support venues include email, a help desk, chat, FAQs, forum, knowledge base, phone, webinars, live online, documentation, and videos.
Price:
The price starts at $5.99 a month per feature. They also offer a 14-day trial.
6. QuickBooks
Best accounting software for landlords that is non-industry specific
We would be remiss if we didn’t include QuickBooks on this list since it is so popular and many people use this accounting software for their rental property. While not ideal, it is the best non-industry-specific software for rentals.
Ease of use:
QuickBooks can be a little clunky and cumbersome for those tracking their rental property on their software. While it can be done, there are some industry-specific features that QuickBooks doesn’t have that make tracking income and expenses associated with rental property portfolios much easier.
Features:
While lacking industry-specific features such as tenant screenings, rental listings, etc., to make the features in QuickBooks work, you need to think of them in different scenarios.
For example, customers will be your tenants, classes will be your properties, and income types such as rent, pet fees, late fees will be your products. Recurring invoices can be set up as rent payments and the chart of accounts can be set up using the Schedule E categories.
Invoice payments can be set up for rent collection, but you don’t have tenant portals or automatic payments. You can track your tenants but you can’t send out automated emails or enjoy the benefit of the tenant screening.
Customer Support:
Customer support at QuickBooks is not one of its strengths. Understandably, it falls short when the support team is trained more for generic applications and not trained in a specific industry.
Price:
Pricing starts at $25 a month and there is a 30- day free trial.
Methodology: How we found the best accounting software for landlords
Choosing the right software can be difficult. The reality is the only way to understand if software is going to work for you is to use it. Choose wrong and you could end up stuck with the product does not work for you and your business. Our methodology takes the guesswork out of choosing accounting software. We evaluate each product based on the criteria below:
- Ease of use: If a software package is not user-friendly, then the user will become frustrated and the program will not be used to its full potential. Therefore, the landlord will not reap all of the benefits of streamlining and automation such as the simplicity, accuracy, and time saved. The best accounting software will be visually appealing and easy to navigate.
- Features: One reason accounting software is so overwhelming is that sometimes it’s hard to know what features it includes or doesn’t have. Here, we’ve tried to highlight all of the key features for each so that you can get an idea of which software has what. You’re going to want the one that caters more to your business.
- Customer support: When you start with a new product or an issue comes up, it’s important to have quick and ready access to someone who can help explain how to solve or work around an issue. The best accounting software will have customer support that is accessible, responsive, and knowledgeable about their product.
- Price: Many accounting software packages are competing for your attention, but they’re not all fairly priced. For instance, some offer the bare minimum of functionality at above-market rates. We’ve only chosen software that is reasonably priced and worth what they charge.
Our research doesn’t end there. We maintain an extensive database of accounting solutions and their features. Our data driven approach allows us to constantly evaluate new and existing services and retest them if required so that our users always have the most up-to-date information available.
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