Buying investment properties is just stage one in becoming a successful landlord. Once you own multiple units, you’ll want to invest in landlord software that helps you manage everything from tenant applications to rent payments to maintenance requests under one roof. The best landlord software even includes accounting modules built in! Read about the best options for property management software in 2018 below.

AppFolio

AppFolio gives landlords access to real-time property information from your desktop, laptop, or mobile device. Manage anywhere from a single family property to multiple, large, multi-unit properties with one solution. This software is great for professional property managers looking to handle units for property owning clients or landlords who want to manage properties on their own.

AppFolio is packed with property marketing tools, maintenance management, lease management, and built in accounting software. Residential, commercial, HOAs, and student housing managers can do it all with AppFolio.

You can really do it all with AppFolio, but you’ll pay for it per property with per unit monthly pricing. Residential and student housing charges $1.25 per unit per month, commercial properties cost $1.50 per unit per month, and community associations charge $0.80 per unit per month. For additional fees, add on services including websites, insurance, tenant screening, call center support, verified leads, and even debt collections.

Learn more at AppFolio.

Buildium

Buildium is another top level property management software. It has features focused on leasing, operations, and accounting. The accounting features deserve a shout-out, as they are extensive and powerful.

Buildium includes built-in handling of online payments, generates company financials, and includes 1099 eFiling for tax season. View accounting reports by property, in groups of properties, and in total. You can enter manual payments, but hopefully the included online payment system means you won’t have to.

For operations, your renters can handle documents and maintenance requests through the online resident portal, which is where renters can enter online payments. Through partnerships with third party vendors, you can also handle property inspections and offer required renters insurance through Buildium as well. Once your new tenant is screened and signs their electronic lease, you won’t have much to do to keep them happy.

Pricing starts at $45 per month for one unit with core features and $150 for pro features. The price per unit declines quickly as you scale up and add more. Learn more at Buildium.

Sitelink

Not all property managers buy housing. For landlords that own storage units, Sitelink can handle it. Sitelink is a self-storage management software that allows you to manage tenants, payments, and get your empty units filled as quickly and easily as possible.

Renters can self-serve much of the experience through online reservations, payments, and rentals. View web reports on your computer, smartphone, or tablet for real-time rental and income information, exportable in PDF, Excel, and text formats. Manage one property or many from the same dashboard.

Sitelink does not offer public pricing information, which is a major downside. Learn more here.

Cozy

A newer entrant, Cozy aims to make property management software simple, easy, and accessible, and it is particularly attractive to smaller scale landlords with just a couple of properties to manage.

Cozy gives you all of the features you would expect in property management software. Landlords enjoy online rent collections, tenant screening, property listings, rental applications, a rent estimate tool, insurance, expense tracking, and maintenance management. Renters enjoy a custom profile, online rent payments, and easy renters insurance.

It doesn’t include the full accounting package you get with some of the more expensive, fuller featured software, but Cozy is free to sign up. Most features are free, thought tenant credit reports and background checks are paid by the applicant and rent estimates cost $19.99. You can’t beat the price of free!

Learn more at Cozy.

Property Matrix

Property Matrix is one of the most flexible property management software options on the market. Property Matrix includes accounting, zero cost payments, customizable fields and reports, document management, a tenant communications center, and websites and portals for both renters and owners.

While Property Matrix is flexible and includes industry leading features, it isn’t cheap. The standard plan runs $239 per month and the popular Ultimate plan costs $289 per month. Both plans are for up to 225 units. For larger property management needs, you’ll have to pay more or upgrade to a custom Enterprise plan.

Learn more at Property Matrix.

Don’t pick the wrong property management software

The property management software you choose is not as important as picking the right agent or the right rental property, but it is a major factor in your long-term success. The cost starts at free, but can easily increase into the hundreds of dollars per month. Just make sure you choose the right software, get what you pay for, and use it to turn your properties into a gold mine.

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