How Can a Landlord Use Rental Software?

With changes in the real estate market, many homeowners are choosing to take up a second job as a landlord in order to save a home from foreclosure. Being a landlord requires learning local and state rental guidelines and landlord / tenant laws. There is also a large amount of paperwork that needs to be kept including applications, releases and monthly rent payment statements. Rental software makes handling the move from homeowner to landlord a bit easier. When choosing rental software, there are two distinct choices - commercial and personal.

Commercial Quality Rental Software

Commercial rental software is available for businesses or people who operate several rental properties at one time. Typically, this style of software is used by real estate agencies that work with clients to manage properties. A landlord program keeps tracks of income, outgoing maintenance costs, profit, loss and tax deductible expenses for the property owner.

One Software Covers All Personal Finance Needs

Personal finance landlord programs are better suited for the homeowner who chooses to rent out one or two properties for a bit of extra income. This software offers the same benefits of commercial rental software, but it can typically integrate personal finances into rental finances for a complete financial outlook. Receipts can be printed from commercial rental software, in most cases, to send out to renters with every payment.

Image Capturing for Increased Security

In addition to dedicated software for rental properties, many landlords choose imaging software for documents exchanged between renters and landlord. These documents include background check documents, lease and receipts for monthly rent. Imaging software requires a flat-bed or roll scanner for use. Once documents are scanned, the image files are saved on a personal or business computer. Landlords should also use imaging software to keep images of checks used for monthly rent.

When using rental software for a business, it is important to keep personal finances and business finances separate. While some programs will mix the two together, there is still a fine line between files saved for the business side of things versus the personal side.

It is important to streamline business as much as possible when choosing rental software. Every communication, every signed document and every payment needs to be logged by date and kept on file. In addition to virtual images, paper or physical documents should also be kept. Rental software does not replaced a file cabinet and organization, it simply makes keeping track of income, finances, documents and potential tax deductions a bit easier for the commercial or personal landlord.