Are Free Rental Property Maintenance Software Worth It?
There are two major reasons why you’d want to try out free rental property maintenance software.
One, you’re shopping around and want to try out several free tools before deciding which one to pay for. Two, you might not be able to try out paid rental property maintenance software at the moment.
Luckily, there are plenty of free property maintenance tools. However, they’re not all equal.
That’s why we’ve prepared a list of the four free standout tools we highly recommend.
Keep on reading to find out more.
What Does Rental Property Maintenance Software Do?
Property managers, owners, and maintenance supervisors use rental property maintenance software to save money and time by automating property maintenance tasks. With this tool, property managers and landlords can improve the quality of maintenance services provided to residents and maintain their properties in excellent condition.
Some of the significant tasks rental property maintenance software help with include:
- Manage Residents: Property management software simplifies the process through which you or your resident can submit a request for rental property inspections and maintenance. Additionally, these platforms enable you to collect rent, conduct resident screening, lease management (from creating a lease to setting terms and renewals), and manage rent applications.
- Report Creation: This software helps generate reports on several issues like accounting and custom reporting, maintenance requests, the status of maintenance tasks, maintenance costs, rent payments, etc.
- Organize Rental Properties: Whether you’re operating one or 200 rental units, rental property maintenance software provides you with the features to adequately manage your properties on a single platform. These features include a tenant portal, marketing, rent collection, a full accounting suite (that integrates with QuickBooks), maintenance management, custom websites, and more.
Are Free Property Maintenance Apps As Good As Paid Apps?
Free property maintenance apps are a great way to get started with property management. However, they’re not as reliable and comprehensive as paid apps. That’s because paid apps come with more powerful features that greatly enhance the effectiveness of your ability to manage properties on your smartphone.
Here is our comparison between paid and free apps to help you better understand their differences.
Benefits & Advantages Of Free Property Maintenance Apps
Pros
- No charges.
- Getting started is easy.
- Access to basic features like creating work orders and maintenance requests.
Cons
- No access to advanced features that improve your efficiency.
- They aren’t as secure as paid apps.
- Customer support is limited.
4 Best Free Rental Property Maintenance Apps
Now let’s look at the best free rental property maintenance apps available today.
1. RentCheck
Price: Forever free plan for individual landlords. Paid plans (Pro and Enterprise).
Description: RentCheck is an intuitive, streamlined rental property inspection app trusted by property managers and owners to conduct move-in and move-out inspections. The mobile app lets users take photos, write notes, and quickly generate inspection reports.
RentCheck integrates with other property management tools like Rent Manager, Appfolio, Latchel, Zapier, and Lead Simple. With these integrations, you’ll have full access to tools that’ll help you to do the following:
- Automate your workflows
- Collect rent
- Create work orders
- Generate financial reports
- Communicate with residents
- Create and manage leases
- Track maintenance requests
- Screen potential residents
- Assist with compliance with local, state, and federal tenant laws and regulations
- Marketing which includes online listings
Who Is It Best For: RentCheck is for property managers and residents who want to simplify and save money and time when conducting rental property inspections.
Want to see independent reviews of RentCheck? Check out what users say on Trustpilot.
2. Innago
Price: Mostly Free (No Setup, Monthly, or Contract Fees)
Description: Innago is a property management software that allows you to manage all property types, including student housing, residential properties, and commercial housing. Thanks to its modest features, you can efficiently manage your properties without spending too much money.
Below is a list of Innago’s most prominent features.
- Collecting Rent: Innago eases the process of collecting rent from your residents through online payment options. However, they charge $2 per ACH payment, and you can expect a 2.99% charge on credit/ debit card payments. While your residents cover these online transaction fees, you can opt to cover these charges.
- Tenant Screening: Rental property managers can screen potential residents for their credit, criminal, and eviction history. Note Innago charges background check fees ($30-35), which your residents cover.
- Lease Management: Residents can sign their leases online. And property managers can create and manage leases, send reminders for lease renewals, and track lease expiration dates.
- Financial Reporting: Innago has a basic financial reporting feature showing rent collected and recording expenses.
- Resident Insurance: Renter’s insurance is provided to protect residents, owners, and property managers from future problems.
Who Is It Best For: Innago is best for owners and small property management companies that don’t want to spend money on property management software with more powerful features.
3. Avail (Part Of Realtor.com)
Price: Forever free plan. $7/unit paid plan.
Description: Avail is a cloud-based rental property maintenance software used by owners and property managers to care for their properties. Notably, Avail’s free plan includes an unlimited number of units. However, remember you’ll only have access to their most basic features. They include:
- Syndicated Listings: You can list your rentals on other sites like ApartmentList, Zumper, Realtor.com®, Apartments.com, and Doorsteps.com.
- Renter Screening: Provides customizable screening questions and potential renters’ credit, criminal, and eviction history. The cost for these screening reports is covered by either you or your resident.
- Payments: Residents can access direct deposit online payments (they’re charged $2.50 per bank transfer and a 3.5% processing fee for credit/debit card charges) and autogenerated rent payment receipts. You can also send your renters reminders and notifications to pay rent.
- Leasing: You can easily create and manage leases.
Who Is It Best For: Avail is best for property managers who want to save money while managing many units.
4. Stessa
Price: A forever free plan and a pro plan ($20/ month)
Description: Stessa is a property management tool mainly used by real estate investors and property managers to enhance the performance of their properties. However, Stessa’s property management features are even more limited than other tools on this list because Stessa is more focused on your finances than property management.
Below are the features you’ll access on Stessa’s free plan.
- Asset Management: You can easily track your properties, share info with your business partners, and store property documents and rent receipts. On the downside, you’ll only be able to manage and operate only one portfolio.
- Reporting and Taxes: You’ll have access to their basic reporting features and the ability to export data.
- Resident Screening: You can manage rental applications and criminal and credit checks.
- Online Rent Collection: You can collect rent and deposits online and send automated rent reminders.
Who Is It Best For: Stessa is best for real estate investors, owners, and property managers interested in a tool solely focusing on managing finances.
Use RentCheck To Manage Rental Property Maintenance
A free rental property management software is worth it when you need to service your immediate unique needs. However, these free plans have limited features and will only solve your problems partially.
That’s why if you want to use a tool that’ll help you save money and time, look at RentCheck.
With our integrations to powerful tools like Zapier, Rent Manager, Latchel, Lead Simple, and Appfolio, you’ll have access to property management software, work order creation tools, and inspection automation tools all on one platform.
So sign up for free now, and take your first step to set up a business that runs on autopilot.
