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RentRedi is a six-year-old software company with hundreds of thousands of units valued at nearly $10 billion.
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RentRedi is a property management software for small independent landlords.
Forums: browser; Mobile response
suitable bLandlords, property managers, investors
Top selling points:
- UX is very special for owner-operators
- Integrated application, tenant history checks
- Built-in rent payments
- Unit-by-unit reporting
- Low learning curve
High risk:
While the software is fully mobile responsive, I feel a full companion app could provide it with additional marketing benefits. However, this is a minor issue, and is likely the result of market feedback.
What you need to know
RentRedi is a six-year-old software company with hundreds of thousands of units valued at nearly $10 billion. It focuses on independent landlords — owner-operators — who make up the majority of rental property owners in the U.S., according to PropertyManagement.com. The software covers property management needs, maintenance, lease applications, tenant background checks, day-to-day operations, rent collection and lease monitoring.
This is the world I lived in when I last licensed it, so I’m embarrassed to be covering this product now. As a pocket of the industry, you won’t find a deeper collection of real estate wisdom than those who are successful in this segment. Because most of the women and men who own residential rentals are not only at the business end, but also at the ground level – literally. They know how to spread expenses, the cost of preventive maintenance, when to increase rents, how to choose tenants, how to retain tenants and when to buy and sell.
On a personal note, I’d like to add that independent landlords should be specifically excluded. And yes, there are some real dirtbags out there. But if it helps, most of the bad guys aren’t rich. Smart landlords know how to handle people and understand the role they play in the American housing industry. And software products like RentRedi are getting better at it.
The software allows the user to link separate bank accounts to different properties, link leases to individual tenants within a property, and receive, respond to and track maintenance requests for each unit, for overall control of each property. This gives the landlord a clear way to easily manage each maintenance and associated costs, making Excel or a notebook and pen a more challenging task for most private landlords.
I like that RentRedi breaks down tasks and maintenance in a customizable dashboard presented as a series of widgets that can be turned on or off depending on, for lack of a better word, the functionality of each. Tasks are mundane things at every property, such as air filtration or dropping an extra key, while maintenance checks active requests.
The same interface is where landlords can find incoming lease applications, which can be generated from advertisements on major rental portals that RentRedi facilitates for its users. The company has built proprietary lease application forms so they can be easily integrated into the system, allowing the software to easily link leases to tenants and facilitate automatic alerts for late payments and lease violations.
RentRedi comes with pre-qualification forms, background check workflow and signature module. Any form an applicant uploads using their phone camera will remain securely connected to that person for as long as they are a tenant.
Tenants can apply for a unit, track approval, and pay rent and application fees online using multiple electronic payment methods and in cash through Plaid Connect. All payments are tracked, and late alerts and payment amounts are easily managed. If your state has a limit on what you can charge, RentRedi will not allow you to override it. It also prevents you from receiving any kind of partial payment during the eviction process, which, as most landlords know, can cause some serious long-term headaches.
If a landlord gets to the point where they no longer want to deal with the physical aspects of their property, RentRedi connects with Proptech Latchell, who manages inquiries and coordinates tenant services for landlords.
RentRedi can access other team members such as maintenance specialists (each owner has a “roof guy”, “AC guy” and so on) and other members of the LLC. The admin function allows access to what is relevant to each group member.
In short, this is a great tool for any landlord who wants to modernize how they manage their investments. It’s different for the needs of mom-and-pop managers and motivated new investors. It has also partnered with BiggerPockets.com to provide educational resources for investors as well as BiggerPocket Pro members access to RentRedi on their dashboard.
It uses a third-party integration for accounting, and if you’re looking for more straightforward financial and banking functions, BaseLane is worth a look. However, it is very specific to single family rentals. On that note, RentRedi is a better tool for dealing with the sometimes unique nature of rental properties of varying sizes, like rented mom-at-home suites, basement entries, room 8s, and funky old triplexes that smell like cats and pickles. . And of course, standard residential buildings and so on.
No, it’s not always a glamorous way to make money, but I’ve made more millionaires in this market segment than in residential sales.
Have a tech product you want to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping several commercial real estate companies strengthen their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing by reviewing software and technology for Inman.
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