Accounting software for rental properties allows clients to track receipts, record daily bookkeeping items, create reports, and prepare for tax season in a short period of time instead of waiting for hours or even days.
Besides the time savings, accounting software can allow its clients a progress report on the health of their real estate portfolio and quickly alert them in case of late payments. Perhaps most critically, it can help users accurately account for rental property depreciation.
There’s a lot to consider on price alone, from free trials and setup fees to monthly minimums and add-on charges. We researched the best accounting software for rental properties to help any reader compare functions and features, convenience, pricing, customer service, and so much more.
Best Accounting Softwares for Rental Properties, 2021 edition:
Overall: AppFolio
For Multiple Users: Rentec Direct
Large Property Portfolios: Buildium
For Experienced Accountants: Property Matrix
Value: Stessa
Extra Features: Rent Manager
For Integrations: MRI Software
AppFolio
The choice of this article and the research group, for best overall, AppFolio, comes with advanced and basic features, making it accessible to owners who do their accounting on their own. It is also accessible for beginner and advanced accountants as well as bookkeepers.
Pros:
Pay only for the features you use and need
Has advanced accounting features
Includes a mobile app
Cons:
Has a minimum monthly fee
Limited live help after purchase
AppFolio developed software with features a landlord needs to operate and grow the business remotely. If you decide to fill out their online form, the AppFolio salesperson will guide you through a free demo that allows you to evaluate the features important to you. It would help if you kept in mind that there is an onboarding fee of at least $450 and then a minimum $250- $1,500 monthly fee depending on which plan you like. They also have services you can consider utilizing for a fee. Fees increase based on the units you have in your plans:
Residential: $1.40 to $3 per unit monthly
Commercial: $1.55 to $5 per unit monthly
HOAs: $0.80 per unit monthly
AppFolio is a more suitable option for mid to large-sized property landlords with at least 250 units.
The Core option comes with AppFolio’s customized reports, marketing tools, online payments and maintenance, lease management, and communication purposes. With the Plus option, you also get various strategic insights to balance your portfolio. You’ll also access services such as website creation, tenant screening, insurance, a call centre, online payments, utility management, and debt collections. These services will all be charged to your account after you utilize the service. Besides these native features, AppFolio partnered with over 80 internet listing service providers to improve your reach with powerful marketing combinations.
The software has a high-reliability rating with a responsive customer assistance team. But there are a few customer objections about wanting access more to a live person to talk through maintenance issues.
Rentec Direct
Best for multiple users, Rentec Direct, allows the basic account holder to control multi-user accounts that others can access with an individual username, password.
Another significant advantage of Rentec Direct is that there is a free package with the basic available features for up to 15 properties. More advanced packages cost $36 to $45 per month, with the pricing based on the number of units you’re managing. Additional features are available as add-ons, ranging from $8 to $17 per service.
Pros:
Has mobile apps for combined communication
Premium features for property landlords and managers
Multi-user access to one account with different usernames and passwords
Cons:
A limited number of combinations
The features Rentec Direct comes with include financial reporting and general ledger accounting with QuickBooks synchronization. Users also get tracking work orders, credit card payment processing, and ACH.
Rentec Direct with the accounting features also includes other property management features such as online portals for owners and tenants, with a free custom website.
The support staff has excellent feedbacks from clients on review sites such as Software Advice.
What Is Accounting Software to Rental Properties?
Accounting software for rental properties takes daily income and expenses while allowing clients to run reports to help them rate their business. This software saves owners hours seeking receipts to collect their tax returns at the end of the year.
Bookkeeping software helps capture expenses and income into the daily record. It can also run any basic reports for the client, such as a balance sheet and income statement. However, accounting software might also help you open your business to listing sites with a single click while running advanced reports for your growth strategy.
Who Gets Accounting Software?
The answer to this question is a Landlord with a few properties. This person must have the method to record the income and expenses into a spreadsheet with a program like Excel. Everyone will want something that can combine their bank accounts and credit cards to minimize redundancy.
What is the cost of Accounting Software?
Most plans charge between $2 and $3 per unit under management. Some might charge a monthly minimum fee in the $250 to $300 range, even if you don’t have many properties to warrant the high price. A couple of companies charge a substantial service cost, usually in the range of $400, but some others companies don’t follow this method.
How We made a list of the Best Accounting Software for Rental Properties?
The research group reviewed 15 accounting software programs for rental properties before deciding on these two in these different categories.
We have to mention that the team prioritized the lower costs and minimum fee requirements over expensive programs. They liked programs with reasonable fees and low monthly costs, offering excellent value for their features.
They paid attention to those addressing marketing, vendor management, rent payment, renter and owner communication, combined with other software programs. Another aspect was to be easy to use for beginners while giving advanced functionality. Finally, the research group investigated each company’s history and reputation for reliability and customer service.
