Stessa: Smart Rental Manager 4+

Very useful app for new landlords.

I’ve found Stessa to be simple to use, and although I haven’t used it long enough to submit the collected information on a tax return, I think it will be very helpful in storing and retrieving the information I’ve entered.

I have a couple of suggestions that might improve the app though. I am currently using a great app called Stride to track my miles during trips, but I then have to manually enter all the information into Stessa. If I could just tap a button and have Stessa track my miles driven like Stride, this would be helpful. Stride is more for Uber drivers and other jobs, and less real estate focused.

Second, I sometimes take photos of my checks along with the receipts for expenditures, but Stessa does not allow access to previously taken photos. If we could access photos, and possibly link 2 photos for one transaction, that would help.

Finally, maybe a guide on acceptable deductions, and how to properly categorize them.

Otherwise, I’m grateful for the ease of use of the app. Thanks.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for the kind words and creative suggestions. We do actually have a "Wishlist" on the Stessa Community Forum, where you can register ideas for new features and vote on others' posts: https://community.stessa.com/c/wishlist/8

AB testing begins

Been using it for YEARS, now they roll out a “pro” version (for those of us who didn’t know the entire platform already by heart) where things you used to do without thinking are now grayed out claiming you need to upgrade to access this “feature” which is nothing that has been added, it’s a feature that was already there, which basically doesn’t entail an upgrade at all, they’ve added nothing and just started charging for silly things that were free before, which is fine, but at least give us a warning that you’re going to make changes, tell us what those changes are so we can organize and shift to another platform before you start messing with our accounting procedures. You understand this isn’t Instagram? Stessa isn’t for entertainment; these random unannounced changes have a financial implications for us that are creating reports, thankfully they did it in January so I can dump these thoughtless punks who have lost all credibility and respect by treating us like a bunch of YouTubers who don’t know what to expect from one day to the next anymore. It’s accounting software for heaven's sake, you can just add and remove basic feature at a whim without notifying us of changes so we can prepare. Totally infantile management system. Fire the FB veteran you hired to run this company and head hunt someone from quicken to save you from doing any more damage. Very disappointing.

Great Online Tool...Horrible App

Well, it’s a bit unfortunate that I have to rate this as one star. Let me be clear though: the tool itself of Stessa online is a phenomenal tool for a real estate investor DIY landlord. I just started using it and see the potential. I was excited to learn there was an app.....until I used it. So, my 1 Star is for the app NOT for the online tool. Online tool gets 5 stars, app gets one...should be less than one. The app just doesn’t do much at all. Sure, scanning receipts is fine, but that’s counterintuitive given you can connect your bank to automatically download transactions. It does nothing else. You see your properties but can’t click on them to see details. The dashboard page directs you to the website. Shoot, at least do an iframe if your own site and SSO into there. This is an example of a company that made an app because they’re “supposed to make an app.” It wasn’t near ready. IMO they’d be better killing the app until it is fully baked and then introducing it when they can match the UX in the native app with the online experience. It’s a shame given the online tool is good.

Developer Response ,

Yes, this was indeed still "early days" for our app. That said, we really do appreciate the candid feedback and we've taken it to heart over the past couple of years. The app now does A LOT more than receipt scanning, including native transaction management, document storage and retrieval, dashboard views, rent roll edits, etc.