Getting Started: Set Up Your Rental Property Tracker
Estavo takes under 10 minutes to set up from a blank account to your first logged transaction. This section walks you through account creation, property setup, and the core concepts you need to understand before building out your full portfolio.
Already know what you’re doing? Skip straight to Quick Start for the 5-step setup path.
What You’ll Accomplish in This Section
Before You Begin
You need:
- An email address
- Your first rental property’s address and unit count
- Whether it’s a short-term rental (Airbnb, VRBO) or long-term (annual lease)
That’s it. Estavo’s free tier requires no credit card and manages 1 unit permanently.
The Three Concepts Every Landlord Needs to Understand
1. Properties contain units — units generate income
A single-family rental house is 1 property with 1 unit. A duplex is 1 property with 2 units. A vacation rental complex with 5 cabins is 1 property with 5 units.
Transactions (rent, bookings, unit-level repairs) always attach to a unit. Shared costs (mortgage, insurance, HOA) attach to the property. This is how Estavo keeps your per-unit P&L accurate without complex formulas.
2. Income and expenses are both “transactions”
There is no separate bookings tab or expenses module. An Airbnb payout is a credit transaction. An HVAC repair is a debit transaction. A monthly mortgage payment is a debit transaction. Everything lives in the Money view as a single sortable ledger — filtered by direction (credit vs. debit) when you need to see just income or just expenses.
3. Obligations auto-draft transactions for recurring bills
Your mortgage, insurance, and utilities are set up as ObligationTemplates. Estavo generates a draft transaction on each due date. You confirm (or adjust) the amount before it posts to your ledger. This means you never manually enter a recurring bill unless the amount changed.
Migrating from a Spreadsheet?
If you have years of rental data in Google Sheets or Excel:
- Set up your properties and units first (takes 5–10 minutes)
- Download the CSV transaction template
- Map your columns once
- Upload and review
See Import from Spreadsheet for the column-by-column guide. White-glove migration (we do it for you) is available for new subscribers — email support@estavo.net.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does initial setup take?
For a single rental property with basic obligations, expect 15–20 minutes. For a portfolio of 10+ properties, plan on 2–3 hours for manual setup, or use the CSV import to load historical transaction data much faster.
Do I need to add all my historical transactions?
No — you can start fresh from today and only enter historical data you want for tax reporting. Many landlords add the current year’s transactions, import prior years as needed, and use the Schedule E export at year-end.
What’s the difference between a property and a unit in Estavo?
A property is the physical building or legal parcel — it has an address, an owner, and shared costs like mortgage and insurance. A unit is the rentable space inside the property — it generates income and has a lease type. One property can have multiple units. Billing is based on active units, not properties.
Can I manage both short-term and long-term rentals in the same account?
Yes. Each unit has its own lease type. You can have Unit A as a short-term vacation rental (Airbnb) and Unit B as a long-term annual-lease unit, both under the same property and the same organization.