I am setting up Stessa for rent collection as I have 27 properties. I dont understand HOW I get paid on the rents the tenants pay. Under the Cash Management tab the account is NOT my bank account but like a Stessa account? Then there is a “Fund Account” button? I was under the impression that when a tenant pays, it would go right into my business bank account and then Stessa would show who has paid and not paid. Is this not correct? Am I missing something? I also am wanting all tenants to pay into this one bank account, not have 27 different accounts… ugggg. How do I make that happen. I have looked through the videos and there is nothing to explain this process. Thank you to whoever explains this to me.
@michener03 You’re not mistaken. To coordinate rent collection through Stessa, you are required to open one of their cash management accounts. Though you only need to have one of their accounts, if you want Stessa to automate more transactions, one account per property would achieve this. Otherwise you will be manually assigning transactions to different properties.
To pay yourself, you will ACH or wire the money out of their account to your local brick and mortar bank account.
If all of this puts a poor taste in your mouth, stop now and find an alternate system. I use Stessa for my own bookkeeping and my clients. Because of the lack of maintenance coordination features, I use another system. It costs money, but it lets me sleep at night.
Thanks so much for answering my question. So are you staying you use another software to collect rents or you use Stessa? If so, who do you use if you dont mind me asking? Seems a bit combuersom for sure and not smooth like I thought it was going to be. Thanks and Happy New Year to you as well.
Also Tom, if I continue with Stessa for rent collecting and dont use 27 different accounts for my 27 doors, just use one account rent gets paid into, then when I log in to transfer rents to my bank account, will it tell me who paid how much? If so, I then would have to go into that property on Stessa and make a note it was paid? Or will I just see a lump sum of rent money and I dont know who paid what? Trying to figure out if I need to bail from this system or not. Thanks Tom!!
@michener03 For my residential units that I self manage, I use alternate software. Two reasons, it can process maintenance requests, and they offer a level of service that they will coordinate my vendors 24/7. I get the peace of mind that no one will call me overnight, it’s just handled. I can always insert myself into the process. To avoid upsetting the admins of this forum, reach out to me via my website and I’ll provide the recommendation. Recommending alternate software openly probably breaks a rule somewhere.
I do use Stessa to collect rent on a garage I rent out. This is because the software above charges per unit. Since I’m dealing with a garage, there’s no maintenance, almost zero tenant interaction, just rent collection. So I use the free service through Stessa. When payments are processed through Stessa, Stessa will automatically document the bookkeeping for you. There’s no need to track and document. You would still review your tenant dashboard or tenant ledger to see who has not paid.
I do like Stessa for my bookkeeping and the landlords I work with. The price is right.
Thanks for your patience as we developed a new and improved rent collection service. Just to clarify, here’s how Stessa rent collection works as of September 2025:
When you set up rent collection, you’ll choose between two deposit options:
Stessa Cash Management account: Tenant payments are deposited here first, and you can then transfer funds to your external bank whenever you’d like. ACH payments into this account are always free for both landlords and tenants.
Your own external bank account: Rent is deposited directly into your U.S. checking account. In this case, tenants will pay convenience fees for ACH, credit, and debit payments, but landlords never pay fees. The current fee schedule is available at: Stessa Rent Collection | Stessa Help Center
All payments are automatically tracked in Stessa, with each rent payment recorded and assigned to the correct property and tenant ledger. This makes your bookkeeping simple and keeps everything organized for reporting and tax time.
In short, you now have flexibility in where you receive funds, no fees as a landlord, and clear records for every payment. Enjoy!
Stessa’s maintenance feature streamlines how landlords handle repair requests by giving residents an easy way to submit issues online, complete with photos and details. Landlords can track, prioritize, and resolve requests from a single dashboard, reducing back-and-forth and keeping all communication in one place. This saves time and helps ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
