As a rental property owner, you know a lot of work goes into keeping your tenants happy and your property in good condition. From marketing your units to maintaining them, it’s essential to have a solid system in place to manage everything. 

There are a lot of different software options out there that can help you with this, but it can be tough to decide which one is right for you. In this post, we’ll compare 2 popular options—TurboTenant and RentRedi—to help you decide. 

We’ll also take a look at Stessa, a free rental property management software that over 100,000 investors already use to track more than 250,000 properties.

Key takeaways

• TurboTenant is a cloud-based program that includes online advertising, tenant applications and screening, online rent collection, and income and expense tracking.
• RentRedi’s property management software solution is designed for self-managing landlords to market vacant property, screen tenants, and collect rent online.
• TurboTenant offers a free and paid version, while RentRedi pricing is based on the number of units under management and the subscription billing cycle.
• Stessa is a free cloud-based reporting and accounting software that may be used to collect online rent payments and track property and portfolio performance metrics for unlimited single-family homes, multiunit residences, and short-term vacation rentals.

TurboTenant overview

The rental property management software from TurboTenant offers online advertising, tenant applications, screening, and rent payments. 

TurboTenant may be a good choice for landlords looking to easily manage an unlimited number of rental properties. With 24/7 customer service available online or by phone, TurboTenant makes it easy to get started without any upfront costs. 

Optional services like lease agreements, landlord forms, and digital signatures for signing leases online are also available for an additional charge.

Pricing

TurboTenant has a free and premium plan, with the premium option currently priced at $59 a year. The premium plan has more features to make managing multiple rental properties easier, so it may be better for landlords with more than one rental property.

Free

• Unlimited properties
• Rental advertising
• Lead management
• Applications and screening
• Automated reference checks
• Rent payments
• Rent reporting
• Expense tracking
• Maintenance requests
• Messaging
• Document management
• Chat support

Landlords who use the free TurboTenant plan may choose to pay for optional services, which currently cost as follows:

• State-specific lease agreements: $39 a lease
• Lease addendums: $15 an addendum
• Digital signatures: $9 a document
• Landlord forms pack: $145

Premium

Includes all of the above features, plus:

• Faster response time for chat support
• Phone support
• Expedited rent payouts
• Unlimited connected bank accounts
• State-specific lease agreements included in the price
• Lease addendums 
• Digital signatures 
• Landlord forms pack 

Software features

• Property information, features, and photos can be placed on a professional listing page.
• Advertise vacancies on numerous rental listing websites, including Zumper, RentPath, and Realtor.com.
• Automatically track leads and prospect contact information.
• Create and customize rental applications to allow prospective tenants to apply using any computing device.
• TransUnion tenant screening includes a credit report, criminal history background check, and past eviction report.
• State-specific leases and addendums are available.
• Legally sign lease documents with digital signatures and documents online.
• Tenants can pay the rent online.
• Tenants and landlords can create and monitor maintenance and repair requests.
• Manually enter expenses in TurboTenant and assign them to the correct property and Schedule E category.
• Attach and store invoices and expense receipts to create a record.
• Download a CSV file with transactions, upload it to accounting software, or send it to a certified public accountant (CPA).

RentRedi overview

RentRedi offers an all-in-one property management software solution that is easy to use and can be accessed on computers and mobile devices. The company believes its technology is easy to adopt and is affordable for self-managing landlords who own residential real estate.

Pricing

RentRedi has 3 different pricing options based on the billing cycle. All billing cycles include unlimited rentals, tenants, team members, rental listings, and customer service. As of July 2022, the pricing options include:

• Monthly: $19.95
• Quarterly: $15 a month paid every 3 months
• Annual: $9 a month paid once a year

Optional financial reporting

As well as the pricing plans mentioned above, RentRedi also has a partnership with REI Hub for landlords who want accounting plans. The financial reporting service is an extra, and all REI Hub plans are paid monthly, with no contracts required. As of July 2022, these additional fees cost:

• $15 a month for 1 to 3 units
• $25 a month for 4 to 10 units
• $45 a month for 11 to 20 units
• $99 a month for more than 20 units

Software features

• Vacant property listings on RentRedi are automatically syndicated to partner sites Realtor.com and Doorsteps.com.
• Use a single dashboard to upload photos, create virtual tours, and manage listings, marketing, and showings.
• TransUnion provides access to comprehensive credit, criminal, and eviction history reports for every applicant.
• Landlords can prepare their own lease documents and upload them to RentRedi to be signed with digital signatures.
• The landlord dashboard manages rent, late fees, and evictions and sends rent reminders.
• Rent payments can be made online using an ACH transfer, credit or debit card, or cash at over 90,000 retail locations.
• Send in-app push notifications to renters, receive maintenance requests, and send rent reminders.
• RentRedi partners with REI Hub to provide landlord accounting software at an extra charge.
• Automatically sync properties between RentRedi and REI Hub and connect financial accounts to upload and track income and expenses.
• Complete financial reports from REI Hub include a profit and loss (P&L) statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, and tax-ready Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Schedule E reports.

TurboTenant vs. RentRedi

Here’s a closer look at the main features landlords should consider when choosing between TurboTenant and RentRedi.

Listings

TurboTenant makes it simple to advertise your vacancies on well-known websites. A few clicks are all it takes to get your listing live on websites such as Realtor.com, Apartment List, Rent.com, Facebook Marketplace, and Craigslist. Plus, every rental property you have will receive its own individual listing page on the TurboTenant website.

RentRedi listings are immediately syndicated to Realtor.com and Doorsteps.com, where they may be seen by millions of people looking for rental properties in their area. In addition, landlords may use professional marketing pages on social media to advertise their properties and limit access to qualified renters only.

Tenant screening

TurboTenant and RentRedi use TransUnion to provide tenant screening reports, including credit, criminal, and eviction history reports to give landlords a complete picture of prospective tenants. Both companies charge tenants a fee for screening. With TurboTenant, the tenant application and screening fee is currently $45, while RentRedi collects a $35 processing fee from the applicant.

Leasing

TurboTenant provides a platform for landlords to create and manage their rental agreements online. State-specific lease agreements are available, as well as the option to use your own agreement. These can be sent to tenants for digital signature and then stored online. With the free TurboTenant plan, there is an additional cost for documents like state-specific leases, addendums, and digital signatures.

RentRedi doesn’t offer a system for creating leases online. Instead, landlords may upload their own lease and addendums to share with applicants. The RentRedi Tenant App is used to create a legally binding signature, and the signed lease can be stored online with the tenant’s profile.

Online rent collection

Tenants can pay the rent online with both TurboTenant and RentRedi using an ACH bank transfer, a debit card, or a credit card. 

TurboTenant doesn’t charge a fee for ACH payments but does currently charge tenants 3.49% for paying rent using a debit or credit card. RentRedi currently charges tenants $1 for each ACH or cash payment (available at over 90,000 retail locations) and 2.9% + 30 cents for each card payment. Landlords also have the option of picking up the fee themselves.

Financial reporting

With TurboTenant, you can manually enter and track all your expenses in one place at no extra charge. For each transaction, enter the date, property, and category for each expense. You can easily export all your transactions by creating and downloading a CSV to use with your favorite accounting software or to give to your certified public accountant (CPA).

Financial reporting is an add-on feature with RentRedi and requires a paid subscription with REI Hub, starting at $15 a month for up to 3 units as of July 2022. After signing up for an account, landlords can automatically sync properties to view the number, import recent transactions, and access preset rental templates. 

Tax management

Income and expense transactions entered on TurboTenant can be downloaded in a CSV format, uploaded to financial software such as QuickBooks, or sent to a CPA to help prepare a Schedule E. 

With RentRedi, a landlord must have a paid subscription with REI Hub to prepare a Schedule E and other reports, such as a P&L statement, cash-flow statement, and real estate balance sheet.

Stessa vs. TurboTenant vs. RentRedi

While TurboTenant and RentRedi offer many features, some might be unnecessary or not cost-effective for owners of small property portfolios.

That’s why 2 experienced real estate investors got together in 2016 and created Stessa, a Roofstock company, for rental property owners. After just a few short years, Stessa is used by more than 100,000 investors to track more than 250,000 properties with over $60 billion in asset value.

Stessa is free, cloud-based software that helps real estate investors maximize profits through smart money management, automated income, and expense tracking, personalized reporting, and much more:

• Track unlimited individual properties and portfolios of single-family rentals, multifamily units, and short-term vacation rentals.
• Collect tenant rent payments online using a free ACH transfer.
• Automatically track income, expenses, mortgage balances, and property values.
• Comprehensive online dashboard to view property and portfolio performance in real time.
• Collect rent online with free ACH transfers (other payment options coming soon) and a recurring payment option for tenants, as well as the ability to collect late fees.
• Track expenses on the go with the iOS and Android apps.
• Organize and store all real estate documents safely and securely.
• Generate key financial reports, including income, net cash flow, capital expense statements, tenant rent roll, and real estate balance sheet.
• Export tax-ready financials to your tax professional to make tax time a breeze.
• Create a personalized tax package on the Stessa Tax Center that includes an income statement, net-cash-flow report, and a ZIP file in a single email.

As an added benefit, Stessa’s Cash Management deposit accounts currently earn 2.00% APY (compared to the national average interest of 0.03% on checking accounts as of July 2022, according to the FDIC). Stessa Cash Management users can earn interest on balances from automated rent collection deposits, CapEx account, and operating account.

Annual Percentage Yield (APY) of 2.00% is effective as of 8/5/2022. No minimum opening deposit or account balance required. Fees could affect earnings on the account. Stessa is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Blue Ridge Bank, N.A., member FDIC. The national rate is the average of rates paid by all insured depository institutions and credit unions for which data is available to the FDIC, with rates weighted by each institution’s share of domestic deposits.

Closing thoughts

While both TurboTenant and RentRedi offer many features, owners of small property portfolios may not need all of them.

Stessa may be the best solution for landlords when it comes to accounting and reporting and online rent collection. The software is free and offers a wide range of features that other solutions charge for.