Rentec Direct Review, Pricing & Features

What is Rentec Direct?

Rentec Direct is a property management platform used by over 15,000 landlords to manage their properties. Typically, Rentec Direct is used to manage residential portfolios, but about 10% of customers use this platform for commercial properties. This solution includes several features to help optimize and automate a variety of essential tasks including automatic listing syndication, marketing websites, electronic leases, texting & emailing, and maintenance request tracking.

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Table of Contents

• What is Rentec Direct?
• Full Review
• Rentec Direct Pricing & Cost
• Rentec Direct Features
  • Property Marketing
  • Applicant Management
  • Resident Management
  • Rent Collections and Payments
  • Accounting
  • Reporting
• Rentec Direct Alternatives & Competitors
• Is Rentec Direct Right For You?

Full Review

Rentec Direct was co-founded in 2007 by Nathan Miller. Since then, Rentec Direct has grown to serve over 15,000 property managers nationwide.

Rentec Direct offers several features to help property managers automate tasks and increase operational efficiency. These features include automatic listing syndication, automated payment collection, electronic leases, and maintenance request tracking.

Overall, Rentec Direct is an affordable property management solution that includes the core set of features that helps landlords efficiently operate their business. We recommend Rentec Direct for price-conscious property managers responsible for small to medium sized residential portfolios.

Because Rentec Direct does not provide robust communication tools, it may not be the best option for property managers responsible for a large volume of properties. For those managing more than 150 units with access to bigger budgets, consider testing solutions like AppFolio and Buildium.

Rentec Direct Pricing & Cost

Rentec Direct pricing starts at $35 per month depending on the plan you select and your number of units. Rentec Direct does not charge setup fees or require long term contracts.

The table below shows the monthly cost per unit for Rentec Pro and Rentec PM.

Rentec Direct Features

Below, we'll discuss the key features of Rentec Direct, and how it can help you manage your properties. We include screenshots of the product to give you a sense of its design and layout.

Property Marketing

Rentec Direct helps you market your properties, so you can increase your occupancy rate. Rentec Direct’s property marketing features include custom property listings, automatic listing syndication, and marketing websites.

Custom Property Listings

You can create customizable listings for your rental properties in Rentec Direct. The information about your properties that you can store and distribute include:

Automatic Listing Syndication

Rentec Direct allows you to automatically post your rental listings on a variety of rental search websites. Here are some of the websites that Rentec Direct is partnered with:

Marketing Website

Rentec Direct provides you with a marketing website where you can list all of your rental properties. This is a useful resource to share with your prospective tenants, and applicants can apply for listings through the website.

Applicant Management

Rentec Direct helps you manage your applications and leads, so you can choose the best prospective tenant. Several features that Rentec Direct offers include customizable applications, tenant screening, and electronic leases.

Customizable Applications

With Rentec Direct, you can create custom online rental applications. The application template includes common sections such as contact & personal information, rental history, employment information, and references. You can also add customizable parameters to notify prospective tenants of credit score requirements and other criteria for residency. Applications submitted into your Rentec website or any partnered listing websites are automatically uploaded in the platform.

Tenant Screening

Rentec Direct includes a tenant screening service to help you choose the best applicant. You can require tenant screenings as part of your application. Rentec charges $15 for credit, criminal, and eviction checks, but offers cheaper screening packages for less exhaustive reports.

Electronic Leases

You can send and receive electronic leases through Rentec Direct. You can create lease templates with specified database fields to autofill tenant information. Additionally, these leases can be electronically signed by tenants.

Resident Management

Rentec Direct includes several features to help property managers streamline their daily workflow and increase operational efficiency. Rentec Direct provides a summary module, online tenant portal, online owner portal, communication module, maintenance management tools, and a property inspection mobile app.

Summary Module

When you log into your Rentec Direct account, you will see a summary module that provides a snapshot of important information relevant to your properties. This module shows your occupancy rate, income and expense ratio, notices, vacancies, tenants with rent past due, and system updates.

Online Tenant Portal

Rentec Direct’s online tenant portal allows tenants to make payments, set up automatic recurring payments, view statements, and send maintenance requests. Tenants can access the portal through your marketing website.

Online Owner Portal

The online owner portal allows property owners to track the overall performance of their properties. This portal shows occupancy rates, cash flow, and notices. Additionally, owners can download statements and reports through this portal.

Communication Module

Rentec Direct allows you to text and email your tenants through its platform. You can generate custom templates with dynamic fields that autofill text. Additionally, this solution supports group messaging which is useful for announcements, notices, and newsletters.

Although Rentec Direct supports two-way texting, you can’t view a thread of all historical conversations with each tenant. This makes correspondence with your tenants more difficult and unorganized.

Maintenance Management

You can receive maintenance requests and assign work orders through Rentec Direct. When a work order is completed, Rentec Direct will automatically send your tenants an email notifying them that the work order is closed.

Property Inspections

Rentec Direct offers two-way integration with zInspector, a property inspection application. ZInspector offers a free plan, and charges $20 per month for one user and unlimited properties.

Rent Collections and Payments

Rentec Direct provides an electronic payment feature that allows you to receive payments online. Tenants can send payments by bank transfer, credit & debit card, or electronic cash payments. Also, they can set up recurring payment schedules in the online tenant portal.

Payments are deposited directly into your bank account, and you can link multiple accounts. You can link up to 1 bank account for free, and link up to 5 accounts if you manage more than 200 properties. Rentec charges $15 per additional bank account that you want to link to the platform.

Unfortunately, Rentec Direct does not allow you to pay vendors for maintenance work. Additionally, owners can not send payments to property managers through the platform.

Accounting

Rentec Direct provides several accounting features to help you manage your company's finances. Here is an overview of the accounting tools found in the platform.

Ledger

Rentec Direct provides easy-to-use ledgers to help you organize and track accounting details for property, tenant, bank account, and owner transactions. All ledgers in Rentec Direct are synced, and any edits to transactions will update all affiliated ledgers.

Bank Reconciliations

Rentec Direct allows you to quickly verify the transactions posted in the platform to match your bank statements. You can sync your bank account to Rentec Direct to accelerate this process, and help you find discrepancies faster. Additionally, Rentec Direct automatically archives the bank reconciliation reports into its database for future reference.

1099 eFilling

Rentec Direct helps you quickly complete your federal 1099-MISC forms. The 1099 tax assistant report provides relevant information you need for these forms, and you can submit them electronically through Rentec Direct. Also, Rentec Direct is integrated with Nelco Solutions, a tax reporting service that will print and mail tax forms for you. You will be billed separately if you choose to use Nelco Solutions’ service.

Reporting

Rentec Direct allows you to create a variety of reports, so you can quickly view and analyze key data. Here is a quick breakdown of the types of reports you can generate in Rentec Direct:

Financial reports:

Tenant reports:

Miscellaneous reports:

Rentec Direct Alternatives & Competitors

Rentec Direct competes with many other property management solutions that offer similar functionality. The best choice for you will depend on your budget, volume of properties, and feature preference.

Rentec Direct’s top competitors are:

Is Rentec Direct Right For You?

Rentec Direct is a popular property management platform used by over 15,000 landlords to manage their residential properties. The solution includes a variety of useful features including automated property listing syndication, marketing websites, electronic leases, text & email messaging, and maintenance request tracking.

If the cost of your monthly software subscription is paramount, you should strongly consider purchasing Rentec Direct. Rentec’s pricing is a fraction of their biggest competitors, AppFolio and Buildium. However, its user interface and marketing websites look dated, and does not include robust communication and payment tools.

If you're interested, you can start your free trial of Rentec Direct today.