Landlords have to ensure that their rental properties are safe and in good living conditions, but their responsibilities stretch far beyond the physical state of the property itself.
As a property owner, you also have to manage and safely keep your tenants’ security deposits, and having a separate bank account for rental property payments helps simplify this responsibility.
While not all states require landlords to use separate bank accounts for their property rental funds, this common practice brings excellent benefits.
In this article, we’ll share eight benefits of using separate bank accounts for your rental property business.
Overview of Cozy
Cozy rental management system attempts to streamline a landlord’s priorities. Here’s all you need to know about the rental property management software.
Cozy's features
Cozy software boasts several features that make it stand out as a top tool of choice for landlords.
One of the most popular Cozy features includes rent collection through recurring payments directly into the landlord’s account. There is also the option to access and export transaction history for record-keeping, property expenses tracking, rent estimates, and insurance. However, the financial features are limited to these functions.
With Cozy, tenants can apply for rentals online. Cozy provides application screening and verification through “soft inquiries” and background checks such as criminal and eviction reports for future tenants. Cozy allows for the customization of lease forms based on property location and the creation of lease documents with an option for digital signatures.
Once a tenant has moved in, Cozy manages tenant communications, including maintenance requests (with the option for uploading video and photographs) and maintenance tracking.
Pros and cons of using Cozy
As with all software, there are benefits and considerations to keep in mind. Let’s begin with the pros of using Cozy.
Pros
- Free to use
- Easy to use with a simple interface and intuitive search criteria
- Opportunity to place advertisements on several websites specializing in rental properties
- Easy, online rental collection
- Vast selection of apartments and listings
- Research comparables across a range of products
- Rent estimates available for future tenants
- Built-in option for renters insurance
Cons
- Landlords dislike that their renters see competitor units for rent while on Apartments.com
- Old and outdated UI/UX
- Challenging verification process
- Minimal pictures make it hard to get an accurate sense of the space
- The filter feature has room for improvements
- Rental Listing syndication is limited to the Apartments.com platform
- Limited exposure as Cozy only showcases the listing within their family of websites
- Not ideal for managing units for brokerage clients
- No integrated landlord banking
- Not available for commercial properties
- Customer support limited to email
- Not very user-friendly or intuitive for landlords and tenants
- Creating unnecessary competition for landlords when Apartments.com markets other rentals to tenants
- Additional fees charged for the majority of additional features
Pricing Plans for Cozy
Most of Cozy’s features are free for landlords, making the platform an accessible and affordable solution. However, certain features are available at an additional cost. For example, rent estimates and property analyses cost $19,99 each.
Other fee-based features include listing a home for rent, applying for a rental, premium listings, and paying the rent with a debit or credit card. Rent payments are free for tenants using ACH payments.
Overview of Innago
As a property management software, Innago offers good value for residential properties, commercial buildings, and student housing owners.
Innago's features
Innago offers several features that strive to make property management more streamlined and efficient.
Innago offers online rental payments and lease signing, with the option to use their available lease templates and custom tenant application tools. Property managers can post vacancies to various listing sites to boost a rental property and enjoy the ease of listing syndication.
Innago strives to simplify tenant management by offering tenant screening, including background checks for evictions and criminal records, automatic reminders and notifications about rent, and using the maintenance request tool.
Regarding financial features, Innago has expenses, reporting features, and renter’s insurance. The mobile app makes it easy to manage properties on the go. At the same time, the security and cloud features offer peace of mind concerning safety.
Pros and cons of using Innago
Highly rated among users, Innago property management software offers multiple benefits, such as the following.
Pros
- Subscription use without a binding contract
- Option to sign leases online
- Online payment processing
- Builder to create customized applications
- Effective screening to reduce tenant turnover
- Record of maintenance requests
- Excellent customer service
Cons
- The free plan is lacking in essential features
- Lack of accounting features such as financial reports and ledgers
- Slow loading at times
- A slight learning curve to using the interface (not great UI/UX)
- Opportunity for better integration with other software
- Tenants are required to pay the ACH fee
- Difficult to import and export data
- The mobile app is not as easy to use as the website
Pricing and plans available for Innago
Innago software is free, making finding tenants and collecting rent simple. Without a setup fee, monthly cost, or contract, tenants only pay for screenings and online rental payments (with the option for landlords to take over the cost).
Baselane vs. Cozy and Innago
Baselane is a superior solution for consolidating all property banking and finance needs into a centralized platform. The modern and easy-to-use design incorporates various features for landlords and renters. Baselane expands on Cozy and Innago’s features to simplify and streamline rental property finances.
Similar to Cozy and Innago, Baselane offers the following convenient features, all for free:
- Automatic online rent collection
- Powerful reporting and analytics
- Transparent insurance
- Rental price estimates
- Rental property indicator for evaluation
Going over and above these advantageous features, Baselane offers a range of financial management tools, including the option to get competitive loans and fast insurance — and more.
Scalability with landlord banking
Landlords can scale their rental business with insurance, loans, and lines of credit. Landlord banking simplifies finances, allowing multiple banking accounts per property, no account fees or minimum balances, and easily-organized accounts. It is the ultimate property financial software solution.
- No fees or minimum balances are required for your account
- Manage multiple banking accounts for each property and enjoy unlimited virtual accounts (like envelopes)
- Earn a high 4.25% APY interest on all deposits and receive up to 5% cashback
- Automatically categorize rent income transactions for easy tracking
Utilize Virtual Cards for spending control and automatic expense categorization
Accounting and Reporting
Baselane’s bookkeeping and reporting save hours of work each month with accurate and automated features. Landlords can keep all cash flow in a single place, tag transactions, streamline tax, and benefit from seamless bank integration.
- Seamlessly link Baselane with your external bank and financial accounts
- Access a centralized transaction ledger for comprehensive record-keeping
Effortlessly categorize transactions with just one click
- Upload receipts for easy expense tracking
Generate detailed reports, including Income and Expense reporting, Net Operating Income, Cash Flow, Schedule E, and more
Rent collection and financial protection
Baselane offers a security deposit account for landlords, which benefits both landlords and tenants. These accounts offer financial protection for landlords, allow landlords to recover losses, cover the cost of repairs, and offer peace of mind.
Tenants also benefit from using Baselane’s security deposit accounts, which offer financial protection for unexpected damages, cover repairs, and maintenance at the end of a lease agreement, and allow tenants to save money.
When managing rent collection, Baselane is:
- Compatible with all types of entities and properties
- Offers free online rent collection
- Option to edit leases and automatically charge late fees
- Generate customized invoices
- Track rent payments with a tracking system similar to Amazon shipment tracking
Whom to choose: Baselane vs Cozy vs Innago
When it comes to managing properties, landlords and tenants have their choice of property management software tools, including Cozy, Innago — and Baselane.
Baselane’s all-in-one platform offers banking, rent collection, full accounting, and more. The comprehensive software is easy to use, with a modern user interface and excellent customer support.
Interested in learning more? See Baselane’s demo and discover how easy it is to use!
