Rentec Direct

Come for the website capabilities, stay for the value

Pros:

I switched to this software from another, $10/month cheaper software. Rentec's software is really easy to use. You don't need accounting or business knowledge to operate this software. It is really easy to use. I switched to Rentec so I could have my listings automatically populate on my website (tired of manually entering them on website by Wix). Tenants can also apply electronically from website, and log in to view their tenant or owners portal. The features for the tenants are quite nice, and make my company look professional and modern. The accounting features are great, and paying property owners is a breeze. I had little accounting knowledge when I migrated to this property, and everything makes sense. The auto syndication features are amazing, straight to Zillow and its affiliates overnight.

Cons:

I have to be honest, I'm complaining about a free feature, but my least favorite part of the software is the website in which I migrated to Rentec for. If I try to edit my website and add items that are not on the template, my website has major HTML coding issues and will not publish properly. The visual appearance of my website thru Rentec is subpar considering what I had before. That said, I could not get the functionality I needed from my old website, and I will sacrifice appearance for functionality. I actually learned HTML coding so I could add a contact us field on my website, but I couldn't save the website with HTML coding. Another item I dislike, although it's more a feature I don't use as opposed to an issue with Rentec, is there are so many redundancies when it comes to the tenant. I plug in their email and name, and that should be all for my purposes. But I have to manually go in and authorize them to receive emails from me. And then authorize them access to the tenants portal. And authorize them to make partial payments, and so on.

Clearly software made for and by users!

Comments: Amazing. Simply amazing. Their customer support is the best. Took me 20min on the phone and I knew this was it. I’ve used many of the other “big names” in PM software. Good luck getting support from them. I have my guy who I schedule sessions with as needed, but their online chat people are just as good. Never have I heard “I don’t know how to do that, let me find out for you.” With other softwares that was the answer to every other question.

Pros:

The software is very intuitive and has many features I wasn’t even looking for in software but couldn’t imagine living without now. I’m looming at you Mr “text from the system” feature! As far as the things I actually knew I needed, it had all of that at a price that was great. In fact, I run a property management company as well as my own rentals that must remain separate. I have two subscriptions to Rentec now, one for each!

Cons:

while the website has a great mobile friendly option, it would be easier for my team and I if you had an app. The portal and owner apps are great, just get us a good managers app to complete the trifecta.

good for the money. A good starter software

Comments: It's mixed. I think it is a good product but sometimes it feels like they fired their engineer who built it and the people left dont know how to fix major problems.

Pros:

The price is good and it works....just not smoothly. It is like working on an AS400 from the 90's

Cons:

For years I was promised fixes, now they have rolled out a new version that has it own set of glitches on top of the old ones. Support is always delayed, phone is never answered. (In five years no one has ever answered the phone) You have to text or email, response time can be an hour to a day. Sometimes i feel like they dont here my issue and send responses based on keywords they heard

Great value

Comments: Overall, this is a really great program. Cost is low, customer service is responsive, and there are a lot of capabilities. So far, it seems they continue to add new features and improve, which is a great sign for future growth. I would definitely recommend them, and I'm happy so far.

Pros:

Easy to set up and pretty easy to use. Most likely, the confusion sometimes has more to do with my accounting abilities than the software itself. Customer service is very quick to respond, which is great, although not the friendliest. They seem to work to continue improving, which is important. They recently added a co-renter option for portal access, which is fantastic, and I'm so happy they added that. We have only had the service a month or two, but so far, we are pleased.

Cons:

Like I said, customer service is responsive and quick, but not the friendliest, but they get the job done & that's most important. I feel like there are some functionalities that I feel would be pretty standard, yet Rentec doesn't have the feature. For instance, you have to do a work around for multiple property owners, but it doesn't really help much. Reporting functionality is lacking. There are a good bit of reports, but some that should be standard are not available. I also do not like the way ACH is reported, because you have to do a little digging to find out if payments went through or just trust it's working. However, technology, as we know, does not always work properly, and I hate to just leave it to chance. Although, this is probably more of an issue with Forte, who processes the payments, than Rentec. However, Rentec did partner with this company, so it's basically lumped in together.

Simple and Easy

Comments: If it wasn't so much work and if payments from tenants processed quicker, I would switch back. I preferred the ease and simplicity of Rentec over AppFolio which I am using now.

Pros:

Very user friendly No learning curve Reports are easy to read Information is formatted in a way that most would understand Price is great and this is good for those with only a couple rentals or if you have 100's

Cons:

When I used this product, it didn't offer all the bells and whistles that others did like an app for your phone The ACH process was too slow when I used it and it could take too many days to get money and send money

Save yourself. Try anything else.

Comments: I would rather stick something sharp in my eye.

Pros:

The last version was half way decent. New version was convincingly bad and didn't solve any of the old issues.

Cons:

Everything since the "update". They improved on WORSE.

Perfect for beginers

Comments: I would recommend this to anyone with less than 100 properties.

Pros:

We used this product for a few years when our property management company was just starting to grow. It was great in the beginning because it got everything out of excel and quick books and onto a property-oriented platform. The reports were excellent. The program was extremely user-friendly.

Cons:

We ended up changing to another program when we grew out of Rentec Direct. The program only allowed you to deposit ACH payments into one account and that was an issue for us.

Awesome help

Pros:

This software is very easy to use, and it offers all that I need to make managing our properties easy. The customer service and tech support is amazing. The support team has been very helpful several times in guiding me through some of the technical aspects of the software that have made things run more efficiently for our daily flow. I felt very capable of using this software after having the training provided over the phone.

Cons:

There are a couple of things that I would like to see Rentec Direct offer in the future. However, I love how it has a suggestion area which lets me know that some improvements or upgrades are in the works or are being considered.

Great program! Needs some work but all in all a great program!

Comments: Some of the things that need work are:
Docusign - it needs to be where we can assign signature fields for the tenant so they know where to sign.
Reconciling - It needs to be a little less confusing when reconciling the ACH transactions. it would also be better if you could sort out the transactions by check number/ACH or by date.
Scrolling - when you go into a tenants account to make changes the page scrolls back to the top when you come out. It needs to stay where you went into the tenants account so that if you are making multiple changes in an account you dont have to search for it again when you make the first change.
Owner disbursements - It would be great if the program would automatically send an email to the owners when an owner disbursement is made.

Pros:

It makes life a lot easier in the rental managing world. This program helps keep up with tenant payments and owner disbursements.

Blows our old platform away !

Comments: Overall positive, still needs a little tweaking.

Pros:

Built in marketing tools (website). Right-priced screening tools. Accounting features.

Cons:

1. Asking someone to "Apply now" (from just the pictures) is a bit intimidating for many prospective tenants. There should be button for "request more information, and maybe "for a faster response answer these questions". Basically looking to have them fill out a brief questionnaire before actually applying with social security numbers, kids names, etc. So for now I'm using the "apply now" button as a questionnaire, and still have tenants completing paper (full) applications (after viewing property). Would love to be able to do BOTH online. 2. It was not immediately clear that we needed to set a fee for credit cards. In our first month a bunch of tenants saw no fee for the credit card, so we got charged a bunch of fees we did not intend to pay! 3. In addition to rentals, we do some fix/flips and some fix to hold. It would be awesome if there was a way to track ONLY capital expenses for a property

Rentec Direct Review

Comments: Love this software for small companies just starting out! So far I believe we selected the right software.

Pros:

Ease of use and allows us to do every thing we need to manage our properties effectively from rent collection, maintenance, application validation, marketing, reporting and more! The customer service is excellent!

Cons:

The right click to get to menu items was tough without a mouse but now it is seamless.

Rep has been a great help

Comments: Rep has been over the top helpful
I have call several times trying to set up a Merchant account and each time I talked to her, she has patiently walked me through it, even when I have been annoyingly slow to understand.

Pros:

Great customer service and easy to use. Plus many services at a cost effective price. Very good reports

Cons:

Not easy to call. Have to wait for call back, not always convenient. I would also like more freedom to be able to custmize reports

Not very user friendly software

Comments: I have recommended this software to someone, but that was before I found Buildium.

Pros:

Colorful buttons lead you along. Lots of options to enter contact information, ie address, phone number and email. Nice to be able to email work orders directly to the vendors.

Cons:

Really have to think about how to get back to where you were before and just getting around in general does not flow well.

Almost all inclusive

Comments: Quick attention when I needed assistance.

Pros:

I like that navigation is by way of drop down windows. This easy for me since it is like other software I use.

Cons:

When linking the inspection app, z inspector, I found out that they are going to charge me monthly fees. I wish this function was part of your system.

Rentec Review

Comments: Very Good

Pros:

Basically most everything. Software is great and very comprehensive. The support is very good as well.

Cons:

The only thing I have run into that has been an issue is that when I generate a report, then select to send that report via the email icon to an email address, I do not have any record showing I sent that to the address. No copy of that email anywhere in Rentec. I can check a box to copy the mail to myself when I send it, but when I get it, it does not show it sent to the other email address, just to me. Rentec support suggested I send the copy of the report out of my own mail account so I have the record. I can do that, but it is more time consuming. Not a big deal, but just wanted to give you the feedback.

A much welcomed relief!

Comments: This is a fabulous program. It has simplified our property management bookkeeping and reporting soo much and saved us so much time. Now, I only wish you had a General Real Estate Back Office product that would pull data from our MLS and push it up to our franchise! We are in need of a new product. Using Broker Wolf right now and it is horrible! The reports are miserable!

Pros:

Simplicity, detailed, client friendly reports and the best customer support I have ever received from any provider.

Cons:

Reserve accounts. These were quite difficult for us to get set up at first. We are in good shape now thanks to the customer rep who patiently worked us through the setup. I would like to see, however, a part of the program for reserves that would be automatic so that my staff would not have to make modifications to the reserve amount monthly. For example, I may need $ a year in a reserve account for landlord but I do not take that money up front, I take a little each month. As I understand, it the system is set up to keep that amount from the landlord and I would not be able to pay anything until that is met so my staff puts an amount into the reserve that we take out monthly and then must adjust that amount every month. I would like it to be an automatic adjustment so that there is a total goal but the system knows to take only a little each month.

Easy Peasy

Comments: My experience has been super positive. Our management was on the money when they told us that this software would be the easiest thing to use.

Pros:

I like the ease of use of the software. The set up was smooth. Very detailed instructions for each feature of the software and website. Cant beat it for the price. Not a lot of setup fees and all that stuff. The customer service is outstanding, very responsive.

Cons:

The setup of automated emails and their template. I am sure its me but that's the only con I found. No round the clock customer service access.

Great product easy to use

Comments: Overall it’s a great product that definitely makes managing properties much easier.

Pros:

The product has a lot of cool features such as allowing me to create a website through the software.

Cons:

You can’t pull a profit and loss statement from the software or a comprehensive accounting statement that I can give to my accountant

Great Product

Comments: I love using this software to manage our properties. Super intuitive and quite robust. They seem to be constantly adding features too! I especially like the tenant portal and automatic reminder notices. Credit card and ACH processing is very convenient for tenants which helps keeps things current. The customer support is fabulous. They are extremely knowledgeable and always quick to respond to questions. I especially love that the software is in the cloud, so support can look up our account in real time, and fix any issues.

Pros:

Super easy to use. lots of tools to communicate directly with tenants. Reporting is great.

Cons:

I wish there was easier mobile access. It's a little hard to use the messaging feature on a phone. It would be great if there was a way to add additional email addresses and mobile phone numbers so I could communicate with multiple tenants within the same unit.

Rentec Direct

Pros:

Rentec Direct is incredibly affordable compared to other property management software out there. They are very responsive when I need help with something. They are easy to work with and I've been working with Kathryn on an issue I'm having with accounting and she has spent extra time with me that she shouldn't have to. She is great and Rentec is lucky to have her.

Cons:

The accounting is at times cumbersome to wade through the reports and find what I'm actually looking for.

Time consuming & geared for others

Comments: I was really hoping for more. I am somewhat satisfied so far, but the software could use updates more rapidly than the current course for its age. The people are very friendly & helpful, but the software is what it is.

Pros:

Everything in one place (almost) Landlord & Tenant portals Easy to share info with other coworkers Summary page is the best thing going!

Cons:

Hard to master Accounting can be confusing No budgeting available Not cost effective to sign up multiple bank accounts if you run multiple clients with single family homes separately Some items don't make sense - i.e. property manager info has to be associated with marketing, rather than a general inquiry line, which we use for all properties, regardless of manager Finding the right page can take a few clicks sometimes

Great experience for a new property management company

Pros:

Customer support is awesome! Hours that the customer service folks are available and their knowledge makes learning the ins and outs easy.

Cons:

Look of the platform is a bit dated, and not as easy to use on mobile device. The accounting portion with tenant deposits was a challenge when trying to edit after a bank fee and tenant error

It just works!

Pros:

Easy to navigate; fairly intuitive; has depth; can be up and running quickly; vendor is active in keeping product current and adding features; customer service dept is responsive via email.

Cons:

Product seems geared more toward housing rentals than commercial rentals--I have to get creative when entering tenant info to get them to show up properly on the summary and deposit screens.

Rentec Direct makes excellent software for managing properties.

Comments: Thanks!

Pros:

I like the a person can change their level of use based on their needs. I was managing my own properties and using the more expensive version. Then I got a property manager and no longer need as much. I was able to downgrade without losing my data. Chances are I will be back managing my properties again it will already be set up and waiting for me.

No descritive repots

Pros:

Rolling rent calculations are easily understood. Putting in owner expenses is relatively easy. As well as charge backs to the tenants.

Cons:

Owner reports are not descriptive enough. Online portal takes too long to process and receive funds into our account.