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How much should I charge for rent? A landlord's guide to pricing | RentSpree

Part of setting a rental rate requires you to thread the needle between profitability and renter demand in your market. “How much should I charge for rent” is probably a question you ask yourself often, especially during market shifts and times of economic uncertainty. We’ve put together a list of six key factors to help you make your decision along with information about ways our rent estimate tool can help you price with confidence.

Smiling woman with dark hair wearing striped blazer and gold necklace, standing outside near a wooden structure.
Kimberly Mingo
Landlord

How to find (and verify) good tenants: a process landlords can repeat

Finding a good tenant comes down to a simple process you can repeat for every vacancy. Set your criteria in writing before you advertise your property for rent. Get your listing in front of enough qualified applicants. Verify the credit, income, rental and criminal history, and identity, of your applicants and approve the first one who meets your criteria. Tenant screening software can handle a lot of that work at little or no cost. RentSpree is free for landlords: it posts your listing to Zillow and other major rental sites, and checks the applicants criminal history, credit score, eviction history, and verifies their income.

Smiling woman with dark hair wearing striped blazer and gold necklace, standing outside near a wooden structure.
Kimberly Mingo
Landlord

Tenant background check in New York

A New York tenant background check works differently from one run almost anywhere else. State law caps screening fees at $20, bars landlords from denying an applicant over a past housing court case, and seals many older convictions automatically. New York City requires a conditional offer before criminal history can be reviewed at all. That leaves credit and verified income carrying most of the weight in a New York decision. This guide covers the rules at each stage, how to read what you receive, and how RentSpree handles New York screening from application to decision.

Smiling woman with dark hair wearing striped blazer and gold necklace, standing outside near a wooden structure.
Kimberly Mingo

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Landlord

Tenant placement services: what they do, what they cost, and whether you need one

Tenant placement services typically charge 50% to 100% of one month's rent to handle the leasing process from vacancy to move-in. But much of what these services offer is now available to landlords through free tenant screening software. With these tools, landlords can list and market a unit, manage applications, screen tenants, and verify income on their own. Whether you hire a service, work with an agent, or manage the process yourself, the most important thing is making sure the screening is thorough and you’re getting bank-verified income to confirm what the tenant actually earns.

Smiling woman with dark hair wearing striped blazer and gold necklace, standing outside near a wooden structure.
Kimberly Mingo
Landlord

Baselane vs Stessa: and why RentSpree gives you the full rental workflow for less

Baselane and Stessa both help landlords manage rental finances and screen tenants, but their broader tools differ. Baselane focuses on banking and bookkeeping, with no listing syndication, maintenance tools, or leases and e-signatures for new users. Stessa adds listing distribution, paid e-signatures, and maintenance tracking, but not vendor coordination. RentSpree covers more of the rental process for less, with unlimited listings, tenant screening, and bookkeeping available without a subscription. Paid plans also include a Rental Assistant that takes tenant maintenance requests and coordinates repairs with licensed pros after you approve the cost. Overall, RentSpree gives landlords more of the tools to manage a rental from listing through leasing and more, without the higher subscription cost.

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RentSpree Staff
Landlord

RentRedi review: pricing, features, and how it compares

RentRedi is a subscription-based property management platform built for landlords looking for screening, rent collection, maintenance tracking, and accounting in one place. Plans start at $12 per month (billed annually), with no free tier. On top of the subscription fee, tenant screening runs $39.99 to $49.99, typically paid by the applicant where permitted. RentRedi's single-plan pricing structure keeps things simple, though landlords who want to get started without a subscription, reduce their compliance risk, or reach more renters through broader listing distribution may find RentSpree to be a better fit.

Smiling woman with dark hair wearing striped blazer and gold necklace, standing outside near a wooden structure.
Kimberly Mingo
Landlord

TurboTenant vs. Zillow Rental Manager (and an alternative worth considering)

Most landlords comparing TurboTenant and Zillow Rental Manager are trying to answer the same question: how do I find the right tenant? That means getting your listing in front of renters, screening the people who apply, and confirming they actually earn what they claim. Zillow gives you the audience, but you can only verify income with uploaded pay stubs, which AI tools can easily doctor. TurboTenant's free plan covers screening, but it skips Zillow and charges $199 a year to verify income. RentSpree handles all three on its free plan: Zillow syndication, TransUnion screening, and bank-verified income for a flat $49.99 per tenant screening that you can require the applicant to pay.

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Kimberly Mingo
Landlord

6 Stessa Alternatives for Better Leasing and Compliance

Stessa is a financial tracking platform for rental property owners, with automated bookkeeping and Zillow listing distribution. Where landlords tend to outgrow it is pricing and compliance. Leases and e-signing require the Pro plan at $28/month, and the platform does not automate the denial notice that federal law requires when you turn down an applicant based on a screening report. This guide compares five Stessa alternatives on cost, screening, compliance, and the details that matter as your portfolio grows. RentSpree offers a comparable workflow at a lower cost: Landlord PRO runs $6.99/month billed annually with leases, e-sign, and free rent payment collection included, and automated denial notices are built into every plan, including the free tier.

Smiling woman with dark hair wearing striped blazer and gold necklace, standing outside near a wooden structure.
Kimberly Mingo
Landlord

How to verify tenant employment (and reduce income fraud)

Employment verification helps you check where an applicant works, while income verification confirms how much they earn. Both can help you evaluate the information an applicant provides against the criteria you've set for your rental. You can verify employment by contacting an employer directly, then verify income through financial documents or bank-connected income data. RentSpree brings the application, screening reports, income verification, and reference checks together in one place. Bank-connected income verification pulls deposit data directly from an applicant's financial institution, so you're not relying on documents that could be altered.

Smiling woman with dark hair wearing striped blazer and gold necklace, standing outside near a wooden structure.
Kimberly Mingo
Landlord

Credit checks for tenants: what landlords need to know

Most landlords check the credit score and stop there. Knowing how to read that data, set documented criteria around it, and handle denials correctly is what separates a confident screening decision from a costly one. RentSpree's screening includes a TransUnion credit report with ResidentScore on every application, with most results back in two hours.

Smiling woman with dark hair wearing striped blazer and gold necklace, standing outside near a wooden structure.
Kimberly Mingo
Landlord

Criminal background checks for tenants: a compliant screening guide

A criminal background check for tenants can provide information about an applicant's criminal history as part of the tenant screening process. Landlords and agents placing tenants often review criminal history alongside credit, eviction history, income, and information from the rental application. Federal fair housing guidance and some state and local laws affect when criminal history can be reviewed, how far back a landlord can consider certain records, and how it can factor into a rental decision. Some jurisdictions, for example, require landlords to make a conditional offer before reviewing an applicant's criminal history. With RentSpree, landlords and agents can request criminal, credit, and eviction reports together through TransUnion, with conditional acceptance available in many markets where it's required.

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Michael Rauch
General Counsel
California real estate rental application fees
Landlord

California rental application fees: 2026 rules and limits

California landlords (and agents assisting property owners with their rentals) can charge a rental application screening fee, but Civil Code section 1950.6 sets the limits. For 2026, the maximum is $65.86 per applicant in California. You can only charge when a unit is available, and only up to your actual screening costs. Since AB 2493 took effect in 2025, you must either approve the first qualified applicant or refund the fee to anyone you do not select. You also owe applicants an itemized receipt and a copy of any credit report you pull. RentSpree lets you collect California applications and screen within that cap from one dashboard, free for landlords and agents to set up.

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Michael Rauch