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Help/FAQ

How-To's

Account FAQ's

How-To's

My Dashboard - Basic

1. Add Properties

Get started by adding properties to your RentometerPro portfolio.
To do so, click the "Add a Property" link under the Configure Your Portfolio section on the right.

2. Add Leases

If any of your properties have existing leases the next step is to assign a lease to the property. Click the "Add a Lease" link under the Configure Your Portfolio section on the right.

3. Online Rent-Payment

To get started with Online Rent-Payment and become a happier landlord click the "Configure Online Rent-Payment" link under the Configure Your Portfolio section on the right.

4. Find Tenants

For vacancies and sale properties, create Webflyers and begin advertising by posting your Webflyers on Craigslist and other venues. To do so, ensure that your property has been added to your account as in step 1 above, then click the "Webfolio" link under the Advertise section on the right.

Before you get started you might want to check out the "Advertising Quick Tips" located just above the "Webfolio" link.

5. Take Control of Your Financial Picture

Use RentometerPro to record your received rents and never forget who has paid and who hasn't!

Begin tracking income and expenses and to run cashflow and tax reports with ease. You will always know how your portfolio is performing.

To record rents, ensure your property and lease information are added to the system by using "Add New Property" and "Leases" link under the Properties menu on the top bar. Begin recording rents by using the "Record Rents" link under the Income & Expense menu on the top bar. If you've signed up for Complete Rent Management™ we'll record payments for you.

6. Just the Beginning

The RentometerPro Team is working hard to bring you more new features that will simplify your real estate investing!

Have a feature request? Tell us about it.

My Dashboard - Advanced

Features

To use the advanced dashboard to the fullest, we recommend entering all of your properties. You can quickly enter your properties on this page by using the "Add Property" link under Quick Actions.

Quick Actions

This sections gives you easy access to several common tasks as well as displaying any messages or maintenance requests you may have.

Portfolio Value

You can see the breakdown of your portfolio value by entering the property's value.

Loan to Value Ratio

Once you add the value, you can add the approximate mortgage amount outstanding for each property. Enter the total value and you will see your equity and mortgage values appear on the chart.

Alerts

All of your alerts are aggregated on this page. From here you can take direct action to fix the alert.

Active Webflyers

If you are marketing your properties you will see your active webflyers listed here.

Real Estate News and Mortgage Rates

This section contains up to the day news and mortgage rates for real estate.

Equity Calculator

By entering the max LTV you are willing to extend across your portfolio you can see the amount of available equity you have, including existing mortgage obligations.

Account History

This section shows recent changes you have made to your account.

My Properties

Keep an eye on the big picture! This page summarizes important details about your entire portfolio and gives you a status meter (red, yellow, green) for each property. Click on a property title to get more detailed information about that property.

If you'd prefer to view your properties on an interactive map, click on:

For property owners with larger portfolios, the Data Filter is a handy way to view properties based on location. To open the Data Filter click on:

To manage a specific property or to view more detail, click on the property name. As you add and edit information, action links will appear within your property summary along with critical alerts.

Expand or contract property summaries by using the gray minus [-] or plus [+] sign to the far right of each property summary.

My Properties - Map View

To view a summary of a property, simply click on the property's marker on the map or click on the property's title in the right column. The alert status for a property determines the color of the property's marker.

From within a property's map bubble, click on the property's title within the map bubble to go to a detailed view of the property. Also available from inside a map bubble are links to webflyers, leases, and other property actions.

My Leases

This page shows your Active, Pending, and Archived Leases.

Once an active lease is created for a property, you can then add detailed rent payment information in Record Rent found under the Income & Expense menu on the top bar (if you've signed up for Online Rent-Payment rent payments will automatically be recorded). Creating active leases will keep you up to date and alerted to upcoming lease renewal dates.

Active leases are leases that are current, have existing tenants and outstanding rent payments.

Pending leases are leases that you enter but are not active yet. You can set a lease to "pending" during the setup of a new lease. Pending leases are useful during the renting application process, and are easily to update or delete.

Archived leases are leases that are no longer active. It is good to keep a historical archive of your leases. You can duplicate or delete archived leases. To create a new lease, click on the "Add New Lease" link from the Lease Management page found under the Properties menu on the top bar or click here.

Add New Lease

Enter Lease Details

Enter the details about your lease, tenant info, lease start and end dates, rent info, and deposit info.

Add Tenants

Click the “add tenant” link to start adding tenants to your lease. You will have the option of selecting an existing tenant or adding a new one.

RentometerPro Tenant Access

Select each tenant you would like to give access to RentometerPro Tenant. You must have the tenant’s email address to invite them.

Enable Online Rent-Payment

We bill your tenants and process their rent payments via check, eCheck, and, coming soon, by credit card. Never again waste time (or fuel!) driving to the bank and standing in line to deposit rent checks. Never again forget to record a rent payment. Never again worry about traveling at the beginning of the month!

FAQs Regarding Online Rent-Payment

Confirm Lease Details

Ensure all lease details are correct. If not you can use the back button to go back and correct any information. If you’re not finished entering all the lease details or if the lease is not yet signed you can use the Leave as Pending button to save all your information but keep the lease inactive. If you are ready to activate the lease click Activate Lease.

Maintenance Items

If you've invited your tenants to RentometerPro any maintenance requests they submit can be tracked here. You can also add maintenance items yourself to keep track of them.

Manage Advertising

Manage Webflyers

From the Manage Advertising page you can create, edit and monitor multiple listings (Webflyers), advertise on craigslist (rentals and sales), and monitor the number of views and web inquiries on each listing (webflyer). If you have more than one webflyer, create your own real estate webpage (Webfolio) to advertise your real estate business. Your webfolio will automatically summarize multiple webflyers with thumbnail photos, availability, pricing and more.

What is a Webflyer?

A Webflyer is an online real estate listings that you create once and use as often as you like. Deactivate a Webflyer once a property is rented, and it will be saved until next time you need to advertise your property online, for rent or for sale.

Why use Webflyers?

Webflyers help you easily manage, post, and track multiple advertisements! Once created, you can use your webflyers to advertise your properties on other websites by using your webflyer URL or by posting your webflyer(s) to Craigslist. Create one webflyer for each of your units. To advertise your webflyers on craiglsist, click on the "to craigslist" link next to the webflyer you want to advertise. Use your Webfolio to advertise multiple units on one page plus your real estate business.

Webflyers automatically track the number of visitors that view them, providing valuable feedback on advertising performance. Using webflyers can distinguish your listings on craigslist and other top advertisement sites with a professional look you create instantly. Once your ad expires on craigslist, you can quickly repost through your RentometerPro account, without having to recreate your listing all over again. RentometerPro generates the webflyer html for you so your photos and formatting are included automatically in your post.

Changing a webflyer to 'For Sale'

You can change a For Rent Webflyer to For Sale with just a click.
Find the Webflyer you wish to change and locate the Unit Type column. The default status is listed as "For Rent". Click on the {change} link next to "For Rent" this will instantly change the webflyer to "For Sale". Click on the "edit webflyer" link to update your price and sale information on your webflyer.

Activating and deactivating a webflyer

To make your webflyer viewable by the public, click on the pink {activate} link, this will turn on your URL making your unit webflyer available (Rent or Sale) and accessible for public view. Once activated, you are ready to advertise. Activating will also turn on your unit URL to use when advertising online or in print (newspaper classifieds, signs, brochures). Once you have rented your unit, you can click on {deactivate}. This will remove your unit from being available and publicly viewed but will save your webflyer in your RentometerPro Advertising account until the next time you need to rent. The next time you need to advertise your unit, simply click {activate}, then "Advertise".

Advertising on craigslist

(skip to step 2 if you have already created a webflyer)

1. Create a webflyer for the unit or property you wish to advertise by going to the Advertise Manage page and locating your unit. Click on edit webflyer and the Edit Webflyer page for your property will be displayed. Follow the instruction on this page to build and activate this webflyer. Once you create your webflyer, it is saved for reposting and advertising on craigslist and other sites.

2. Return to Manage Advertising and click the "to craigslist" link for the webflyer you'd like to post to craigslist. The craigslist window will then appear. Select your city (or choose the closest major city listed) and your housing category, then "click to highlight all". This will highlight all of the html RentometerPro has generated for you. Copy this text for use in the next window (Ctrl with C key pressed at the same time or right click - Copy). Click "Start Craigslist Post" to continue.

3. Paste the html you copied previously into the Post Description field (Ctrl with V key pressed at the same time or right click - Paste) and complete the form. Once completed you will receive an confirmation email from Craigslist to publish your post.

What is a Webfolio?

Your Webfolio is your main real estate webpage from which you can list any or all of the webflyers in your account. If you have multiple webflyers created, your properties will automatically be summarized with thumbnail photos on this page. Your Webfolio has a unique URL you can edit to match the name of your business. Use your Webfolio to tell your visitors about your real estate business and your available or soon to be available properties for sale and for rent. To link your webflyers to your webfolio, choose the "view my other listings" option, found a the bottom of each webflyer edit page under {edit tools} at the bottom.

Webfolio Controls

You can find your Webfolio controls under Webfolio in the Advertise Management section, scroll down to view. To edit, click on {edit webfolio} and the edit page will appear. Click on the {edit} links in each section to add a title, subtitle, and introductory text about your business. If you have multiple webflyers created, scroll down your webfolio edit page to choose which properties you wish to {show} or {hide} on the webfolio.

Changing your Webfolio & Webflyer URL

You can customize your Webfolio and Weflyer URL to match your business name.
From the Advertise Manage page, scroll down to find the Webfolio controls, click on {edit webfolio} and the edit page will open. From the top of the Webfolio edit page, click on the {edit url} link at the top.

Keeping track of your craigslist posts and views

At the bottom of your Advertising Management page, you can view all of your log information on craigslist post attempts, dates posted, number of viewers per post, etc.

Advertise on Craigslist

Step 1

This wizard helps you post your active webflyer to craigslist for advertising and enhanced visibility.

Select the unit webflyer that you want to post to craigslist and click "Next". On the following page you'll be able to pick the craigslist category and area. Then follow the on-screen step by step instructions. Once you are finished, you will receive a confirmation email from craigslist to publish your advertisement.

What are the benefits? The benefits are many!

* Posting to craigslist will instantly increase your listing exposure for rentals and sales
* RentometerPro gives you a professional looking post on craigslist with color graphics, photos and more
* RentometerPro webflyers differentiate your listings from other craigslist posts
* RentometerPro will automatically track the number of people who viewed your posts
* Ads on craigslist eventually expire but your webflyers never expire on RentometerPro, that makes reposting or re-renting a snap!

Link to forms, or your webfolio directly from your craigslist post

Step 2

Follow the instructions on the Post to Craigslist page.

Select a city and category. "Click to Highlight All", then Copy the HTML CONTENT, click on the "Start Craigslist Post" button at the bottom. Clicking the button will open a popup window. This is the craigslist form.

Paste the copied content into the “Posting Description” field in the Craigslist window and complete the form. Check to see if your details are correct (beds, baths, etc.). You will receive an email from Craigslist which you'll need to confirm. And then your post will be live!

Income & Expense

To start using income and expense, first ensure that your properties and units are entered into the system. You can use the "Quick Add Property" link to quickly enter multiple properties under the Properties menu on the top bar. If your properties are rented or partly rented, use the "Add New Property" link found under the Properties menu on the top bar which will also prompt you for lease information. With basic lease information recorded, you can start recording rents. With your property addresses entered, you can start recording income and expense items right away.

Ledger

Add income or expense item

Click on the applicable green income or expense link at the top of the page to open the edit field. Your choices are:

The edit field will then appear. Add your item information then click "save". Your financial information will automatically be calculated and the line item will appear in the ledger below. Within the edit field you can:

Change your view

You can change the view you are working in for Income & Expense at any time. Manage income and expense items by unit, property, portfolio, date or by item category by using the activity filter at the top of the page. Choose your options then "View records"

Update or change a line item

To edit a line item that has already been recorded, simply click on the pink {edit}link next to that line item, update and save.

Export data to Excel (CSV)

To export your data, click on the "Export" link at the top right of the ledger, then save to the destination of your choice.

Record Rent

If you've signed up Online Rent-Payment we'll record payments for you!

You can use this page to manually record your rents. View all unit rents or select one property.
Click on the rental payment that applies to the unit and month you wish to record, a box will open from which you may annotate then save.

Color Codes:

Black - rent was recorded as received
Red- rent has not been recorded as received
Green - rent is expected but not yet due

To change your view, use the property filter at the top of the page.
To view previous months, click on the « prev link on the top left of the ledger.
To view future months, click on the next » link on the top left of the ledger.

Total collected and expected rents for each month are calculated at the bottom of the page.
Total collected and expected rents for each unit are calculated to the right of the page.

Reports

Income & Expense by Property

To generate an income and expense report, use the filter to choose the property of interest or select All Properties, to run a report for your entire portfolio, then click the "view" button. Your report will be generated automatically on screen. To download the report (CSV), click the "download" link on the top right, choose your destination location and save. If you downloaded previous reports, remember to change the filename before saving.

Income & Expense by Month

To generate a cash flow report, use the filter to choose the property of interest or select All Properties, to run a report for your entire portfolio, then click the "view" button. Your report will be generated automatically on screen. To download the report (CSV), click the "download" link on the top right, choose your destination location and save. If you downloaded previous reports, remember to change the filename before saving.

Tax Report

To generate a tax report organized by Schedule E categories, simply select the tax year you require. Your report will be generated automatically on screen. Check the bottom of your report for:
Amortized and Depreciated Items
List of items flagged for discussion with your accountant
Other items you could not categorize

To download the report (CSV), click the "download" link on the top right, choose your destination location and save. If you downloaded previous reports, remember to change the filename before saving.

Online Rent-Payment Settings

Use this page to adjust Online Rent-Payment settings for your active leases. To add Rent Management for an active lease select the lease from the drop down box and click the enable button. You can deactivate Online Rent-Payment but clicking the deactivate link next to any existing Online Rent-Payment enabled leases.

Online Rent-Payment Activity (rent_management/activity)

Online Rent-Payment Activity

Use this page to view a complete record of all Online Rent-Payment transaction by month.

Online Rent-Payment Summary

Use this page to view a summary of Online Rent-Payment transaction arranged by type for each month.

My Tenants

This page shows your tenants with active or inactive leases. Do view inactive tenants select "other tenants" from the Show drop down box.

Once your tenants are entered you can invite them to become RentometerPro members. It's a great way to send messages and track maintenance online. Click the "invite your tenants" link to send them an invitation. RentometerPro tenants will have a “r” appear next to their name.

To view the details of tenant or to edit their information click the tenants name.

To add a new tenant click the +Add New Tenant link.

Add New Tenant

Enter your tenant’s information and click Add New Tenant when finished.

View Tenant

This page shows contact information you’ve added for your tenant. To edit this information click the edit link next to the tenant’s name.

Edit Tenant

Update your tenant’s information and click Edit Tenant when finished or click cancel to return to the My Tenants page.

Inbox/Messages

You can use the inbox to communicate with tenants you’ve given access RentometerPro Tenant.

If a tenant sends you a message you’ll see it here. Click on the message to view and respond to it. Unread messages appear bold.

You can send new messages to your tenants by clicking the +Compose New Message link.

To view messages you’ve sent to your tenants click on the Sent Messages link.

To adjust the your time zone click on the current time zone in the Date/Time column.

Sent Messages

This page shows the messages you have sent your tenants. Click on a message to view it.

To view messages from your tenants click on the Inbox link.

You can send new messages to your tenants by clicking the +Compose New Message link.

To adjust the your time zone click on the current time zone in the Date/Time column.

Manage Notices

This is the management page for your notices. The Communication Management page displays all information regarding the notices you sent and the automatic notices that you have scheduled. RentometerPro also files a copy of the notices you send to this page, so that you have a record of what was sent, to whom and when.

What are Notices?

Notices are communications via email or US postal mail between you and your tenant. Postal notices cost $1.50 each, and email notices are free.

Why are Notices and Monthly Billing Statements essential?

Communication with tenants is one of the areas that owners have the most trouble with. RentometerPro has created a system which will help you communicate better with your tenants while keeping better records automatically. By sending notices via email, and postal mail (in particular) you demonstrate professionalism while providing a feature that tenants appreciate such as "advanced notice in the event of repairs" or a friendly reminder that the rent is due before a late fee is incurred. When you send a notice via US Postal mail through RentometerPro, we file copies of your notices to your account and log your notice history. Postal mail notice and statement copies can be retrieved, viewed, saved or printed from your iiProperty account at any time. These records along with your notice history could be important in the unfortunate event you have to take legal action. Just check your Communications Management page for your Sent and Automated notice logs and USPS notice and statement files.

From this page you can:

Types of notices

Account FAQ's

How do I change plan types?

You can access the change plan page at any time by clicking on the change plan link in the upper right corner of the site. To change your plan click the Select Plan link under that plan you wish to choose. There are no signup fees, no fees to change plans and you may cancel at any time with no cancellation fee.

Can I upgrade my account when my portfolio grows?

Yes. You can upgrade or cancel your account at any time. There are no sign up fees and no cancellation fees.

How do I cancel / deactivate my account?

To deactivate your account click on the "account & settings" link in the top right corner of the screen. Then click on "Deactivate Account". We're sorry to see you go, please check back soon we are constantly improving RentometerPro!

What are the system requirements?

There is nothing to download and nothing to install. All you need is a modern web browser and an internet connection. Access your most current information from work, home or in any location with internet access.

Who can use RentometerPro?

Anyone can use RentometerPro as long as they follow our terms of service.

Online Rent-Payment FAQ

What is Online Rent-Payment?

With Online Rent-Payment, we bill your tenants and process their rent payments via check*, eCheck, and, coming soon, by credit card. Never again waste time (or fuel!) driving to the bank and standing in line to deposit rent checks. Never again forget to record a rent payment. Never again worry about traveling at the beginning of the month!

*Online Rent-Payment is not available in all states. Please check the sign up page for the most up to date information on supported states.

How long does it take for me to receive rents RentometerPro processes?

RentometerPro processing takes approximately two days longer than if you deposited your rent check directly into your account.

From the day RentometerPro receives your tenant's rent payment, to the day the payment is available in your account depends on how long it takes for the payment to clear. The entire process is typically five business days.

Landlords who wait and collect a few checks to deposit at once will likely received their rent payments faster with Online Rent-Payment because RentometerPro deposits check immediately upon receipt.

Can a rent payment that I've received through your service bounce?

Yes. RentometerPro uses the same banking system as everyone else, so the same risks apply. If a payment were to bounce if you deposited it, it would bounce if RentometerPro did. Very rarely, checks bounce after you've received payment in your account. If this happens, RentometerPro reserves the right to reverse the payment and charge a processing fee of $25. This fee is billed directly to you and added to your tenant's next rent statement.

How do you know that my rental payments will be transferred into the correct account?

RentometerPro verifies your bank account by making two small deposits into your account and then asking you to confirm the deposit amounts. By confirming the deposit amounts correctly, you have confirmed that RentometerPro has the correct account number for you.

If my tenants pay via RentometerPro, I never have to record rents received again?

That's right! RentometerPro processes your payments and instantly records them in your income and expense ledger. This ledger can be exported to a standard spreadsheet format for import into other accounting applications.

When will my invoices be sent?

A. If your rent is due on the 10th - 25th your invoices are sent out on the first of the month. If your rent is due on the 26th - 9th your invoices will be sent out on the 15th.

Where is Online Rent-Payment available?

RentometerPro can bill your tenants online and process online payments throughout the entire United States.

Paper billing and rent check processing is currently available for rental properties in the following states: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

We will be rapidly adding states over the next few months. If you own rental property in a state that is not on the list and would like to use our offline services, let us know the state or states that you would like to see the service become available.

RentometerPro is focused on the smaller landlord. I'm a big landlord and would like to use your billing services, but not the full property management application. Is that possible?

Yes! Contact us for more information.