Avail Landlord Software Review: What We Think

There are lots of property management software out there that can help independent landlords. Which one is right for you? Here we’ll review one of the products popular with many of our readers and followers, Avail.

We like Avail for a lot of reasons, and here we’ll give you an overview of the features that Avail offers, as well as some highlights, tips and features, as well as a few drawbacks.

Avail Landlord Software Features:

Avail is a robust, full-featured landlord software. Here’s an overview of the key features.

Advertising/Listings: Avail allows you to create a listing along with a description, photos, and amenities. We like that your listing gets published to over a dozen top listing sites, many of which we get various leads from. Those include Zumper, PadMapper, Apartment List, and Apartments.com.

Applications: You can easily send online applications to potential renters using the applicant’s name and email address. Avail’s application includes standard questions but we primarily like that it also gives you the ability to add custom questions (such as “Why are you moving?”).

Tenant Screening: Avail uses TransUnion for their credit reports, and also gives you the option of asking for background checks and eviction history. If you are not allowed to view certain reports due to regulations where you reside, Avail will not show you those, which we like. Tenants authorize screening reports and verify their identity directly through Avail. You have the ability to choose who pays the application fee, and then results are instantaneously available.

Also Read: How to Interpret Tenant Screening Reports: A Landlord’s Handbook

Lease Agreements: Once you screen your tenants, you can move straight into lease agreements. Avail will automatically take information from the application to begin filling out the lease agreement. They offer state-specific rental lease agreement templates, which include all the disclosures and attachments that are needed to be compliant with local ordinances. You can also add custom clauses, we use this feature to add house rules, and request digital signatures from tenants.

Also Read: Understanding Rental Lease Agreements: A Landlord’s Guide

Online Rent Collection: When it’s time to collect rent, tenants can sign up for online rent collection. We think Avail is great at this, particularly because they include payment scheduling, auto-pay, and credit boost options. With Avail’s Premium subscription, you have access to FastPay, where payments are deposited in one day.

Rental Property Accounting: Avail also recently introduced rental property accounting. You can automatically track payments, collections, expenses, and other transactions done through Avail. This makes it easy to download reports for your tax preparer.

Maintenance Management and Tracking: Through the Avail mobile app, you can utilize in-app messaging, photos, and maintenance records. Tenants can submit maintenance requests online through the portal. You can then pass these on to your maintenance professionals, if needed.

Also Read: Plumbing Problems in Rental Properties and How to Handle Them

Rental Price Analysis: See how your property compares to similar rentals nearby with a rent estimate for your property, rent benchmarks for comparable units, county rent trends, and more.

Also Read: How to Utilize and Interpret Rental Pricing Sites – Video Extra

Advertise your property, find and screen tenants, sign leases, collect rent, and e-sign custom local leases, with tools built specifically for DIY landlords.

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Areas for Improvement:

While Avail provides many great features, we do find that there are a couple of areas for improvement. However, there are alternative ways to handle them effectively.

• We have found the dashboard layout and navigation to be a bit confusing. It does not give immediate access to important features and information. However, we find that the side navigation bar is much easier to use.
• Renewing leases is somewhat cumbersome and takes getting used to. While changing from a fixed-term to a month-to-month lease is easy, going from a fixed-term lease to another fixed-term lease may present some issues. To sidestep this issue, we have found that just creating an entirely new lease works.

Pricing:

Avail has two plans, a free plan and a premium plan:

Alternatives to Avail:

While we think Avail is a great solution for many, there are some other outstanding alternatives that might be right for you, depending on your needs and requirements:

RentRedi offers a premium maintenance add-on, and they will handle your maintenance requests for you. No more late-night emergencies!

TurboTenant has an accounting add-on service through REI Hub; Unlike a product like Quickbooks, this is accounting software built specifically for rental property management and investing.

If you just want to collect rent online safely and securely, without all the other property management features, PayRent could be perfect for you.

Also Read: Azibo Landlord Software Review: What We Think

Also Read: TurboTenant Review: What We Think

Our Takeaways:

“Avail is great for landlords with just one or a few properties. You can get all the features you need without a large monthly subscription cost. It can even be completely free to landlords if you’re willing to pass the rent collection costs on to your tenants, and are willing to wait a few days to see payments deposited into your account. The Local Assist feature with the Leasing Wizard is also a tool I especially like. You can prepopulate the information from the application to the lease, it helps you follow local rules, and makes it easy for tenants to sign online.”

– CHRIS LEE, LANDLORD GURU

“Avail is an end-to-end solution. From advertising to managing the entire tenancy, Avail has tools for all aspects of property management. I think that the listings and advertising are a real strength, primarily because it gets out to so many prominent listing sites. The automatic rental reference feature is also a feature that I find useful. As someone who does not enjoy this part of the process, it has proved to be very helpful and saves a lot of time.”

– ELI SECOR, LANDLORD GURU

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