Rentec Direct vs Buildium: Price, Features & What’s Best in 2020

Rentec Direct and Buildium are both cloud-based property management platforms that help landlords and property managers conveniently organize and manage multiple rentals. Both programs are affordable, offer great value, integrate with banking and accounting programs, and provide access to multiple user accounts, streamlining property management in one convenient space.

When to Use Rentec Direct

Rentec Direct is an online property management software designed to support both landlords and property management companies managing multiple rental properties. It includes QuickBooks accounting integration, maintenance tracking with integrated mobile inspections, bank account reconciliation, wholesale priced tenant background screening, and e-leasing. With no hidden costs, Rentec Direct pricing starts at $35 a month and includes a free two-week trial. Use Rentec Direct if you want straightforward software with transparent, affordable pricing.

When to Use Buildium

Buildium supports property managers and landlords with any size portfolio whereas Rentec Direct has functionality issues when portfolios exceed 5,000 units. Buildium provides tenant background checks, multiple user accounts, listing syndication, online rent collection, and simple reporting. Buildium has the award-winning Buildium Academy to help landlords maximize the use of its software, which Rentec doesn’t offer. Pricing for Buildium starts at $47, and there’s a free 15-day trial with no credit card requirement. Choose Buildium for portfolios of any size and award-winning training.

Visit Buildium

When to Use Avail as an Alternative

If you’re a DIY landlord who manages only a small portfolio of residential properties, you might want to try Avail since it is more affordable than Rentec Direct and Buildium for small portfolios. Avail is a residential property management platform where you can advertise vacancies, screen tenants, collect rents, track maintenance, communicate with tenants, and find state-specific digital leases. Pricing for Avail begins at $10 a month, and the first unit is free.

Visit Avail

Rentec Direct vs Buildium at a Glance

*Based on averages of online reviews

How We Evaluated Rentec Direct vs Buildium

Property management companies and landlords with growing portfolios need state-of-the-art tools that integrate with online marketing platforms and bank accounts they use to operate and manage their rentals. Being able to manage staff, tenants, and vendors in one convenient location saves time, money, and hassles. Accessible customer support and software that is easy to use are among property managers and landlords must-haves.’

We compared Rentec Direct vs Buildium based on criteria including:

• Pricing: Transparent pricing and affordability when comparing product features
• Software integrations: Which software integrations are available and the value they provide to users
• Owner portal: For property management companies who want simplified interactions with property owners
• Tenant background screening: The affordability, accuracy, and depth of tenant background screening reports
• Online rent collection: Ease in collecting rent, payment processing fees, and length of time to receive rental income
• Management assignment: The ability to assign staff and managers and manage their workflow
• Customer support: The availability and quality of customer support, plus user tools, and resources
• Client reviews: How customers rate the software and its capabilities; how it impacts the management of their daily operations
• Ease of use: How intuitive and easy to use the software is, including navigation, multi-user access, and creating reports

When evaluating Rentec Direct vs Buildium, we found both online property management software to be exceptional. Both cloud-based platforms are affordable and provide the features landlords and property managers need to manage rental property successfully. We chose Rentec Direct over Buildium because it’s more affordable, has higher customer satisfaction ratings, and includes features at no extra cost that Buildium users pay for.

Rentec Direct vs Buildium: Pricing & Features

Rentec Direct and Buildium come with two package options and offer similar services. Both cloud-based software are reasonably priced with straightforward pricing. These online property management software are designed to work for both landlords and property management companies and include necessary tools for efficient management like tenant background screening, maintenance and vendor tracking, listing syndication, and accounting.

Rentec Direct Pricing & Features

When comparing Rentec Direct vs Buildium pricing, Rentec Direct is more cost-effective. Users can manage up to 10 units for $35 a month with its Pro package. For $5 more, users can upgrade to its Property Manager (PM) package. The next pricing tier, up to 25 units, increases by $10, at $45 for Pro and $50 for PM. With all the comparable features it includes, it is a better value than Buildium.

Rentec Direct Pro supports landlords while PM is designed for property management companies. However, the packages can be used by both property managers and landlords. Pro is a great option for startup property management companies but it doesn’t include the owner portal, which lets managers communicate with and pay owners through the system.

Rentec Direct Features

Rentec Direct has a lot of great features landlords and property managers can use to streamline their landlord responsibilities and duties. Users can communicate with contractors, track maintenance, send and pay invoices, and syndicate rental listings. For the price, Rentec Direct provides terrific value for property management companies and landlords.

Some additional Rentec Direct features include software integrations, owner portal, tenant screening, online rent collection, and management assignment.

Software Integrations

Contrasting Rentec Direct vs Buildium for software integrations, Rentec Direct offers more integrations than Buildium at no extra cost. Rentec Direct integrates with a variety of software systems that help landlords with their management operations, making it easy for users to collect electronic signatures, reconcile bank accounts, manage accounting, and syndicate their vacant listings on dozens of sites with a simple click.

Some Rentec Direct software integrations include:

• Listing syndication: Rentec Direct offers listing syndication on popular rental sites like Zillow, HotPads, Apartments.com, Doorsteps.com, Realtor.com, Trulia, and 14 other sites.
• Electronic signatures: Rentec Direct integrates with DocuSign so users can capture legally binding signatures on applications, leases, and other documents.
• Accounting software: Rentec Direct’s accounting software integrates with QuickBooks so users can import and export their financial data, create reports, and manage taxes.
• Bank reconciliation: Users can connect their bank accounts, and Rentec Direct will reconcile their banking. It also integrates with bank accounts for online payment processing.
• Property inspections: Rentec Direct integrates with zInspector at no additional charge so that users can manage rental property maintenance.
• Utility bill importing: The software is integrated with utility company billing so that users can control utility accounts.

Owner Portal

Rentec Direct PM includes an owner portal and owner automated clearing house (ACH) payments. An owner portal is a unique feature that allows property owners to see in real time all the property management firm’s activity in one convenient place. Property managers control which data to display and set the parameters. Owners cannot change data within the portal. However, Rentec Direct’s owners portal is not as robust or accessible as Buildium’s

.

Tenant Screening

Rentec Direct users can order county, state, and national criminal reports, inmate records, sex offender reports, national eviction reports, social security number validation including previous addresses, and bankruptcies, judgments, and liens reports. The wholesale pricing is the best we’ve seen, making Rentec Direct our top pick for tenant screening services.

Using Rentec’s system, landlords or property managers are charged $15 per month (billed annually). They receive one free Premium report each month ($15 value). Additional reports range from $7 per report for Basic screening, $10 per report for Enhanced screening, and $15 per report for the Premium background check. There is no setup fee, but there is a one-time $50 required site inspection fee for full tenant background reports. This is required by the credit bureaus to ensure a landlord is legit.

Online Rent Collection

Comparing Rentec Direct vs Buildium online rent collection, Rentec Direct is the clear winner. Rentec includes online payment processing in its Pro and PM packages at no charge. Most online property management software charge fees for online rent payments. Rentec’s credit card payment processing fee is 2.75%, compared to Buildium’s 2.95%. Online payment processing offers great convenience—with complete automation, no more chasing checks, and going to the bank to make deposits.

Management Assignment

Rentec Direct allows managers to set up unlimited user accounts and assign roles based on various permission levels. This is a valuable feature for property managers who want to organize workflows. Rentec has also recently added two new role assignments to its PM package—marketing management and maintenance management. Rentec increased functionality, so additional managers can be assigned to specific properties as property managers, marketing managers, or maintenance managers, performing the duties of those roles.

Buildium Pricing & Features

Buildium Core pricing begins at $47 a month for the first 20 units and is available for up to 150 units. Buildium Pro pricing begins at $156 a month for the first 50 units (Buildium recommends a minimum of 15 units for Pro). Core and Pro include popular software integrations like listing syndication, owner portals, basic and premium tenant screening packages, online banking, and unlimited user accounts.

This screenshot for the Buildium Core and Pro packages show which features are included in each option. In Buildium’s Core package, landlords are charged $5 per document for electronic leases. Basic tenant screening is $15, and there is a $99 fee for mobile property inspections, plus $65 a month. The Pro package includes mobile inspections, 30 leases per month, and premium tenant screening.

Buildium Core and Pro Pricing & Features

Buildium Features

Buildium has a lot of great features at reasonable prices. Property managers can communicate with owners, vendors, and tenants from any device. Buildium also includes a free professional website and listing syndication for advertising vacancies. Tenant-applicants can submit applications and fees for vacant units right from the listings, sign e-leases, and pay their rent from the tenant portal.

Some additional Buildium features include software integrations, owner portal, tenant screening, online rent collection, and management assignment.

Software Integrations

Buildium integrates with a few of the same programs as Rentec Direct, such as DocuSign, for capturing legally binding e-signatures, and popular sites for listing syndication like HotPads, Zillow, Craigslist, and Trulia. While Buildium’s accounting software is intuitive and provides users the accounting tools they need, we ranked Rentec Direct higher for software integrations due to its QuickBooks integration capabilities.

Buildium Craigslist Rental Listing

Owner Portal

Buildium offers owner portals in both its packages, giving it our vote over Rentec Direct for this feature. Owner portals allow property managers and owners to communicate and share rental property activities in real-time. Property managers can initiate payments to individual owners or pay all owners at once within the platform. Buildium automatically calculates the available balance for each property after expenses and property management fees are paid.

Buildium Owner Portal

Tenant Screening

Buildium offers basic tenant screening in its Core package for $15 per report and premium screening in the Pro package for $18 per report. Buildium basic screening reports pull a soft credit and take several days to receive and require no accreditation, but do require applicant approval. The premium report requires accreditation but doesn’t require applicant approval. It is a hard pull credit report and can be received in minutes.

Online Rent Collection

Buildium offers online rent collection with fees, making Rentec Direct’s free payment processing the winner for online rent collecting and payment processing. Online rent collection reduces the risk of unpaid rent, chasing payments, and ensures owners are paid on time. Online rent collection tools also allow users to collect fees. This table shows the fees you’ll pay with Buildium.

Management Assignment

Buildium allows managers to assign user roles. User roles provide access to reports and menus by staff members, owners, and vendors. Property managers can limit what users can view, delete, or edit based on their assigned role. Buildium provides several default user roles. If the needed role assignment is not one of the default options, managers can customize a role to fit their needs.

Rentec Direct vs Buildium: Ease of Use

Comparing Rentec Direct vs Buildium on how easy the software is to use places Rentec Direct in the lead again by a small margin. If you’re looking for easy-to-use property management software, you can’t go wrong with either of these programs. However, more users report that Buildium had a learning curve, whereas Rentec Direct users rave at its simplicity.

Rentec Direct Ease of Use

Rentec Direct is one of the easiest online property management software programs to learn and use. The different areas of the portal are easy to navigate, enter information, and perform the tasks users expect.

Some users reported that as their property management companies grew to dozens of employees managing hundreds of rentals, the software didn’t support them as well. The same reviewers said they hated to switch and considered switching back as Rentec Direct continues to improve its functionality.

Buildium Ease of Use

Buildium is an easy-to-use platform, but with a slight learning curve. A great feature of Buildium is the Buildium Academy, which helps users get up to speed on the software fast. Once users become familiar with the software, they report it as really easy to navigate and use. It has clean lines in each of its sections and menus are easy to find.

Rentec Direct vs Buildium: Customer Service

Comparing Rentec Direct vs Buildium customer support puts Rentec Direct is slightly superior in regard to customer service. The main factor in determining the value of customer support is how responsive, professional, and knowledgeable customer service staff are, their available hours, communication options, and which self-help tools and resources are available to users.

Rentec Direct Customer Service

Rentec Direct customers provided customer service reviews calling its customer service representatives by name, stating reps go over and above to help. Customers rave about Rentec Direct customer service and give it a 4.8 out of 5 rating. Live customer service is available Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time. Users can also send support requests via email. Rentec also offers onboarding support, training videos, and articles on the site.

Buildium Customer Service

Buildium users love its customer support and rate it a 4.5 out of 5. Some users complained that responsiveness was slow. However, most users stated that Buildium support staff works diligently at resolving customer issues. Buildium live customer support is available between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. Eastern time. Users can also submit a support ticket or via email.

Buildium offers self-help through its Knowledge Base – a comprehensive online resource―plus blogs, videos, webinars, articles, and Buildium Academy, a training program that receives rave reviews across the board.

Rentec Direct vs Buildium: Customer Reviews

Comparing Rentec Direct vs Buildium customer satisfaction reviews, Rentec Direct beats Buildium by a small margin. Rentec Direct received a 99% user satisfaction rating, and Buildium customers approval rating is 96% from online search results. Both software companies get rave reviews for customer support and ease of use.

Rentec Direct Customer Reviews

Rentec Direct online reviews reported that they appreciated the low cost, responsive customer service, and all the software’s capabilities. They like how the company continues to add new features. Most of the positive reviews rave about outstanding customer service and how easy the software is to use. Users complained that the software couldn’t support them as they added staff and started managing a portfolio of hundreds of units.

Buildium Customer Reviews

Buildium online reviews show fans who like that the software is easy to learn, teach to their staff, and use. They value the revenue and expense tracking capabilities, and that subcontractors can log their hours and itemize tasks for easy invoicing. They didn’t like that the software doesn’t integrate with their QuickBooks accounts, and report filtering was sometimes cumbersome.

Bottom Line

When evaluating Rentec Direct vs Buildium, we found both property management software programs to be excellent choices for landlords and property management firms. Although it was hard to choose, we picked Rentec Direct as our top pick due to its affordable pricing, multiple integrations, wholesale tenant screening reports, and phenomenal customer support.

If you’re a landlord who is managing a few properties or a property manager with a dedicated staff managing hundreds of properties, Rentec Direct includes the features you need to manage your operations efficiently. Packages start at $35, and there’s a two-week free trial.