At Rentec Direct, our focus is on making your job as a landlord or property manager more efficient. Our Rentec Direct development team is no exception. Every quarter, we enjoy sharing the exciting work the Rentec Direct development team has accomplished with your needs in mind. The development team works closely with our Client Success Team to stay informed about your requests and feedback. Even though it’s always thrilling to reveal new features, it’s equally rewarding to see changes that save you valuable time.
In-house, the team refers to more minor updates as a bug fix, QuickFix, HotFix, or issue reports, and more significant updates as Features or Enhancements. While we don’t report every fix or update to you, you can be assured that your success and development teams work together to evaluate helpful updates that will improve your workflow and save you time.
Here’s a look at what the Development Team has been working on during the fourth quarter of 2023.
RENTEC DIRECT FEATURE UPDATES, FIXES, AND ENHANCEMENTS
MADE LIVE IN Q4 [OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, AND DECEMBER] 2023
*Features/Enhancements*
- Enhancement 3208 – Tenant Turner integration: integrates Rentec Direct and popular lead scheduling software, Tenant Turner.
- Enhancement 3063 – Remodeled Reports: all reports are accessible from a single-page, scheduled report options, and more.
- Enhancement 3237 – New invoice options: customize the invoice date when moving a tenant into a property, eliminating dual invoices
- Enhancement 3033 – Tenants Page improvements to cut down on load times.
- Enhancement 3270 – When a bank is archived, historical transactions will remain with the archived bank and not be moved to the newly added bank.
- Enhancement 3237 – You can now indicate a date you would like late fees to begin
- Enhancement 3051 – When log-in access is disabled for subusers, tenants, and owners, those who are logged in at the time will be automatically logged out
- Enhancement 3284 – Turbocharge reminder widget and reminders list.
- Enhancement 3320 – The side menu stays fixed and accessible when scrolling.
- Enhancement 3296 – Clients in Chicago can now use Rentec Direct to manage their properties.
- Enhancement 3302 – Include more information on online payments to reduce failed tenant payments.
- Enhancement 3266 – Manager email cannot be the same as a taken username
*Bug Fixes*
- Bug Fix 3076 – Resend 2fa messages if electing to use text message instead of passkey
- Bug Fix 3310 – Allow slashes in zInspector Activity Types.
- Bug Fix 3313 – Users without renter ledger access can no longer see balances.
- Bug Fix 3323 – Subuser can now view archived properties, owners, and bank accounts.
- Bug Fix 3340 – Accept 2FA-form submissions when the 2FA checkbox is disabled but also required.
- Bug Fix 3314 – Display bed/bath amounts greater than four on user websites.
Notable Product Update Recap
Reviewing the new features and improvements rolled out every quarter is always exciting. There are several new features, enhancements, and integrations, but we would like to highlight a few that are a result of your requests.
Check out the News & Tips on your Rentec Direct Summary tab to stay up-to-date with major feature updates and products. Additionally, all updates and product announcements are shared in the System Update section of your Summary page when you first log into the software.
Have any questions about these updated features? Your amazing Rentec Direct success team is just a phone call or chat away!
ENHANCED AND NEW REPORTING FEATURES
Your property management software through Rentec Direct, already offered a robust variety of reports and report formatting options. This also an area where we receive a wide variety of enhancement requests. You asked, and we answered!
We are excited to share some of the highlights of the significant updates and enhancements made by the Rentec Direct development team, designed to make your recordkeeping smoother and more efficient Please see the link below for more details and features.
Rentec Direct’s online application process for multiple tenants has been enhanced, providing more options for you. Ultimately, this flexibility allows you to establish tenant placement that works best for you. Previously, when an application is received online, only the primary applicant could be added to your list of tenants automatically.
Remodeled Reports and Reporting Features:
- All reports are accessible from a single-page
- All reports have:
- Larger font sizes
- Increased spacing
- Easy to read improved layout
- Clickable links in reports allowing for changes to be made in real-time
- Data sort options within the reports
- New ability to create a list of “Favorite” reports to quickly access frequently used reports that will automatically populate with up-to-date data.
New Feature – Scheduled Reports:
- Schedule reports to be automatically sent weekly or monthly to managers and/or property owners, taking one more item off your to-do list.
Learn more: New Feature: Reports and Reporting Features from Rentec Direct
New Integration with Tenant Turner Property Management Marketing
Rentec Direct property management software has now integrated with Tenant Turner, a popular lead scheduling software. This integration allows for better tracking of leads, scheduling of viewings, and pre-qualification of applicants. As a result, it can help reduce vacancy rates and quickly fill vacancies with qualified tenants, which has been a popular request from our clients.
The integration process is fast and efficient and utilizes the property information you have entered into your Rentec Direct account, eliminating the need for duplicate data entry. If you are a landlord or property manager currently using Tenant Turner, great news: you can easily update your accounts similarly, saving you time and effort in the future without duplicate data entry.
Learn more: New Feature | Rentec Direct and Tenant Turner Integration for Property Management Marketing
Tenant Page Improvements
Saving you time has been a big focus for our Development Team, so we are excited to share the enhancements to the Tenants page. You’ll notice faster response times across all accounts, but if you have 100s or 1,000s of tenants and have experienced slow report pulling, you’ll see a significant reduction in load time of about 75%, allowing you to zip through your reporting needs faster than ever before.
Some of the changes you can expect to see include:
- Faster page loading
- Expanded search filter options
- Now select how many tenants or line items will be displayed per page to narrow your search quickly.
- Change pages in your search without disrupting the filter
Learn more: Feature Update | New Tenants Page Improvements
Notable Features for all of 2023:
Major feature updates and products always get announced on the Rentec Direct Blog and shared in the System Update section of your Summary page when you first log into the software. In case you missed any announcements, here’s a summary of what came out of the Rentec Direct developers’ office in 2023.
- Jan 18, 2023: Feature Update | Tenant Online Payment Improvements | Rentec Direct
- Jan 25, 2023: Feature Update | Rentec Direct Brings a Fresh New Design to Owner Portals
- March 15, 2023: Announcing the Upgraded Rentec Direct Affiliate Program
- March 29, 2023: Rentec Direct Releases Automated Email Notifications for Owner Payments
- April 11, 2023: Tenant Email Failure to Deliver Notices
- June 14, 2023: New Feature: Instant Property Descriptions for Rental Listings
- June 22, 2023: New Subuser Permission Enhances Security and Protects Account Data for Rentec Direct Property Management Software Clients
- June 22, 2023: New Subuser Permission Enhances Security and Protects Account Data for Rentec Direct Property Management Software Clients
- August 8, 2023: Feature Update | New Account Security Updates
- September 7, 2023: New Feature | Instantly add Multiple Rental Applicants as Tenants
- September 26, 2023: Feature Update| CAM Charges for Property Manager Accounting
- October 10, 2023: Feature Update | New Invoicing System for Rentec Direct
- October 17, 2023: New Feature | Rentec Direct and Tenant Turner Integration for Property Management Marketing
- November 28, 2023: Feature Update | New Tenants Page Improvements
- December 12, 2023: New Feature: Reports and Reporting Features from Rentec Direct
Upcoming New Features
The Rentec Direct Development Team is working on several features we are sure will be released soon.. Stay tuned for the release of these helpful updates; you may even recognize a feature or two that you requested!
To stay updated, check the System Updates and News & Tips sections on the Summary page of your software. This is one of the best places to learn about the latest feature updates in Rentec Direct. As these updates get released, you may also notice new options on your reports and updates in the Knowledge Base articles.
Updates To Your Rentec Direct Website
Rentec Direct’s property management software includes a professional website to showcase your company and available rentals. Our Development Team is also working on upgrades to make your custom website stand out.
Some of the enhancements include:
- A sleek landing page that has combined
- The home page
- About us page and
- Contact page
- Ability to add more contacts and locations
- More customizable display options with seven color and theme options
- New color and theme options:
- Professional
- Beach
- Forest
- Dark
- Dusk
- Plum
- Mellow
Property Page Improvements
The Development team will be making similar improvements to the Property page after the success of the Tenant page improvements. These will reduce search and load time for your properties.
Here are some of the enhancements you can expect:
- Faster page loading
- Expanded search and sort options
- Select how many properties will be displayed on each page for easy searching
- Change pages without disrupting the filer when searching
Schedule Grouped Tenants With Future Move-in Dates
We have received requests from our clients to simplify the online application process by allowing the addition of grouped tenants directly through the Rentec Direct software. This update eliminates the need for manual entry of co-tenants or roommates. This feature is now being improved to add grouped tenants with a future move-in date. Once the move-in date is scheduled, there is no need to set reminders or make any changes as the Rentec Direct software will automatically move the tenants in on the scheduled date with the rent begin dates that you establish.
Rentec Direct Mobile App
The long-requested mobile app of Rentec Direct’s property management will allow you to seamlessly access your Rentec Direct account and data from any mobile device. Rentec Direct’s property management software mobile app will be fully functional, meaning all features, tools, and data that you are used to using on the desktop are usable within the app (compared to competitors mobile apps with limited functionality).
This app will allow you to:
- Conveniently manage your Rentec Direct property management software while you are on the go from your phone or mobile device
- Receive the same notifications found in your Rentec Direct software
- The option of forwarding text messages responses
The Rentec Direct mobile app is currently in beta for Rentec Direct Insiders and will be available to all clients soon.
These software updates are the result of valuable feedback and input from our awesome clients. If there is a new feature or a software enhancement you would love to see added to Rentec Direct, let us know.
About Rentec Direct
Rentec Direct is an award-winning property management software serving landlords and property managers across the United States. Features include online rent payments, tenant and owner portals, one of the industry’s most expansive vacancy listing syndication networks, full property, tenant, and owner accounting, 1099-MISC reporting, and more. Rentec Direct was recognized as Real Estate Company of the Year in the 2023 American Business Awards®, and was named the Most Customer Friendly Companies of the Year in the 2022 Best in Biz Awards, has been named to the Inc. 5000 List of Fastest-Growing Private Companies for seven years in a row.