The best rental property management software on the market today helps investors to market vacant property, screen prospective tenants, sign leases, collect rent online, manage maintenance requests, and track and manage rental property finances.

Two of the best software systems for rental property owners are Stessa—a Roofstock company—and Cozy. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how each one works, the pros and cons of each, and the benefits of signing up for free accounts with both Stessa and Cozy.

Stessa overview

Stessa is a rental property financial management software designed by and for real estate investors to provide powerful tools . Investors use Stessa software to simplify tracking income and expenses, collect rent, publish vacancies, screen tenants, run personalized financial reports, store real estate documents online, and export tax-ready financials when tax season rolls around.

Now part of the Roofstock family, Stessa is used by tens of thousands of investors to track rental properties with a total asset value of over $60 billion. Stessa software can be used with SFRs, small multifamily properties, and short-term vacation rentals.

After signing up for a free Stessa account, investors can monitor rental property performance at the property and portfolio levels via the owner’s dashboard to make more informed decisions to optimize performance and boost potential returns.

Pricing

Stessa’s tiered pricing structure offers a variety of features for different budgets and needs:

Feature summary

• Monitor the performance of SFRs, small multifamily properties, and short-term vacation rentals.
• Automatically track income and expenses, including tenant rent receipts and vendor and mortgage payments.
• Use performance dashboards to report financial performance for individual properties and entire rental property portfolios.
• Review key financial metrics, including market value, net operating income, cap rate, cash flow, and return.
• 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.
• Perform tenant screening on Stessa through RentPrep and handle rental applications within the platform.
• Advertise your vacancies on a variety of websites for maximum exposure to high quality tenants.
• Get real estate balance sheet updates for assets and liabilities, including property values and outstanding mortgage balance, to provide a more accurate idea of owner equity.
• Generate financial reports in just one click, including income statements, net cash flow and capital expense reports, and rent rolls.
• Add additional users with different access levels to share performance data with partners or lenders.
• Securely organize and store important real estate documents in the cloud.
• Track expenses on the go with the Stessa iOS and Android smartphone apps.
• Make tax preparation a breeze with the Stessa Tax Center, which includes a personalized tax package, how-to articles and videos, free tax resources created in partnership with The Real Estate CPA, and an exclusive TurboTax discount for members of the Stessa Community.

Go here to create a free Stessa account.

Pros

There’s a lot to like about Stessa, beginning with the fact that the software has a robust free plan. Stessa can be used with SFRs, residential multifamily properties, and short-term vacation rentals. 

The cloud-based service can be accessed from anywhere at any time to monitor performance of individual properties and entire rental property portfolios via a comprehensive dashboard. 

Apps for iOS and Android allow investors to scan and upload invoices and receipts. Income and expenses are automatically synced from linked bank accounts. Financial reports can be generated in one click, and tax-ready financials can be exported for tax time.

As an added benefit, Stessa users enjoy up to 10x the national average interest rate on every dollar of Stessa Cash Management balances.*

Cons

While Stessa is an excellent solution for monitoring rental property finances, the software doesn’t currently provide features like receiving and coordinating maintenance requests.

Cozy overview

Cozy is free, cloud-based software that provides a full suite of property management tools to help investors manage rental properties from beginning to end. Owners and property managers can use Cozy to market rentals, screen tenants, sign leases, receive rent payments and deposits, and coordinate maintenance requests. 

Cozy recently joined Apartments.com, which lists and rents any type of residential property, including single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and units in a multifamily home. 

Vacant properties are advertised on some of the most popular rental listing websites to reach over 25 million prospective renters each month. Since its launch in 1992, Apartments.com has helped landlords and tenants get over 42 million leases signed.

Fee structure

Cozy property management tools on Apartments.com are free to use, including advertising a vacant property, screening tenants, and collecting rent payments online. 

Apartments.com makes money by offering advertisers extra exposure with premium listings and charging prospective tenants application, screening, and transaction fees.

Feature summary

• List vacant property on websites such as Apartments.com, ForRent.com, and Apartamentos.com to reach millions of qualified renters each month.
• Receive instant applications from prospective tenants online to eliminate time-consuming delays and reduce vacancy days.
• Screen applicants with comprehensive credit reports and criminal and eviction histories from TransUnion.
• Create a customized, state-compliant lease online and sign with electronic signatures.
• Collect rent payments, fees, and security deposits from tenants with debit and credit cards and ACH deposits paid directly into owner bank accounts.
• Store and share renter documents online, including move-in and move-out checklists, leases and addendums, and inspection reports.
• Track expenses per property, attach images and receipts, and export expenses in CSV or PDF formats to help with tax preparation.
• Create income statements showing expenses and rent payments, if payments are processed with Apartments.com.
• Receive online maintenance requests from tenants with attached photos and videos, coordinate maintenance requests with service providers, and update tenants on contractor visits and repair status.

Pros

Cozy and Apartments.com provide a full suite of property management tools to manage rental properties and tenants from beginning to end. 

Comprehensive rental solutions, such as tenant screening, lease generation, and online rent collection are free for landlords to use, although tenants may incur a small, competitive fee. Vacant rental units listed on the Apartments.com network reach millions of prospective renters each month, helping to generate more rental income from high occupancy rates.

Cons

There are plenty of advantages to using Cozy and Apartments.com, but the service doesn’t provide in-depth financial reporting or personalized recommendations to help investors maximize profits.

That’s why Stessa now supports data connections with popular property management platforms like Cozy.

Why investors integrate Stessa and Cozy

Cozy provides users with an all-in-one suite of property management tools to make the rental process easier from beginning to end. 

However, financial reporting on Cozy is limited to payments and an overdue balance report (only if the payments feature on Apartments.com is being used to collect rent), expenses, and income statements. While these reports are useful, they don’t provide the same detailed financial information or personalized recommendations that Stessa does.

Stessa takes rental property financial reporting to the next level to help investors grow and manage portfolios with confidence. 

The owner’s dashboard reports real-time performance at the portfolio and property levels, financial reports including income statements, net cash flow, and capital expense reports. The real estate balance sheet automatically updates assets and liabilities, such as current property value and outstanding mortgage balance, to report owner’s equity.

With Stessa, you get tenant screening and rental applications, automated accounting, real-time dashboards, eSigning capabilities, online rent payments, built-in tax support, and even a high-yield bank account for each property.

To learn more about Stessa, visit the website here. 

*Stessa is not a bank. Stessa is a financial technology company. Stessa Essentials is a free service. Stessa Pro is a paid monthly subscription service.  Terms and conditions, features and pricing are subject to change. This article, and the Stessa Blog in general, is intended for informational and educational purposes only, and is not investment, tax, financial planning, financial, legal, or real estate advice.