Guides
How-to guides for landlords
Step-by-step guides on screening, lease writing, inspections, deposits, and fair housing. Written for landlords who handle it themselves.
Guides
19 guides-
TurboTenant vs Avail vs Innago: what each one costs you and your tenants
All three are free for the landlord to start. The differences are in what your tenants pay to pay rent and apply, and what you unlock by upgrading. Here is one table with every published number, checked on each vendor's own pages in October 2026. Guide -
When to move your rentals off a spreadsheet, and how to do it in 30 minutes
A spreadsheet runs a few rentals fine until one of five things happens. If one of them just did, here is how to clean the file and move a small portfolio into software in about half an hour. Guide -
How to switch property management software without losing data
Most data lost in a software switch is lost on the way out, not on the way in. Here is the order that keeps it: export everything, tie it to the bank, map the columns, import in sequence, count, and only then cancel the old account. Guide -
How long landlords should keep rental records
Tax records, screening files, leases, and deposit paperwork each run on a different clock. Here are the federal rules behind each one, a table you can keep by the filing cabinet, and what to do with a file once its time is up. Guide -
How to organize rental property records so you can find anything in a minute
A folder tree you can copy tonight, one file-naming rule that makes every folder sort itself, and a clear line between what belongs in your document files and what the bank already keeps for you. Guide -
Required lease disclosures, state by state
One disclosure is federal and applies to most housing built before 1978. The rest are state by state, and they are the paperwork most likely to be missing from a lease a landlord wrote themselves. Guide -
Late rent fee laws, state by state
Seven states with their late fee rules read from the statutes, the two things those rules set, and how to set a fee in a state that caps nothing without handing a tenant an argument. Guide -
Fair housing compliant tenant screening criteria
A screening decision is defensible when it was made the same way for everyone, and provable when it was written down first. Here is the one page of criteria to write before the next listing goes up, the criteria that quietly stand in for a protected class, and the record that shows what you did. Guide -
The landlord tax season checklist: Schedule E, depreciation, and what gets missed
Five steps that turn a shoebox year into a filed return: closing the books, deciding who gets a 1099, sorting the year onto Schedule E's actual lines, checking depreciation, and handing your preparer something usable. Guide -
The move-out inspection, done in the right order
The inspection itself, not the deduction math that follows it. When to walk the unit, what to photograph before you touch anything, how to work the move-in report as a route, and the two mistakes that ruin an otherwise defensible file. Guide -
The 30 days before move-in: a landlord checklist
What actually has to happen between an approved application and a set of keys changing hands. Five dates, in order, with the paperwork that has to clear before each one and the two items first-time landlords almost always leave until the morning of. Guide -
How much a landlord can charge for a security deposit, by state
Some states cap the deposit at one month's rent, some at two, some do not cap it at all, and a few change the answer based on the lease term or the tenant's age. Here are thirteen caps read straight from the statutes, and the method for checking any state. Guide -
How to write a security deposit deduction letter
The itemized statement is the document a judge reads first and the one landlords write last. Here is a template you can copy, the five steps to fill it in, and the deadlines that decide whether any of it counts. Guide -
How to compare move-in and move-out condition reports
The comparison is where a pile of photos turns into a defensible number. Five steps for running it, the scoring habit that keeps you honest, and the point at which a changed line becomes a chargeable one. Guide -
Stop being the middleman between your tenant and your vendor
Most repair delays are not the plumber's fault. They are the four days of phone tag between the tenant who has the problem and the vendor who can fix it. Here is how to take yourself out of the middle without losing control of the job. Guide -
Is free landlord software actually free?
Usually free for you and not for your tenant. Here is what TurboTenant, Avail, Innago, RentRedi, and TenantCloud charge tenants to pay rent and apply, from each vendor's own pages as of October 2026. Guide -
How much does property management software cost? Real prices at 5, 10, 25, and 50 units
For 10 units, published prices run from $0 to about $200 a month. Free plans usually charge your tenants $2 to $2.50 every time they pay rent online, so the subscription is only half the bill. Here is what nine plans cost as of October 2026. Guide -
How to do a move-in inspection (and why it pays for itself)
A documented move-in walk-through is the single best protection against deposit disputes later. Here's the simple checklist. Guide -
How to screen a tenant the right way
A practical, fair-housing-safe way to screen rental applicants, from the application to the decision, without stepping on the law. Guide