This weeks product review: RentApps free online rental application forms software. Is it worth the price of free? Read on…

For quite some time our REIbrain readers have shot in questions to us about free rental application forms, online rental applications, and so on… especially with the higher numbers of apartment renters in the country today.

So, we did our research… and came up with a great solution for all of you landlords, property managers, rental property owners… whatever you call yourselves… to help you manage your rental applications online… for get this… the high price of… FREE 🙂

Below we dive into this free online rental application tool called RentApp… we’ll show you:

• What RentApp can do for you and your rental application process
• What RentApp falls short on (in our opinion)
• A look inside the RentApp software so you can see it in action
• … then our rating on our overall impression of RentApp.

Quick look at RentApp – Online Rental Application Tool

Here’s a quick review of the free rental application form (it’s an online tool, not hard copy paper applications) RentApp created by Appfolio.  Appfolio is a property management software we’ve reviewed on this website… check out our Appfolio review over here if you’re curious about their software.

So, really quick… if you’re a:

• Rental property owner
• A property manager
• An employee that manages rental applications

Our RentApp Full Video Review

In the video review of this free online rental applications software you’ll see how it works, what it looks like, what I like, don’t like, and the cool features in RentApp.

Just hit the play button in the video below to start it. 

If you want to get a free RentApp account you can check out their site to see if its right for you:

http://www.rentapp.com

“Cliff Notes” Version of my RentApp Free Online Rental Application Form Review

The Pros: (what I like a lot)

• It’s free (forever)… which is always cool.
• Makes it really easy to immediately ready to share your rental application on Craigslist, website, or online listing sites.
• Optional built-in tenant screening – for $10 per screen get a complete credit report, FICO score and nationwide eviction search of your applicants.
• Lets you forget about paper applications… (i.e. – Eliminate the hassle of paper applications and you’re saving the world all in one fell swoop 😉
• Fill your vacancies faster
• Easy to use
• Applicants can apply online and avoid having to physically come into your office
• Add your business logo to your application
• Add notes to an application, in order to track specific information about the applicant
• Add attachments to an application, in order to organize/combine applicant information such as copy of driver’s license
• Add a question – add a question to your online application in order to ask a specific question you might have.
• Set the status of an application in order to better track it through the process – Denied, Approved, In Review, Waiting on Info, Canceled
• Customize Terms and Conditions for your online application in order to ensure your applicants agree to it and that you cover state specific requirements.
• Directly edit information on submitted applications
• Credit card application fee processing so you don’t have to worry about checks or cash anymore with your applications. This is a really cool feature.

The Cons: (what Appfolio can improve)

Really, there’s not much I’d improve.  Heck, it’s FREE… so you’re not out anything but a bit of your time if you find out that RentApp isn’t right for you. But, if we really had to split hairs… there were a couple things I’d personally love to see done:

• Make the online rental application a bit more customizable as far as the look and feel.  Right now it’s just the gray background… I’d love to see a white so my logo looks sharper on the page.
• I may be mistaken here… but I didn’t see a place where I could just grab an embed code and embed the form on my own website. That would rock, so we can keep people on our own site to keep continuity throughout. RentApp guys… if I missed this let me know 🙂

My Overall Impression of RentApp

Hey, no need to beat a dead horse here.  If you’re looking for a solid way to start taking rental applications online for free… RentApp is definitely something you should look at.   It’s FREE, it’s simple, it’s not overloaded with features, and did I say… it’s free?

How Do I Grade It?? (out of 5)

   Design:  3.5 out of 5

   Affordability:  10 out of 5 😉

   Features:   4 out of 5

   Ease of Use:  5 out of 5

   Overall:  4.5 / 5 (in other words, a killer free tool that all rental property owners should check out)

Here’s a Link to Create A Free Account At RentApp 

Is This Right for You?

If you’re currently…

• Using paper applications and want to get with the times and go digital
• Looking for a good way to accept out of town applicants online
• Wanting to market your properties and let people apply online to eliminate the hassle of shuffling papers
• Wanting to find a way to manage your application process in an easy to organize format