Real estate agents regularly handle transactions in the thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Because of this, it is very important to have an easy-to-use platform to handle the money management aspects of your business. At a minimum, you need a solution that can handle invoicing and payments.
A good payment and billing solution will also integrate many other features into the platform. Many are able to handle your accounting as well, and this link between invoicing, payments, and your own finances can be helpful for keeping track of everything. Payment gateway integration is another feature to be aware of. If you already have a preferred payment gateway, you’ll want to make sure the solution you choose supports that gateway. Flexible payment options can also help make it easier to work with a wider variety of clients. Finally, it may be worth considering a solution that integrates CRM functionality. The more tools you are able to keep in a single place, the easier it will be to keep track of the many facets of a real estate business.
A good platform will make things easier for both you and the client. One way to ensure your clients receive the best service possible is to ensure you never miss a client call. The virtual receptionists at Smith.ai are able to handle incoming calls for you, allowing you to focus on your business itself. Additionally, we are able to take care of client lead and intake, helping set appointments to ensure your clients receive the top-notch customer service they deserve.
Now let's take a look at the ten best payment and billing solutions for real estate.
Quickbooks is one of the most well-established brands in the industry thanks to their unrivaled customer support and excellent feature set.
Invoice creation and payment processing are easy with the Quickbooks platform. Quickbooks also lets you manage your payroll, making it a one-stop solution for your entire real estate business. If necessary, you can even set up a live bookkeeper, alleviating the need to handle this side of your business yourself.
Standout Feature: The accounting functionality in Quickbooks is the best in the business. Tracking your income, creating and sending invoices, and taking payments are all integrated right into the platform, making things extremely simple for the user. The easy bookkeeping also makes managing taxes a breeze, which is definitely a big selling point for many business owners.
FreshBooks is best suited to smaller agencies, or even a single real estate agent. Their plans are cheaper than many competitors, even when moving up to the premium plan that allows for an unlimited number of clients.
All the major necessities are available here, including invoicing and payments. A number of payment methods are supported, including credit cards, ACH, virtual terminal, and more. The accounting features are nicely tied in here, with all payments and even transaction fees automatically tracked and loaded into the accounting module. Time and mileage tracking are also available, and there is even the option to use collaboration and light project management features.
Standout Feature: The best thing about FreshBooks is how streamlined the platform is. It’s a perfect fit for smaller agencies or freelancers who need something easy enough for one person to manage on their own.
Wave is a unique company on this list, in that its platform is completely free to use. Invoicing, accounting, and receipts are all offered at no fee, but there are additional functions that can be added for a low cost.
Wave also handles payment processing with fees on a per-transaction basis. The accounting module is excellent, especially for one provided at no cost. Unlimited income and expense tracking, unlimited collaborators, excellent reporting, and the ability to track multiple businesses under one account all help make Wave an excellent platform for any real estate agent.
Standout Feature: For a fee, payroll management can also be added to your Wave solution. The payroll feature not only helps manage your payroll, but also automatically handles tax payments and paperwork for many states, making a painful process much easier than it could be otherwise.
Swipez covers all the bases for a real estate agent: payments, invoicing, and even a website builder are all included here. Many large companies around the world work with Swipez, and they have excellent customer service to help support their large client base.
The billing module from Swipez incorporates all the features needed to manage a business of any size. Customer data tracking, automated reminders, and even offline tracking are all available. Payment processing is handled well, with all major payment methods supported.
Standout Feature: For an additional fee, Swipez can provide venue booking functionality. The ability to organize bookings for events across any number of dates and time slots can be useful for keeping track of important events like open houses.
Zarmney is a platform mainly focused on the invoicing and payments side of the business. They have a great feature set and can scale easily as your business grows.
Payment processing and invoicing are of course included, but Zarmoney offers a lot more than just this. Inventory management is available if required, and a number of productivity features such as collaboration and advanced user permissions are also available. Zarmoney has very robust reporting features, including everything from profit and loss to 1099 reporting.
Standout Feature: The scalability of Zarmoney is excellent. Important functionality is all included in the basic plan, but additional modules for vendor management, inventory, and more are all available if required.
TallyPrime is a comprehensive business management platform that does a lot more than just payment and billing management.
Payments and invoicing are of course managed well, but there is a lot more here. Stock movement and reporting are supported, and it’s easy to manage multiple companies from one profile. Inventory management is also available if needed, and there are a ton of great reporting features included as well.
Standout Feature: The TallyPrime interface is excellent. It’s easy for anyone to pick up and dive in, which can be important when business or finance management isn’t your forte.
Invoicera is a great choice for real estate agents, with payments, billing, and even vendor management all handled within the platform.
One of the great things about Invoicera is that it solves a lot of problems specific to the real estate industry. Project and cost management is available, helping keep track of bigger projects. Taxes are also managed right in the platform, and there is a great module for handling estimates, a large part of the real estate industry.
Standout Feature: The sheer amount of versatility is the best thing about Invoicera. Anything you can think of is available as a platform feature. Subscription-based billing, project management, CRM, time tracking, staff management, and detailed reporting are all possible. If you truly want every aspect of your business integrated into a single solution, Invoicera is definitely an option to consider.
Xero makes it easy for real estate businesses to keep track of finances with strong accounting features. Payment processing and invoicing are also all managed on this all-in-one platform.
All major payment methods are accepted, including industry mainstays such as Stripe and Paypal. Xero is a popular platform and integrates well with a number of third-party apps as well. One great feature of Xero is the collaboration tools, making it easy to collaborate with your bookkeeper even using their mobile platform.
Standout Feature: The best feature of Xero is the number of integrations that are available. Over 800 apps can connect to Xero, making data sharing across any of your tools very easy. This can be important for real estate that has many different facets to manage.
Realtyzam was designed exclusively for real estate agents, and it shows in the number of features that are especially suited for those in the industry.
One thing not offered by Realtyzam is payment processing. The platform focuses almost exclusively on the accounting portion of a real estate agent’s business, but this area is handled better than almost any other platform out there. Accounting functionality is designed exclusively for real estate agent use, with great features like automatic data entry and tax management.
Standout Feature: The best feature here is of course the accounting platform. Although this is the only part of your business Realtyzam will help you with, it performs this task admirably, making accounting tasks as quick and painless as possible.
Lone Wolf Back Office is another platform that specifically places an emphasis on the real estate industry. Almost any feature a real estate agent might need is supported with Lone Wolf.
Payments, invoicing, and accounting are all done well in Lone Wolf, but there are a lot of other features as well. Agent management is available, which is useful for a bigger agency with a lot of agents. There is also a way to track and manage listings, something not offered by any other solutions on this list.
Standout Feature: The best part of Lone Wolf Back Office is its dedication to serving real estate workers. Listing integration, agent management, integrated trust/escrow, automated commission calculation, and excellent reporting all make it easy to keep an eye on every aspect of a real estate business.
Every provider on this list is an excellent choice for any real estate agent or business. The key is finding a platform that offers all the functionality you need at a price point that you can live with. Be aware of how each platform may or may not integrate with existing tools that you wish to continue using. If you already have a trusted payment gateway, make sure the platform supports it. Don’t forget that every one of these platforms has either a free trial or a demo option, so don’t be afraid to try a few of them out and get a feel for which seems to be easy to work with.
Be aware that making the most of your business doesn’t stop once you choose a payment and billing solution. There are always ways to continue to improve and grow your business. Client intake and management, for example, is one of the most important parts of any real estate agent’s job. You may receive numerous calls throughout the day from both current or potential clients, and missing a client call is never good for business. The virtual receptionists at Smith.ai can ensure you never miss a client call again. The service is 24/7, which ensures that even when you aren’t available, we are. In addition to telephone answering service, we’re also able to screen potential clients, taking down contact information, and even scheduling an appointment if necessary. This service can be a big help to a busy real estate agent, helping cut down on your daily workload and allowing you to spend more time on the rest of your job.
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