With numerous property management platforms available, finding the right one can be challenging. Selecting the application that fits your needs is crucial to finding renters faster as well as managing your property efficiently and easily. Many platforms offer tools and services to manage finances, collect rent, organize maintenance, list properties, and more. Some platforms are free while others have paid options. Knowing all the features of a platform helps you make an informed decision.
Rental Manager – Apartments.com
Apartment.com’s Rental Tools offers a comprehensive, free suite of tools dedicated to help you manage your properties. With features like tenant screening, leasing, payments, expense tracking, and maintenance, everything you need is in one software. Additional resources, such as rental comp reports and an ROI calculator, provide valuable insights on your property to help you make educated choices. Apartments.com’s Rental Tools are here to assist you in handling all aspects of property management with ease and efficiency.
Platform pricing
One of the few platforms that is free, Rental Tools gives you all the tools and the full extent of their features at no cost.
Best uses
Rental Tools shine with their completely free toolset for property management. Unlike other platforms who have the full potential of their tools behind paywalls, Apartments.com does not have this. All the tools and their bells and whistles are free to use. To further support you, numerous educational resources are available to cover any other questions or needs you might have.
Listing
When you list with Apartments.com, your property is published over a vast network to millions of renters, helping you fill vacancies fast. Apartments.com’s network includes Homes.com, ForRent.com, Apartment Finder, Westside Rentals, and Apartment Home Living, so your listing gets in front of as many people as possible. By highlighting your property’s unique features and tying it in with nearby amenities, Apartments.com offers a well-rounded view that attracts renters. With a national marketing campaign that reaches 95 percent of U.S. renter households, your listing gets high visibility. Apartments.com offers premium listings for a reasonable price to get even more exposure.
Interested renters can apply directly through Apartments.com, giving you instant access to completed applications. These applications include essential information such as identification, pets, residence history, employment, income, and more. When multiple people apply, the applications dashboard allows you to compare them side by side. Once you have decided, you can act right from the dashboard, streamlining the process.
Screening
To help you pick the perfect tenant, Apartments.com provides free, in-depth screening services. The credit, criminal, and eviction reports are created in partnership with TransUnion so you can see information about income-to-rent ratios, employment status, and more. All this information is summarized into an easy-to-understand rating called the ResidentScore. Best of all, you don’t need to chase renters down — simply invite them to apply through the dashboard. With Apartments.com, screening tenants is an easy process, allowing you to focus on finding the right tenant for your property.
Leases
Apartments.com simplifies the leasing process with its lease agreement generator and management. You can create a fully customizable, state-compliant, legally binding lease agreement for your property with the click of a button. Developed in consultation with industry and local jurisdiction experts, each lease is customized to your state. As every property is different, the lease tool allows you to tailor the lease to include specifics to your rental, such as parking, utilities, and pet policies. Updates can be made easily online if anything changes, such as renewing or editing lease terms. Whenever you and your tenant are ready to sign, electronic signatures ensure the process is effortless. By keeping all your leases organized and in one place, it makes management straightforward and convenient.
Payments
You can collect rent payments online for free with Apartments.com. With a Trust & Safety team and software dedicated to evaluating the risk heuristics of every payment, you can rest easy knowing transactions are safe and secure. Get paid without hassle by setting up recurring charges and letting Apartments.com do all the work. Your tenants can also set up automatic payments, so you never have to worry about missed rent.
Receive your ACH payments a day sooner with Express Pay, eliminating all that waiting. Renters have the payment options of a credit card, debit card, bank transfer, Apple Pay, or Google Pay, so they have flexibility. When it comes to fees that tenants would be charged for payments, ACH payments are free and credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay have a low fee of 2.75 percent. Automate payments so you can focus on your other responsibilities.
Finances
Keeping track of your expenses is easy with the rental property expense tracker platform. You can summarize your finances with ease as the tool allows you to track expenses by property, assign each expense to a tax category, and attach images/receipts. From there you can export them as a CSV or PDF so you can file your taxes easily. When it comes time for tax season, PDF 1099-K forms are available for download to make it simple. Manage your finances painlessly with the expense tracker tool.
Maintenance
The online maintenance platform streamlines requests and management for effortless upkeep. When tenants submit maintenance requests, you’ll receive a notification, so you never miss a thing. The tool allows you to review requests and coordinate with renters and service professionals. You can attach receipts, upload notes, share images/videos, and track repair expenses from the dashboard. Plus, when you record maintenance expenses, they will appear in the expense tracker.
Resources
Apartments.com offers a range of resources to support you in managing your property. From in-depth articles on property management to rent comparable reports, this platform provides valuable insights to assist you. The rent comparable report leverages data-driven insight from property listings to help you price your rental. With a personalized rent rate analysis of your property and the local market, you can confidently price your rental. To give you a full understanding of the market, these reports include information on rent trends, vacancy rates, number of days on the market, distance from your property, and comps for nearby rentals, including the number of bedrooms, age of the home, and property size.
If you want to assess the potential profit of your investment, use the rental property income calculator. This calculator takes the work out of crunching numbers. Just gather your expense data and fill in the numbers on the calculator. Once it’s done calculating, you’ll see six metrics: annual cash flow, capitalization rate, cash-on-cash ROI, net operating income, initial investment, and gross rent multiplier.
Avail
Avail, part of the Realtor.com network, is an online property management tool platform. With two plans, Unlimited and Unlimited Plus, you can choose the plan that best suits your needs.
Platform pricing
Avail offers two plans: Unlimited and Unlimited Plus. Unlimited is free while Unlimited Plus is $9 per unit per month. Avail has a set of basic tools for property managers with offerings of listing, screening, leases, payments, maintenance, finances, and rent analysis. However, its full potential is only unlocked if you pay for Unlimited Plus with features such as FastPay, waived ACH fees, customizable documents, and the ability to create property websites.
Best uses
For those who want a dedicated property website of their own, Avail offers that feature with Unlimited Plus. Avail helps you create your website with templates, color schemes, and sections as well as giving you customization options such as uploading your own logo.
Listing
Avail posts your listing to several rental sites. If you want more exposure for your listings, you can get premium placement for an additional cost. Online rental applications collect information such as income, employment, residential history, and more. Avail also offers the ability to ask custom questions with Unlimited Plus.
Screening
Through a partnership with TransUnion, Avail offers tenant screening on credit, background, or eviction records. By offering each report individually, you can pick what you need, or the reports can be bundled. You can choose to cover the screening cost or pass it to the applicant.
Leases
Avail offers lawyer-reviewed lease agreement templates customized to states or you can upload your own. Signing can be done with electronic signatures. If you want more personalization, Unlimited Plus offers the ability to reorder clauses, customize clauses, and add your own terms/attachments.
Payment
Payments can be collected on Avail for free. To encourage renters to pay on time, CreditBoost is offered to report on-time payments to build credit. If you want to get paid sooner, then FastPay can help if you pay for Unlimited Plus. Avail offers credit card, debit card, and ACH payments. Tenants paying with ACH are charged a fee of $2.50 per payment unless the landlord has Unlimited Plus, which waives the fee. Payments made with credit or debit incur a 3.5 percent convenience fee.
Finances
With property management accounting software, keeping track of income and expenses can be done on Avail. Tasks done on Avail, such as maintenance costs and rent collection, automatically populate into the accounting software.
Maintenance
Tenants can submit requests, and built-in messaging allows communication between you and the tenant. Features like uploading photos and adding notes help with record-keeping.
Resources
Avail offers additional resources to support landlords, including rent analysis reports and a rental property calculator.
Zillow
Zillow offers a suite of rental management tools that allow you to list, screen, lease, and manage payments on their platform.
Platform pricing
Zillow rental manager is free, but it does have paid features such as premium listings and professional tenant services.
Best uses
Zillow rental manager listings populate to Zillow, Trulia, and HotPads. Zillow offers specific tools and a partnership with Doorstead, a professional tenant placement service. The limited rental manager toolset bolsters this listing platform.
Listing
Zillow provides a platform for posting your listing to the network of Zillow, Trulia, and HotPads. If you want more exposure, you can upgrade to premium. Zillow offers a Rent Zestimate to help you price your property. The applications for rentals are comprehensive, but you will not be able to add custom questions.
Screening
Zillow offers a credit check by Experian, a background check through CIC, eviction search, and income documents. While there are no add-ons or extras, the screenings cover the essentials.
Leases
Zillow has a lease tool for managing leases, such as customizing a new lease or editing an existing one. Templates created to fit each state are provided. Electronic signatures are included when it’s time to sign.
Payment
You can collect payments on Zillow. Automation helps you collect rent and reminds your tenants to pay rent. There is no fee for tenants who pay with ACH, but credit has a 2.95 percent fee, and debit has a $9.95 fee. Only one renter per property can be set up to pay rent online.
Finances
Zillow does not have a finance tracker, but you can see all rental payments.
Maintenance
While Zillow does not have a maintenance tool, it offers a record-keeping tool for landlords and property managers.
TurboTenant
TurboTenant offers three plans: Free, Pro, and Premium. TurboTenant features cover marketing, applications, leasing, screening, payments, finances, and maintenance.
Platform pricing
Turbo tenant offers three plans to suit your needs: the Free plan, the Pro plan for $9.92/month, and the Premium plan for $12.42/month. Certain tools are available for an additional price. For instance, for those on the Free plan, state-specific lease agreements cost $59 per lease, and the landlord forms packet costs $199.
Best uses
TurboTenant provides landlords with a network of partners. Their toolbox connects landlords with services that offload some of the responsibilities of property management. For example, Lula will take care of maintenance issues, EZEvictUS helps with eviction assistance, and Northwest can assist with LLC formation.
Listing
TurboTenant has a limited listing site but can syndicate your listing to other sites. If you want to share your own professional listing page, you can do that too. Turbo Tenant offers sections on their applications such as an area where tenants can make the landlord aware of any special needs they may have during their tenancy and the landlord can ask about pets, emotional support animals, and service animals. If you want further customization through specific questions, you can upgrade to Premium.
TurboTenant offers pre-screening options that show tenant information like pets, move-in date, and monthly income. You can book showings directly through TurboTenant and set your availability. Any messaging that happens can be done within TurboTenant as well.
Screening
TurboTenant’s screening process includes background, credit, and eviction checks through its partnership with TransUnion. All three plans include credit, criminal, and eviction checks, but if you want income verification, you’ll have to choose the Premium plan.
Leases
You can create, customize, and adjust leases on TurboTenant with a fill-in-the-blank tool. If you have one of the paid plans, then leases are unlimited; however, if you have the Free plan, it is $59 per lease. To make sure that it is customized to your state, TurboTenant has the option for unique sections as well as templates and generators for states. Additional terms cater to property specifics such as pets or parking. Electronic signatures help get leases signed, but only if you have Premium. If you want any of the documents in the landlord forms pack, it will cost you $199 on the Free plan.
Payment
You can collect rent online and see all your expenses and income on TurboTenant. You can set up recurring charges, automatic late fees, and keep track of all the payments in the payments dashboard. Autopay helps tenants pay rent, and they can pay $4.99 for rent reporting to build credit. Tenants must pay a 3.49 percent fee on credit or debit. If they pay using ACH, there is a $2 fee. If you pay for the Premium plan, ACH fees are waived for tenants, and you can have unlimited connected bank accounts.
Finances
Expense and rent tracking are free for all users. However, if you want to take care of all your accounting on the platform, you can do so through TurboTenant’s partnership with REI Hub, which is an add-on regardless of what plan you have.
Maintenance
TurboTenant has a maintenance tracker included in all plans. With in-app messaging, coordination can be done without leaving the platform. Tenants can request maintenance and leave feedback when it is completed.
TenantCloud
TenantCloud offers four plans: Starter, Growth, Pro, and Business. The platform provides tenant management, payments, finances, team management, and more. For properties involving both a property manager and an owner, TenantCloud has a separate Owner’s Portal.
Platform pricing
TenantCloud no longer offers a free plan, but it does have four plan options. There is Starter for $16.50/month, Growth for $32/month, Pro for $55/month, and Business, which has custom pricing that starts at $100. Additionally, TenantCloud has a variety of add-ons.
Best uses
TenantCloud is good for landlords who want to manage multiple properties and oversee teams. Its dedicated Owner’s Portal allows the owner access to property information without having to call the property manager. With team management, you can bring together your team in one account and have them manage separate properties. While many of TenantCloud’s best tools are only offered if you have Pro, these features can simplify property management for larger businesses.
Listing
TenantCloud offers listing syndication to several sites, and for an additional $30, you can extend syndication to more sites. With the Pro or Business plan, you can have your own website and logo to customize. You can synchronize your TenantCloud calendar with Google. Applications are included with the Starter plan, but if you want to add your own specifications, you can do so with the Pro plan.
Screening
TenantCloud partners with TransUnion and TaxWorks to offer background checks, tenant credit checks, and full check reports. You can enhance screening with optional add-ons, such as a County Criminal Records Search or an Income Insights Report.
Leases
Tenant Cloud offers lease templates and the ability to upload your own leases. Depending on your plan, you’ll have a limited number of leases and templates. If you want the lease builder, state-specific landlord forms, or move-in/out inspection documents, you have to pay for Growth, Pro, or Business.
Payment
TenantCloud offers payment services. Once you set up recurring charges and late fees, you don’t have to do it again. Autopay helps tenants pay rent on time and rent reporting helps them build credit when they do so. Tenants can make partial payments, too, if necessary. Faster Payments allows you to get rent payments sooner for eligible users. When tax season arrives, you can get your 1099-K form on TenantCloud.
The fees charged to tenants for payment are dependent on the subscription plan you have. For ACH payments, the Starter fee is $1.95/transaction, Growth fee is $1.75/transaction, Pro fee is $1.50/transaction, and Business is by volume pricing. For card payments, the fee is 3.5 percent plus $0.30 fee.
Finances
TenantCloud automates rent payments and maintenance expenses collected on the platform. Creating invoices, receipts, and notes for when rent will arrive is automated once you set up the invoicing schedule. TenantCloud offers premium accounting services such as bank reconciliation and QuickBooksOnline Sync for those with the Pro or Business plan.
Maintenance
Tenant Cloud has unlimited maintenance requests as well as the ability to set up recurring requests and equipment tracking. If you want, you can assign the issue to a ServicePro who will take care of the issue for you.
Team management
If you have many properties and a large team under you, TenantCloud gives you tools for team management. It allows you to assign team members to specific properties, granting them access to property-related documents and tools. This keeps all your teams on one platform but separates them by property. This feature is available for those with the Growth plan or higher. In addition, for those with the Pro or Business plan, TenantCloud offers a separate owner portal and property management system.
Resources
TenantCloud has a variety of reports that can be created, such as property statement reports, rent rolls, profit & loss statements, and more. If you want all the reports, you will have to pay for a plan.
FAQ
What software do property managers use?
There are many property management platforms so property managers can find the one that fits them and their needs. Popular ones include Apartment.com’s Rental Tools, Avail, Zillow Rental Manager, TurboTenant, TenantCloud, Buildium, AppFolio, and more.
How do I do a credit check on a tenant?
With Apartments.com, running a credit check on a tenant is easy. When renters apply through Apartments.com, a credit and background check will be run. Once you receive the application, the credit and background check will be attached.
How do I conduct a tenant background check?
Apartments.com makes running a background check simple. A renter will apply and pay the application fee, then their background and credit check will be run. That credit and background report will be attached to the application that you receive.
How do you manage a rental property?
Managing a rental property can be challenging. Apartments.com offers a comprehensive set of tools to help. With access to tools to list your property, screen tenants, create and sign leases, collect payments, manage expenses, and track maintenance, Apartments.com’s Rental Tools streamlines and simplifies property management.
Should I hire a property management company?
Hiring a property management company or property manager can help by offloading some or all the responsibilities of management off your shoulders. It can save time and effort as well as giving you someone with management experience to turn to, but it does cost some money, and you may have less control. A great in-between is property management platforms which can make management easier, such as Apartments.com’s Rental Tools. Consider the pros and cons as well as your situation to help you decide if a property management company or property manager is worth it.
