Smarter Facility vs Excel for a rental property
Excel records the numbers. Smarter Facility takes the payment, reminds you about overdue rent, and keeps the lease, deposit, damage and inventory in one place.
The short answer
Excel is enough for one property with one tenant, where rent arrives by bank transfer and you need no reminders. Once you have several properties, tenants change, or you want the tenant to pay online, the spreadsheet only records and you do everything else by hand.
Smarter Facility is a rental property management platform in Bulgaria. Registration includes 1 free license for 1 year, so you can compare both approaches on your own property.
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Comparison by topic
| Topic | Excel | Smarter Facility |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | The spreadsheet is among the tools you already use. | 1 free license for 1 year on registration. |
| Rent by status | You enter and colour it by hand every month. | Upcoming, due, overdue and paid rent for every property. |
| Paying rent | Does not take payments; you track bank transfers by hand. | The tenant pays online by card (through Stripe) and the money goes to the owner's bank account. |
| Reminders | Sends no reminders; you have to remember. | Automatic notifications about upcoming and late payments and expiring leases, by email and push. |
| Lease | A separate file in a folder. | A lease from a template in 6 steps, sent to the tenant for online approval, with start, end and renewal dates tracked. |
| Deposit | A column in the sheet. | The deposit sits with the lease, in the same place as the rent. |
| Damage and repairs | Photos and costs in separate folders and messages. | Damage with photos and a description, repair requests from the tenant, costs and a history for the property. |
| Furniture inventory | A separate document. | An inventory with photos and condition, to compare at move-in and move-out. |
| Several properties | You organise them by hand across sheets or files. | An unlimited number of properties in one dashboard. |
| The tenant | You share a file or exchange messages. | The tenant pays and submits repair requests in the platform. |
When Excel is enough
- You have one property and one tenant for a long time.
- Rent arrives by bank transfer and you need no reminders.
- You do not need a damage history or an inventory with photos.
When a platform makes sense
- You have several properties or change tenants often.
- You want the tenant to pay rent online by card.
- You live in another city or abroad and do not want to track everything by hand.
- You want the lease, deposit, inventory and damage in one place rather than in separate files.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, if you have one property and one tenant, rent arrives by bank transfer and you need no reminders or damage history. Problems start with several properties, a change of tenant, or when you want online payment.
Excel does not take payments, does not send reminders for overdue rent or an expiring lease, and does not let a tenant submit a repair request. All of that stays manual work.
Registration includes 1 free license for 1 year. For more properties and for agencies the price is by quote: you can request one from the contact page.
Register in the portal, add your property in 6 steps (with a utility bill to verify the address) and create the lease.