When it comes to choosing the right rental property software, Avail and TenantCloud are 2 popular choices.

In this blog post, we’ll compare the 2 programs and detail some reasons Stessa may be the best choice for landlords looking for free property management software.

Key takeaways

• Avail offers a variety of tools to manage rental property with free and paid plans based on the number of units under management.
• TenantCloud provides a full suite of property management services with 4 pricing plans, including a free limited feature plan.
• Stessa is a free, cloud-based property and portfolio management system for single-family rentals (SFRs), multifamily dwellings, and short-term vacation rentals.

Avail overview

Avail software is made especially for landlords and real estate investors. It aids property managers in managing their finances, maintaining properties, and remaining organized. 

The app makes it simple to view rental income and costs, so landlords can see how their investment performs. It’s part of the Realtor.com network and makes tracking rental income and expenses a breeze. The free program also includes tenant management tools, such as a lease builder and online rent payments.

Pricing

Avail offers 2 pricing plans for residential property managers:

• Unlimited Plan: $0 per unit per month with syndicated listings, credit and criminal screening, state-specific leases, online rent payments, and maintenance tracking
• Unlimited Plus: $5 per unit per month with everything the Unlimited Plan includes, plus next-day rent payments, waived ACH fees, custom applications and leases, custom lease agreement cloning and reuse, and property website creation

Software features

Avail provides cloud-based solutions with modules throughout the entire tenant cycle, from before a tenant steps foot on the property to the day they depart:

• Listings are shown on 12 of the most popular online rental sites, such as Zillow, Trulia, Zumper, Realtor.com, Apartments.com, and Apartment List.
• Avail includes tools for managing leads via the online messaging center.
• In-person showings can be scheduled through Avail or any other rental platform listing the property.
• Questions can be customized for screening.
• An applicant’s TransUnion credit report and background checks are started once they agree to the conditions.
• Screening reports include a nationwide criminal history report, prior eviction records, home and employment reference checks, and income verification and documentation.
• Avail provides a communication and message center for applicants.
• Avail features state-specific and attorney-approved leasing templates, with customizable clauses and rules unique to a specific rental property.
• Avail offers print and PDF lease generation and online document storage.
• Avail allows payments to automatically recur in order to increase on-time rent payment collection.
• Avail offers rent reminders and notifications.
• Payment receipts and confirmations are automatically generated.
• Late fees are automatically charged on a one-time or recurring basis, depending on the landlord’s instructions.
• Landlords can include various costs, such as security deposits, pet rent, or utility expenses.
• To incentivize tenants to pay the rent on time, Avail reports tenant rent payments to credit bureaus.
• Tenants and landlords may both create and follow maintenance and repair requests.
• Tenants can upload photos to enhance maintenance processes and speed up repairs.
• A rental property accounting software feature tracks income and operating expenses logged through Avail.
• Transactions not handled through Avail must be manually entered and updated to keep income and cost figures correct and up to date.
• Landlords can analyze property performance to assess profitability or loss.
• Avail software can generate a CSV spreadsheet filtered and sorted by rental property, transaction type, vendor, and other criteria according to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) categories on Schedule E.

TenantCloud overview

If you’re looking for a cost-effective, full-featured property management solution, TenantCloud might be worth considering. An online payment and leasing management system are just 2 tools available to assist you in managing your rental home.

TenantCloud aims to make life easier for landlords by providing a configurable online platform to manage properties and tenants. TenantCloud, according to the firm’s website, has served more than 2 million landlords and tenants in all 50 U.S. states and 40 nations around the world.

Pricing

TenantCloud offers 3 pricing levels: free, $15 a month, and $50 a month. Plus, there is a customized pricing plan for investors and property managers with large portfolios. 

All options can be used with an unlimited number of properties and units, as well as an unlimited number of internet rental postings. Customers who pay annually get a 20% discount, and the company also offers a free trial period.

Free

TenantCloud’s Free plan includes these features:

• Listings
• Scheduling
• Applicants
• Screenings
• Rent payments
• Maintenance requests
• Vendor network access

Starter

For landlords who want to pay extra for more services like tax report generation and Google Calendar synchronization, the Starter plan may be a good alternative. The $15 per month Starter plan includes everything the Free plan does, plus some additional features:

• Premium leads for online listings
• Tax reporting and more
• Digital signatures
• Lead tracking for customer relationship management (CRM)
• AutoPay for tenants
• Google Calendar sync

Growth

TenantCloud suggests the Growth plan for landlords with small and medium-sized portfolios who want extra features like a personal owner portal and QuickBooks Online synchronization. The Growth plan costs $50 a month and includes all features available in the Free and Starter plans, as well as:

• Property manager tools
• Individual owner portal
• Management fees
• Lease builder
• Property message board
• QuickBooks Online sync

Business

The Business plan is for landlords and property managers who want more flexibility and price customization. Contact the firm for pricing if you’re interested in the business plan. The Business plan offers everything in the Free, Starter, and Growth plans, as well as:

• Team management and tools
• Task management
• Customization

Software features

• Several popular online real estate listing companies automatically syndicate listings on TenantCloud, including Apartments.com, Trulia, and Zillow.
• Owners can build their own property listing website with contact information, photographs of available homes, and a customized rental application.
• TransUnion offers 3 different tenant screening packages.
• Landlord forms provide templates for tenant leases, owner agreements, state-specific documents, and notifications to tenants.
• Rent payments may be made and received online using a debit card, credit card, and Automated Clearing House (ACH).
• Tenants can schedule recurring monthly payments and enable automatic late fees using AutoPay.
• TenantCloud offers online processing of maintenance requests, including videos and photographs from tenants for required repairs and assignment of the task to a service professional and tracking of time and materials.
• TenantCloud offers accounting solutions for storing, sorting, retrieving, and summarizing financial data, as well as the ability to download files in Excel, CSV, PDF, QuickBooks, and Numbers formats.
• TenantCloud offers syncing with QuickBooks online to process income and expenditure transactions, as well as financial statement preparation.
• TenantCloud also includes profit and loss (P&L) reports, general income and expenditure reports, deposit summaries, property owner statements, amortization and depreciation trackers, tax preparation reports, and 1099 tax forms.

Avail vs. TenantCloud

It’s not always simple to determine which property management software is appropriate for a rental property. So here’s a comparison of Avail and TenantCloud.

Listings

Avail automatically syndicates rental postings to the top 12 national listing sites to reach millions of renters quickly. In addition, rent price suggestions are provided by Avail to assist landlords in establishing a competitive monthly rent based on location and amenities.

Apartments.com, Rentler, and Zillow Group are some of the online platforms partnered with TenantCloud to increase listing exposure. Landlords may also create a property-specific website for free to gather inquiries from prospective tenants.

Tenant screening

Avail offers tenant screening services, including credit reports from TransUnion and tenant background and rental history checks.

TenantCloud works with TransUnion to provide 3 different tenant screening packages, including a background and credit check, national evictions records search, and identity validation for applicants. 

Leasing

Avail provides state-specific, attorney-approved lease agreement templates that include all necessary disclosures and attachments to comply with local rules. Landlords may also choose from Avail’s wide range of provisions, such as smoking rules and pets. Leases can be digitally signed and stored online using the Avail system.

TenantCloud allows landlords to upload their own lease agreement or create a lease online. The software provides rental agreement templates and electronic signature capability. A landlord may use the system to define the rent amount, security deposit, and other expenses before collecting payment from the tenant online after the lease has been signed.

Online rent collection

With instant rent collection from Avail, tenants can pay on time, and landlords can get their money faster. After creating a landlord account and entering the monthly rent amount and any other charges, tenants are given simple directions on how to create a chosen payment method, such as an ACH transfer or debit or credit card. 

TenantCloud’s Auto Pay allows tenants to pay monthly rent via ACH direct deposit or debit and credit card payments. Landlords may apply one-time or automatic late fees, as well as allow partial payments and have funds transferred straight to their bank accounts.

Financial reporting

The Avail accounting software tracks income and expenses recorded through the Avail platform. To keep revenue and costs up to date, a landlord may manually enter one-time transactions or modify those already entered in the system.

To keep income and costs up to date, QuickBooks Online integrates with TenantCloud. Deposit summaries, general revenue, property costs, amortization, depreciation tracking, and a P&L statement are among the available financial documents.

Tax management

On Avail, you may export transactions to a CSV file that can be shared with a tax professional. Each rental property, transaction type, and vendor or payer are sorted separately.

TenantCloud’s Tax Preparation Report and 1099 Tax Form are used to compute all property income and expenses, including management fees and depreciation expense, in order to produce IRS Schedule E. Excel, CSV, QuickBooks, PDF, and Numbers file types are available for data downloads.

Stessa vs. Avail vs. TenantCloud

Avail and TenantCloud are 2 popular software options. Stessa is a newer entrant to the market, but how does it stack up? 

Stessa, a Roofstock company, offers landlords a rental property financial management system that is 100% free and easy to use. More than 100,000 investors already use Stessa to track over 250,000 properties with over $60 billion in asset value.

By using Stessa, owners monitor their rental property investments from a single, comprehensive dashboard that they can use to optimize performance and returns.

After signing up for a free account with Stessa and entering some basic property information, real estate investors can: 

• Track unlimited SFRs, multifamily properties, short-term vacation rentals, and complete portfolios.
• Monitor rental property investments and portfolios from a single, comprehensive dashboard.
• Automate income and expense tracking by linking property bank accounts.
• Update outstanding mortgage balance and property values.
• Collect tenant rent payments online using ACH transfers (tenants can also enable Autopay to avoid missing deadlines).
• Track expenses on the go with the iOS and Android apps.
• Organize and store all real estate documents safely and securely.
• Run important financial reports, including income, net-cash-flow, and capital expense (CapEx) statements.
• Export tax-ready financials to make tax time a breeze.

Closing thoughts

Stessa may be ideal for investors seeking rental property software that is easy to use. Stessa currently doesn’t offer features like tenant screening and vacant rental property listings, but there are several excellent alternatives online.

Investors seeking a full suite of property management services in one package may find Avail or TenantCloud to be a good fit.