Full Guide to Property Management Software

Full Guide to Property Management Software

When we started creating Baselane, we connected with over 600 landlords like you to get a better understanding of what they needed from property management software that they couldn’t already find.

What we learned is that landlords often struggle with their finances. They have trouble getting the data they need to make good decisions, and they’re not getting the maximum possible return from their investments.

If this sounds like you, you’re not alone. That’s why we set out to create rental property management software for independent landlords that saves time, gives better data, and helps landlords get better returns from their rental properties.

Let’s take a look at how rental property management software can help you solve some of your biggest problems as a landlord.

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What is Rental Property Management Software?

Rental property management software aims to bring all the tools a landlord needs to manage their rental property finances into a single, unified dashboard. Rather than using multiple solutions to do things like collect rent, track expenses and run reports, landlords can use software designed with their unique needs in mind. Using this tool can help landlords and property owners stop worrying about multiple logins and manual spreadsheets.

We wanted to create an all-in-one property management tool that would cover everything an independent landlord would need to manage their finances.

Baselane is rental property management software that brings together all of your rental property finances in one place. Baselane seamlessly integrates landlord banking, bookkeeping, online rent collection, analytics, and more. It’s built specifically for independent landlords and has the power to automate some of your most time costly tasks.

The majority of the landlords we spoke with told us they’re using a collection of different tools to manage their finances and collect rent.

On average, independent landlords use four to six different solutions to manage their finances, and most of those solutions aren’t built for landlords. The landlords we spoke with told us that trying to stitch together multiple different solutions took a lot of manual work and was extremely inefficient.

How Can Property Management Software Help Improve Your Rental Business?

No matter what kind of landlord you are, rental property management software can help you improve your rental business. It can bring your finances together in one place and automate those annoying tasks that take up way too much of your time.

How Can Property Management Software Help Casual Landlords?

Casual landlords might have one or two rental units. It could be a basement apartment in a house that you own or a condo you’ve moved out of but wanted to keep. Managing a rental property might be something you do by necessity, a side project to grow your wealth, or even a hobby.

If you’re a casual landlord, you might find your rental property finances to be particularly challenging. It can be difficult to keep your rental and personal finances separate. You might not be tracking all your expenses and deduct as much as you can at tax time. You might also be unsure about the best way to collect rent and how much to charge.

If this sounds like you, property management software can help you get a much clearer view of your rental property finances. Using Baselane, you can open a separate bank account for your rental property and stay organized with sub-accounts and virtual payment cards. You can use our free tool to automate rent collection. And while you’re at it, you can automate your rental property bookkeeping.

How Can Property Management Software Help Multi-Unit Landlords?

Multi-unit landlords have more property types and run them more like a business. You might have invested in a small building with four or five units. Or, perhaps you’ve bought a number of rental properties in different cities. You could also have grown your portfolio by renting out homes instead of selling them after you’ve moved out.

As a landlord with multiple units, your rental property finances are getting more complex. You could have difficulty getting good information about how each of your properties is performing as well as the performance of your portfolio as a whole. You might be missing out on opportunities to improve your performance by optimizing your mortgages, loans, and insurance. And you can probably benefit from better data as you seek to continue expanding your portfolio.

Rental property management software is valuable for independent landlords with multiple units because it allows you to get the information you need about your portfolio quickly and easily.

Baselane keeps all your rental property finances in one place. Its automation features keep things up to date with real-time insights, providing a much clearer understanding of your portfolio’s performance.

Baselane’s AI-powered marketplace will help you stay connected with the best rates for mortgages, loans, and insurance. And of course, you’ll save tons of time reconciling accounts across all your properties.

How can property management software help active portfolio investors?

As an active investor, you’re serious about growing your wealth through real estate. You might have a dozen or more properties, partners and investors, and serious ambitions for growth.

When you’re actively building a real estate portfolio, the ability to scale quickly is key. You need performance information in real-time so you can jump on opportunities when they come up.

You need the ability to coordinate with your partners and investors and keep them updated on their returns. You also need to be able to add new properties to your portfolio without spending a lot of time opening up new books and bank accounts.

Rental property management software can help you continue to grow your portfolio as an active investor by providing you with better data and automating many of the manual and distracting tasks.

Baselane simplifies banking by allowing you to create sub-accounts and virtual payment cards with a single click. Its bookkeeping features automate your expense tracking and account settlement.

With all your rental property finances together, you’ll have better control over your cash flow, insights into your expenses, and property metrics in real-time. It also includes core real estate metrics like net operating income, capitalization rates, returns on equity, and cash-on-cash returns.

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Why Should You Use Property Management Software?

No matter what your rental property business looks like, property management software can save you time, give you a better understanding of your business, help you make better decisions, and save you money. All independent landlords who use Baselane can benefit from:

A single platform for all your property banking and finances

With Baselane, you have everything you need to manage your rental property business in one place. You can forget about spreadsheets, and you can forget about copying information across half a dozen different platforms.

Better banking

There are few things more painful in life than going to the bank. Baselane has reimagined banking for landlords with no fees, high yields on all balances*, and unlimited debit cards with 1% cashback†. You can easily open dedicated accounts for each property you own, and all your deposits are protected.

Bookkeeping made easy

Baselane makes it really easy to track all your rental property transactions. It integrates with all your relevant bank accounts and credit cards, allows you to manually or automatically categorize expenses and helps you maximize your tax refund with Schedule E deductions. You can also keep track of forms and documents such as mortgage documents, leases and work orders

Smart insights

No matter how many units you own, you need to be able to control your cash flow, manage your expenses and understand how your properties are performing. By combining your banking and bookkeeping, Baselane can give you real-time information about your rental property finances so you’ll always know where you stand.

Automated rent collection

Collecting rent can be one of the most frustrating parts of being an independent landlord. Baselane automates rent collection by giving tenants control over how they pay. Baselane also sends timely reminders and notifies tenants when payments are overdue. Payments arrive in your account faster and with less effort.

Mortgage and insurance marketplace powered by AI

As an independent landlord, it’s critical that you don’t overspend on your mortgages and insurance. Our landlord marketplace helps you ensure that you always have access to the best offers on financial products.

Which Property Management Software is the Best?

We created Baselane because we didn’t see a property management software solution in the market that met all the needs of independent landlords. Our service combines banking, high yield savings, rent collection, bookkeeping, market data, performance analytics, mortgages, insurance and much more in a single online platform for landlords and real estate investors. While there are other products out there that cover each of those things individually, many of them are missing solutions that are specific to the needs of landlords.

Plus, unlike most of the companies offering property management software, we offer our core services completely free for landlords with no hidden fees. There’s no need for a free trial, since this software is completely free to use.

Final Thoughts: Property Management Software

There are more than 11-million independent landlords in the United States, owning around 20% of the national housing supply. But when we spoke with landlords like you, they told us there was no property management software that met their needs.

Instead, they wrestled with half a dozen or more different tools and tried to make them work together, often leaving a property vacant. They spent hours working in spreadsheets trying to sort out their transactions. And they struggled to get the data they needed about their own businesses in order to thrive.

And so, we created Baselane, an all-in-one financial platform for landlords and real estate investors. With our property management software, you can open bank accounts for your rental properties with the click of a button.

You can keep your expenses and transactions organized with our people-keeping tool that will save you time and help you maximize your tax refunds.

You can put rent collection on autopilot and stop chasing your tenants for their check every month. And you can get the insights you need to manage your property finances in real-time.

If you haven’t started using rental property management software yet, now is the time. Independent landlords like you can save time, save money, and grow your business in real estate management by using Baselane.

FAQs

What is rental property management software?

Rental property management software brings everything you need to manage your rental property together within a single, accessible platform. Instead of using an assortment of different tools and trying to make them work together, you can keep everything in one place with one login. Baselane incorporates landlord banking, bookkeeping, rent collection, and analytics, automates manual tasks, and makes your job as a landlord easier.

Do I really need property management software if I only rent out one unit?

Whether you have one rental unit or 100, it's technically possible to manage your rental properties without software. But it requires a lot of manual work, takes up a lot of time, and leaves you on your own when it comes to getting information and maximizing your tax refund.

Even if you only rent out a single unit, property management software can help you save time. It makes keeping track of your expenses easier and helps you make sure you don't pay any more tax than you have to.

How can property management software save me time?

If you're like most independent landlords, you're using somewhere around 5 or 6 different tools to manage your rental properties that each need to be updated manually and don't talk to each other.

That inefficient setup can make basic bookkeeping tasks like recording your expenses and reconciling your accounts difficult and time consuming. Property management software replaces all the different tools you use now and seamlessly integrates them together.

When your bank account is linked with your books, your expenses are automatically tagged and sorted. Your rent payments are collected automatically from tenant credit cards, debit cards, or bank transfers. You can also get real-time reports with a single click, which can save you hours each month to put that time toward things you actually want to be doing.

In this article:
Rent Collection without the Stress
  • Easy to set up and free to use
  • Fast payments
  • Automated reminders and late fees
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Financial Technology, Real Estate Investing, and Property Management, Accounting and Tax, Finance
Saad started his career as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) working for a top-tier accounting firm. He was responsible for helping audit alternative investment funds. He later worked at a hedge fund where he was responsible for preparing financial statements and implementing new technology. He also ran a successful private tax practice for five years.

After completing his MBA at Duke, Saad joined The Boston Consulting Group to do management consulting. At BCG his experience spanned several industries and growth projects across Pharma, Retail, and Technology companies. His passion for democratizing finances led him to Plaid, a fintech, where he worked with large Banks and Financial Institutions to make finances and money easier for all.
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Full Guide to Property Management Software
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Full Guide to Property Management Software