Deciding between Baselane vs. Avail for your landlord software?
Both platforms promise to simplify your life by automating tasks for rental property management. But how do they stack up against each other? And what’s the best property management software for you as a landlord?
In this article, we’ll delve into what Avail offers and compare it to Baselane’s all-in-one banking, rent collection, and bookkeeping platform.
Key Takeaways
- Baselane is the best property management software with all-in-one banking, rent collection, bookkeeping, and other property management tools. Avail focuses only on property management.
- Baselane offers premium features for free; Avail has free and paid plans ($9/unit).
- Baselane excels in banking and bookkeeping built for real estate investors and landlords.
Author's Take
As a landlord and investor with 20 units, I’ve tried over 10 rental property management software platforms, including Avail. I was constantly disappointed and let down by the lack of functionality and frictional user experience. I also struggled to juggle 8-10 tools and products just to manage my rentals. That’s why I decided to join Baselane and help build an all-in-one platform that actually saves investors time and money. Now, all my properties are managed on Baselane, and I do all my banking and bookkeeping there.
Baselane Overview
Trusted by over 40,000 landlords and real estate investors, Baselane is your one-stop shop for all things property management. Its all-in-one landlord software (which is free to use) integrates online rent collection, landlord banking, bookkeeping, and more—all in one place.
Baselane provides additional support for property management with lease agreements and security deposit accounts. Looking for rental property loans? Baselane has you covered there, too.
Baselane Key Features
- Robust banking platform with no monthly fees or minimum balances
- Unlimited banking accounts for each property, savings, security deposits, and more
- Physical and virtual debit cards with smart limits
- Online rent collection with fast payouts in just 2-5 days
- Automated invoices, rent reminders, and late fees
- Consolidated ledger for all your transactions
- One-click categorization for income and expenses
- Online maintenance requests
- Transparent and competitive insurance
- Free rental estimation tool
- Free rental property ROI calculator
Baselane Pricing
Baselane Pros and Cons
Pros
- All-in-one platform with banking, online rent collection, accounting, tax reporting, cash flow analytics, lease creation, tenant screening, insurance, and lending (plus more)
- Instant online account opening
- High-yield savings accounts for landlords
- 1% cash back3 rewards on debit card purchases
- Integration with different tools such as Quickbooks, TurboTax, etc.
- Unlimited cash flow and financial reports
- Ideal for both residential and commercial property management
- Offers rental property loan quotes in minutes
- Self-service rental property insurance directly through the platform
Cons
- No mobile app (coming soon)
- No feature for tenant communication (coming soon)
Avail Overview
Avail is another app for landlords and property managers that provides various features. The platform allows listing syndication on rental property sites, online rent collection, and basic income tracking. Additionally, Avail enables landlords to conduct credit and criminal screenings and generate state-specific leases.
Regarding financial transactions, tenants are responsible for application, screening, and payment fees. If you opt for Avail’s Unlimited Plan, each bank transfer will cost your tenants $2.50.
Avail offers a premium version (Unlimited Plus) for $9/unit per month, which includes next-day rent payments, waived ACH fees, custom applications, leases, and the ability to create a property website.
Although Avail property management software has recently launched some accounting tools, they’re very basic. For example, you cannot link a bank account to automatically import transactions, requiring you to manually input all your expenses. Avail also lacks banking features like security deposit accounts for landlords.
Avail Key Features
- Online rent payments
- Next-business day rent payments through FastPay (paid plan only)
- Maintenance requests
- State-specific lease templates
- Rent analysis report available at an additional cost ($19.99)
- Tenant screening available ($50 per screening, including credit, criminal, and eviction checks)
Avail Pricing
Avail Pros and Cons
Pros
- Free plan available with limited features
- Auto-generated payment receipts
- Can syndicate some listings (limited) to increase property visibility
- Maintenance request management
Cons
- Expensive for landlords with multiple units ($9/unit)
- Web interface is not user-friendly and dated
- Landlords can’t manually mark invoices as paid
- Doesn’t offer Quickbooks integration
- Payments are sometimes delayed
- Lack of how-to tutorials
- Some users reported lease generation is difficult
- High payment fees for tenants if the landlord is on a plan ($2.50 per bank transfer, 3.5% processing fee for debit and credit card payments)
- Can’t block partial rent payments
- No integrated banking
- Basic accounting functionality
- Can’t import transactions from external bank accounts or cards
- No Avail property management app
Avail vs. Baselane
| Baselane | Avail | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $0/month | $0-$9/unit per month |
| Banking | ||
| Unlimited Accounts Per Entity |
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| APY Interest | Up to [v="apyvalue"] APY2 |
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| Cash Back on Debit Cards | [v="cashback"]3 |
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| FDIC Insurance | [v="fdic_short"] via Thread Bank1 |
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| Virtual Cards & Spend Controls |
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| ACH, Wires & Mailed Checks |
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| Recurring Payments & Transfers |
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Final Thoughts: Baselane vs. Avail
After reading this Baselane vs. Avail comparison, it’s clear that both have a lot to offer. But Baselane gives you more bang for your buck (not that you’ll need any bucks) with its all-in-one free platform.
From landlord banking to hassle-free rent collection and simplified accounting, Baselane has you covered.
So why keep juggling bills, rent, and spreadsheets when Baselane can do everything for you? Say goodbye to stress and hello to easy property management—get started for today!
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