Pro features that used to be free

Making free features suddenly paid is absurd. I’d be happy to go pro if it included an electronic payments from stessa option, however it seems I’ll need to leave stessa all together. Anyone have advice on a reasonable expense tracking software that can pay bills?

I have recommended Stessa to so many users. The change was abrupt and poorly communicated, especially given the tax time implications. I felt compelled to upgrade to a pro account to regain access to the portfolio level data I needed for taxes - it’s like someone had a gun to my head. Now to offset the extra costs of Pro, i’m trying to open up cash management accounts. I opened up half of the accounts successfully and now there’s a defect that’s preventing me from opening the rest. So once again, i’m stuck. And that’s the thing, it takes so long to communicate and fix critical issues at Stessa.

Another bug report i opened up involves the new Pro Schedule E report. The data on the report is simply inaccurate and conflicts with the other Stessa reports. Pro users are likely unknowingly handing that report to their CPAs without realizing the reports have discrepancies. There should be a very large banner alerting users to data integrity issues with the Schedule E report, but there isn’t. Or Stessa should take that report down until they figure out what’s wrong with it. These things might be forgivable with a free product, but now that this is primarily a paid platform, I think Stessa needs to update their support and communications.

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@trinityparkerllc Try Baselane. It’s free.

In the same boat as you. I have 3 properties and already pay for Avail for my property management needs. I’d be happy to pay a yearly fee for the accounting functionality I was using in Stessa, but I am not about to pay $20/mo for this.

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First, I do appreciate that Stessa has listened and made some changes. I appreciate that. However, I am still looking around at alternatives. IMHO, Stessa is a great platform and it has helped me. I have recommended it to others. But I simply do not see it as being mature enough as a software product to pay that much for. The support is simply not adequate. For example, I posted a question about how to account for withheld security deposits in March 22 (almost a year ago). (It’s here: Security deposits, auto adjusting with charges against - #11 by david.matarazzo2) This issue has still not been resolved to my satisfaction. I’m no accountant, but I should be able to figure out how to account for security deposits with help from the developer. I don’t see any good alternatives to Stessa. Baselane does not seem to have the same capability. At the same time, Stessa is not a complete property management solution. I am thinking about switching to a more professional property management suite that includes accounting. Appfolio is too expensive for a portfolio my size but there are alternatives. I am willing to pay if the service is robust and has good support. Anyone else in the same boat?

Yes, I am also trying to figure out where to go. For now I’m just using Stessa free and working around the limitations. Baselane is the most promising solution, I just like the speed at which they are developing, and their level of communication. But, as you mentioned, they are not quite there on features. They haven’t been around long so I would keep checking in on them. I am trying to figure out if I could use the accounting, cash management, and rent collection features of it and still use Stessa for other stuff. But I’m too busy right now to wrap my head around it anyhow… The rental business is a side hustle for me (and I’m sure many of you) so my day job takes up most of my brain bandwidth.

It is unfortunate when things like this happen that force you to unexpectedly change your plans, without warning. The biggest thing I’m struggling with is that the lack of communication ahead of time about these changes from Stessa. I know Devin has chimed in a few times here and they did put back the Portfolio option on the transactions page, but I’m not sure it helps me to regain trust that they won’t do the same thing again in the future. It’s really too bad because I was a big fan of Stessa and it has been tremendously helpful for me, but there are still minor issues that cost me too much work and I really don’t feel they give enough attention to outstanding issues, like the external bank connections that constantly break.

Yes, this is just poor customer appreciation for the users that helped this platform grow. Stessa has been amazing, but for them to just pull features from users with no warning or not grandfathering them in is absurd. I will definitely be looking for an alternative.

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Looking at RentRedi, appears to have all same features and more for $9/month.

I upgraded to Pro as it was marketed to enable faster rent payments. This is not the case. They still take almost a week to clear.

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I honestly feel so TRAPPED by STESSA. No longer do I love the app and think it is a time-saver. Every glitch is a reminder that my info is locked away and I need to find a new method of bookkeeping.

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I wonder if the free features for rent collection has now been intentionally slowed down making what was free in the past seem better now that it is paid. It would not surprise me if Stessa did that since they took features like reporting away from free users just before tax season and held them hostage for subscription $.

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Same. what a bummer. Would pay, but not thrilled about their approach. Looking for alternatives, what a pain.