Real Estate & Rental Property Tracking

Stessa, Avail, TurboTenant, Hemlane, RentRedi, GnuCash + Beancount — the landlord-bookkeeping landscape (free first).

The small-landlord (1–10 units) bookkeeping landscape in 2026 has solid free hosted options (Stessa, Avail) plus the OSS bookkeeping stack (GnuCash, Beancount, Wave) for those who want self-host or full control. Larger portfolios outgrow these for AppFolio / Buildium / Yardi (paid). For the household real-estate context see Household Real Estate & Mortgage; for SMB-business accounting see Accounting & Bookkeeping; for freelance bookkeeping see Freelance Bookkeeping (Wave); for tax software see Free Tax Software; for plain-text accounting see Beancount + Fava; for desktop double-entry see GnuCash & Double-Entry; for the broader index see Self-Hosted Personal Apps; for amortization see Loan & Mortgage Amortization.

Free / cheap landlord SaaS (★)

★ Stessa — free; Roofstock-owned; the most-popular free landlord-bookkeeping app; auto-imports bank/CC, Schedule E export, CapEx tracking, rent-roll, performance dashboards. Best for: 1–20 units, owner-managed.
★ Avail (Realtor.com) — free + paid; landlord all-in-one (listings, applications, rent collection, lease, maintenance); paid premium for unlimited scheduled rent + faster ACH.
★ TurboTenant — free + paid; similar feature set; free tier covers most basics.
Innago — free; rent collection + applications + leases.
Apartments.com Rental Manager (CoStar) — free + paid; listings + tenant screening.
Zillow Rental Manager — free; listings-flavored.

★ GnuCash — free OSS desktop; set each property as a class / tag; full Schedule E export; depreciation schedule; manual but bulletproof.
★ Beancount + Fava — free OSS; plain-text; per-property accounts (Assets:Property:123Main, Income:Rent:123Main, Expenses:Property:123Main:*); great for engineer-landlords.
Akaunting — free OSS self-host; multi-currency; can model properties as projects.
Wave — free SaaS; works for small landlords; less built-for-rentals than Stessa but the bookkeeping is fine.
Firefly III — free OSS; tag-based property tracking; rules engine for rent income recurrence.
Manager — free desktop / paid cloud; double-entry.

★ Income: rent, late fees, application fees, pet fees, security-deposit interest if applicable.
★ Operating expenses: mortgage interest (the principal-vs-interest split — see Loan & Mortgage Amortization), property tax, insurance, HOA, repairs, maintenance, utilities, advertising, management fees, legal, supplies.
★ CapEx (capitalize, depreciate): roof, HVAC, appliances, water heater, flooring; 27.5-year straight-line for residential.
★ Depreciation: building basis (not land) over 27.5 years; reduces taxable income; recaptured at sale as 1250 gain (capped at 25%).
★ Section 199A QBI deduction: rentals can qualify (safe harbor: 250+ hrs/yr of rental services, separate books).
Vacancy + bad-debt losses — track for "true" cash-on-cash returns.

★ FreeTaxUSA — free federal + cheap state; handles Schedule E + depreciation cleanly. See Free Tax Software.
TurboTax Premier — paid; landlord-marketed.
H&R Block paid — paid.
Drake / Lacerte / UltraTax (paid pro) — for CPAs serving landlords.
★ Schedule E — one form per property; track separately throughout year.

★ TransUnion SmartMove — paid (~$25–40 per screen, often paid by applicant); credit + criminal + eviction.
Avail — paid screening (~$55, applicant-paid).
TurboTenant — paid screening, applicant-paid.
RentPrep — paid; manual-review option.
LeaseRunner — paid.

★ Avail / TurboTenant / Innago / Stessa — included; state-specific lease templates.
★ Documenso, OpenSign — free OSS; for the self-host-everything landlord. See Self-Hosted Document Signing.
DocuSign / Dropbox Sign / SignNow — paid SaaS.
Nolo state-specific landlord books — paid; lease templates + landlord-tenant law.

Stessa / Avail / TurboTenant maintenance modules — included.
Latchel, Lula — paid; fully outsourced maintenance coordination.
Self-host: a Snipe-IT-shape inventory tool for assets per property + a calendar for inspections.

★ Security-deposit holding rules — varies by state (separate trust account in some, non-comingled in others).
★ Eviction process — wildly state-variable; some states slow + tenant-favoring; others fast + landlord-favoring.
★ Rent control / stabilization — NYC, SF, LA, Portland (OR), MN, NJ, CA statewide AB-1482 — know your jurisdiction.
★ Local rental registration / inspection — many cities require annual registration / certificate of occupancy / lead-paint disclosure.
Section 8 / housing voucher acceptance — varies; some states/jurisdictions require acceptance.

Different bookkeeping shape — high turnover, cleaning, supplies, channel fees.
Hosty, Hospitable, Guesty for Hosts (formerly Smartbnb), iGMS — paid PMS for STRs.
Tax treatment — varies (Schedule E vs C); short-stay 7-day-average can trigger active-business rules.
Local STR rules — heavily restricted in many cities by 2026.
OSS: roomable, BookingHub — limited; STR self-host is thin.

Stessa, Avail (free tier), TurboTenant (free tier), Innago, Apartments.com Rental Manager, Zillow Rental Manager: free.
RentRedi, Hemlane, TenantCloud, DoorLoop, AppFolio, Buildium, Yardi, Rentec, Propertyware: paid.
GnuCash, Beancount + Fava, Akaunting, Firefly III, Documenso, OpenSign: free OSS.
Wave, Manager (desktop): free.
TransUnion SmartMove, RentPrep, LeaseRunner: paid.