Property Management Software Tutorial for Landlords: Set It Up in This Order

Still running rentals from a spreadsheet? Most of the pain in switching to property management software comes from setting it up out of order. The order that works: property → tenant → lease → money. Do it this way and every month-end report is already right.

We walk through it on Property Manager Cloud, but the order is the same in any tool.

1. The dashboard — payments due, open work orders, occupancy, leases about to expire.
2. Add the property — name, address, market rent, deposit, application fee, beds/baths, square feet, type.
3. Add the tenant — name, email, phone. Every lease, payment and repair will hang off this record.
4. Create the lease — property + tenant, move-in and end dates, rent, the date rent starts (these dates drive every balance), then the deposit.
5. Letters & forms — don't start from a blank page: California rental agreement, rent increase notice, notice to vacate for non-payment, pet agreement and more.
6. Balances & collecting rent — who owes what and how late; collect a payment and it posts to the ledger.
7. Work orders — every open repair with unit, priority and due date.
8. Log expenses — against the unit, so the owner statement is right.
9. Reports — statements + payments, rent roll, leases, work orders, accounting.
10. The tenant portal — one click from the tenant's record, so tenants pay and request repairs on their own.

Free setup checklist: comment SETUP on the video, or get it at upnexs.com/setup.

▶ Watch the full setup (4 min): https://youtu.be/vlsl9kf9xQM