Getting started with Stateful
A short path for a landlord who holds rentals in one or more LLCs. You create an account, give each LLC its own books, then add the bank, the properties, and the people who pay rent.
The Investor plan is $15 a month or $144 a year, with a 30-day free trial. One subscription covers the LLCs, properties, and units on the account. The names below are the labels in the product, so you can follow them on screen.
After checkout, the Dashboard has a Setup checklist: Add an LLC, Connect a bank, Add a property, and Add a tenant or lease. This guide walks those steps, then recording rent, the landlord app, and filtering reports by LLC. If the Dashboard shows Sample books, that LLC and property are an example. Delete sample data removes the example. An LLC you add yourself stays.
1. Create your account and start the 30-day free trial
Choose Get started. The page is titled Create your account, with the line “One account for your properties and books.” You can Continue with Google, Continue with Microsoft, or enter Email and Password and choose Create account.
If the next screen says Check your email, open the verification link, then sign in. A new account then shows Start your 30-day free trial. Choose your billing schedule: $15 USD / month, billed monthly, or $12 USD / month with $144 billed annually. Continue to secure checkout. A payment method is required, and nothing is charged until the trial ends. Cancel before then and you pay nothing. Payment is handled by Stripe.
After the trial, the same Investor plan continues at $15 a month or $144 a year. There are no unit, property, entity, or user add-ons. The price is also on the pricing page.
2. Add each LLC
Open Legal Owners and choose Add owner. The page says “Create the LLC or individual that holds title.” Enter the Legal name, leave Type set to LLC, and choose Add owner. LLC members can stay Not set, or you can mark Single-member or Multi-member. Formation state and Formation date are optional.
Accounting basis stays accrual. On Legal Owners, an LLC is labeled Separate legal books. Open the owner and you get that LLC’s own P&L and Balance sheet, from posted journals. Add the next LLC the same way. A property held in your own name uses Type Individual, which the list calls Personally held books. That is a separate set of books from each LLC.
3. Connect each LLC’s bank account
Open Banking and choose + Connect account. The section is Connect a bank or card. Set Who owns this account? to Business / LLC. The note under that choice says the account balance belongs on the selected entity’s books. Then set Which books should this account feed? to that LLC, and choose Connect securely with Plaid. Stateful does not receive or store your online-banking password.
Repeat the connection for each LLC, and pick that LLC’s books each time. Imported activity stays in review until you post it. If a bank feed is not available, open Add a manual or CSV source account, set Who owns this account? to Business / LLC, and set Legal owner / destination books to the LLC. You can also Import CSV from a bank or card export. For how many accounts to open, and which one should receive rent, read how many bank accounts to keep for rental LLCs.
4. Add properties and units
Open Properties and choose Add property. Enter a Property name or a Street address — one of the two is enough — and choose Add property now. To attach the LLC and the units while you are there, open Add more details now (optional). Under Legal ownership, set Who legally owns this property? to the LLC. Under Purchase and operations, enter Units (optional) and Unit labels (optional). Unit labels take a list such as A, B, C.
You can fill those in later from the property page and choose Save property details. The Investor plan has no cap on units, properties, or entities, so a duplex and a larger building sit on the same plan. Profile fields such as units do not themselves post accounting entries. The LLC’s books are still the ledger.
5. Add tenants and the tenant portal
Open Rentals and choose Add a lease. Pick the Property, enter the Tenant name, and enter Tenant email (optional) when you have it. Add Starts on, Ends on, Monthly rent ($), and Security deposit required ($), then Create lease. A co-tenant can be added on the same form, or later with Add a co-tenant and Add tenant.
The lease opens on Household, under Tenants & access. Leave Portal access checked. Share the tenant sign-in link, Tenant sign in, with each tenant. They sign in with the email listed on the lease. If Tenant email is left blank, no sign-in invite is sent; add the email when you have it, then share the link. The portal shows charges, the balance, and a downloadable statement.
6. Record rent
Rent on the lease is charged on the due day of each month inside the lease dates. Workspace defaults for new leases — When rent is due, Late fees, and Charge numbers — are in Settings, on Rent collection. Save them with Save rent collection settings.
When a tenant pays by check, bank transfer or a payment app, open the lease, go to Payments & ledger, and record it under Add account activity as a payment received outside Stateful. It posts to the LLC that owns the property, and the tenant's balance updates in the tenant portal.
Online rent payments through the tenant portal are not available yet. Until they are, the lease's Enable rent collection section says so instead of offering setup.
7. Get the landlord app
Android now, iPhone coming soon. Download for Android on Google Play. Use it for receipt capture and mileage tracking. What it sends shows up in the web app under Receipts & mileage, attached to your properties, for you to review.
8. Filter reports by LLC
Open Reports. The filter is Legal owner. Choose one LLC, or leave All legal owners. Profit and loss and the balance sheet follow that choice. Schedule E and the rent roll use the same Legal owner filter. The landlord report’s filter is labeled LLC, with All LLCs as the unfiltered choice.
A report left on every legal owner is a combined view. The entity statement is the one limited to that LLC. Check the owner, the dates, and the accounting basis before you send a total to your CPA.
9. Where to get help
The welcome email is titled Welcome to Stateful and is signed by the founder. Reply to that note. In the signed-in app, Help & setup sits at the bottom of the sidebar: Book a free setup call, Report a problem or idea, or Email support at support@withstateful.com.
You can also write from the contact page or the support page. Please do not include bank credentials, account numbers, or other secrets.
Separate books, one account
Each LLC keeps its own books. The workspace is where you move between them. For the bookkeeping behind that split, read how to manage finances for multiple rental LLCs, or see Investor plan pricing.