Changing Yardi to Rent Manager is not a simple software change, but a complete business change. Yardi has been the mainstay of the operations in most property management firms. However, as portfolios expand and reporting requirements change, integrations become complicated, leading most teams to believe that Yardi is too inflexible, too costly, or too difficult to customize. That is where Rent Manager comes in – a versatile, contemporary system that allows property managers to have superior control over accounting, automation, and daily operations.
However, switching from Yardi to Rent Manager cannot be completed in a single night. Consider moving your whole office to a new online house, including the financial details, tenant records, lease history, payments, and portals. When you do things without planning, everything soon becomes disorganized.Â
If you use an appropriate migration method, you can enjoy a hassle-free transition, maintaining your accounting records accurately and ensuring your business runs smoothly. This step-by-step process will walk you through the migration process, covering all stages before, during, and after the migration. You’ll learn:
- How to determine whether you are ready to change.
- What information to transfer (what to abandon).
- Your Chart of Accounts and financial mapping: How to design your Chart of Accounts and financial mapping.
- The most secure step-by-step migration process between Yardi and Rent Manager.
- Potential traps to escape during go-live.
No matter how many units you have to handle, 200 or 2,000, this guide will assist you in planning a zero-downtime transition supported by a detailed checklist and professional migration experience.
| Summary: Who is this guide targeted at, the most secure stream of migration, and the three must-haves before going live. |
We handle end-to-end Rent Manager migrations, including data, GL, and month-end processes.
Why Businesses Move from Yardi to Rent Manager?
Yardi is a large and established system that many property management companies begin with. However, as your portfolio or operations expand, you may find the complexity and licensing framework of Yardi overwhelming.
A few of the typical reasons that businesses move to Rent Manager include:
- Easier to use interface: Rent Manager is more adaptable and easier to use with small and medium-sized portfolios.
- Reduced cost of ownership: It does not charge a high fee for extra modules or integrations.
- Enhanced integration environment: Rent Manager is compatible with payment processors, CRM applications, and maintenance.
- Better automation: Month-end close, recurrent charges, and late fee arrangements can be set up quickly and readily tracked.
- Reporting control: Rent Manager offers custom reporting and export facilities, making compliance and ownership reporting easy.
Rent Manager will provide you with the same accounting depth as Yardi, but without the heavy administration burden typically associated with it.
Who is this guide for?
The guide is a migration guide aimed at:
- Property management firms run between 100 and 5,000 units.
- CFOs and controllers are responsible for quality accounting and end-of-month reporting.
- Planning and leasing teams, dealing with tenants, work orders, and daily transactions.
- Property management clients that have bookkeeping or accounting supported by back-office and outsourcing partners.
If you are transitioning to Rent Manager from Yardi, this is your roadmap.
Migration Plan from Yardi to Rent Manager:
This ten-step flow minimizes disruption and ensures all financial and operational data align before you switch over.
1. Pre-Migration Preparations: Preparing the Ground
You should ensure that you have a good foundation before exporting anything from Yardi. This stage defines your ease of further migration.
Check Portfolio Fit
Begin with an analysis of your portfolio and operations set-up:
- What is the number of units/ properties you handle?
- What are the types of assets they are residential, commercial, or mixed?
- Which integrations do you have currently (payments, maintenance, screening, etc.)?
- What is your reporting requirement – do you generate consolidated reports or property-level statements?
If your business has various property types or complicated reports, consider splitting your migration into phases to avoid migrating everything at once.
Decide How Much History to Bring
Here’s a big decision:
Would you like only to migrate your opening balances, or will you migrate your entire transaction history?
- Option 1: Opening Balances Only – Fast, easy, and perfect when you want to start afresh.
- Option 2: Complete History of Transactions – Maintains a permanent audit record or comparative records over a long period.
| Pro Tip: Most property managers update the prevailing year and opening balances. It is the right combination of completeness and simplicity. |
Examine Compliance and Audit Requirements
Check your compliance requirements before migration:
- Do you handle trust accounts that require regular balance maintenance?
- Are you subject to security, interest, or refund regulations?
- What is the length of time you are required to keep your audit trails and financial records?
In the case of dealing with client money or security deposits, accuracy is not a compromise. This is where professional migration assistance comes in at the right price.
2. Project Team & Governance: Who Does What
A migration is not only about the IT project, but it is also about business transformation.
You need the right people in the right roles.
| Role | Who | Responsbilities |
|---|---|---|
| Sponsar | CFO/ Owner | Provides budget, signs off important milestones |
| Project Lead | Controller/ Head Accountant | Oversees financial validation and COA mapping |
| Subject Matter Expert | Operations/ Leasing | Validates lease and tenant data |
| Vendor/ Partner | Outsourced Accounting | Handles extraction, mapping, and imports |
| IT Team | Internal or External | Sets up access, integrations, and backups |
Hold weekly check-ins and track risks, changes, and acceptance criteria. A well-run governance model avoids surprises at go-live.
3. Scope & Data Inventory: Inventory to Move
At this point, make a decision on what data will be migrated. Not all the information in Yardi needs to be transferred to Rent Manager.
Core Data
- Properties and units
- Tenants and leases
- Vendors and owners
- Chart of Accounts (COA)
Financial Data
- Open accounts payable (A/P) and open accounts receivable (A/R)
- Action, prepaid rents, arrears
- General Ledger (GL) balances
Operational Data
- Work orders
- Repetitive fee policies and charges.
- Documentary history, notes, and communication history.
Portal & Payment Data
- Portal credentials of tenants and owners.
- Autopay requirement and refunds.
Don’t forget to update your 1099 vendor information, bank accounts and tenant IDs. What may appear as a small problem at the time, these little things can be a big problem in the future.
4. Yardi (Source of Truth) Extract
Export data using the Yardi standard exports or reports:
- Tenant Master
- Unit Master
- Vendor List
- Open A/R & A/P Items
- Security Deposits
- Trial Balance
- 1099 Vendor Data
Always take a cutover snapshot (EoD T-1) of:
- Bank balances
- A/R and A/P aging reports
That snapshot is your reconciliation anchor when data is deposited in Rent Manager.
5. Configure Rent Manager (Target System)
Requirements Before importing data, establish the base of Rent Manager:
- Company overview and financial year.
- COA and tax settings
- Frozen roles, permission, approval flows.
- Inventory forms (leases, notices)
- Tenant & owner portals
- Recurring charge policy and payment processors.
Triple-verify the automation of late fees and portal configurations to prevent tenant confusion after the launch.
6. Validation & Reconciliation Checklists
This phase ensures your migrated data matches to the penny.
7. Accounting Validation
- Trial Balance = Yardi source
- A/R aging = source
- A/P aging = source
Deposits
- Tenant-level deposits tie perfectly to the GL control account.
Operational Checks
- Recurring charges trigger correctly.
- Late fee rules simulate as expected.
- Tenant/owner portal logins verified.
Banking
- Run a $1/₹1/€1 payment processor test.
- Validate refund and chargeback workflows.
8. Right Sequence of Import Data
It is anarchy to import everything at the same time. It is the trick to pursue a low-risk, rational import order:
- United States: Chart of Accounts, Properties, Units.
- Vendors, Owners
- Tenants and Leases
- Recurring Charges and Fee Rules.
- Debtors and creditors (A/R, A/P, Deposits, GL)
- .Optional: Documents and notes.
After each import, run quick validation reports to confirm data integrity.
9. Validate and Reconcile
After entering data into Rent Manager, the process moves to reconciliation, which is the accountant’s favorite stage. Key checks include:
- Trial balance Rent Manager = Trial balance Yardi.
- A/R and A/P aging reports match
- GL ties with tenant deposit balances.
- Recurrent and late fees work properly.
- There are portals available to tenants and owners.
Test payments, even a $1 test deposit, help ensure your banking and refund integrations work properly.
10. Go-Live Day Playbook
When ready to go live:
- Make end-of-year Yardi backup and exports.
- Disable Yardi autopay links.
- Allow payments to enable Rent Manager and portals.
- Publishes a What Changed narration to employees, proprietors, and tenants.
- Communication facilitates adoption and reduces confusion.
11. Trust Accounting & Compliance
Rent Manager eases compliance – but so must your process.
Segregate duties and approval limits.
Review SOC/PII hygiene.
Audit logs and other supporting documents of archives are secured.
Case Study: Let’s Understand this in Details
In six weeks, a 400-unit property management company in Texas switched from Yardi to Rent Manager. Through the running of a structured migration and two parallel month-end cycles:
- End-of-month close time decreased by 35%.
- The adoption rate of the tenant portal reached 90% in just 2 weeks.
- Accounting variances = Zero.
Their migration was described as a great stress reliever; it was found that planning is always better than hurrying.
Frequently Asked QuestionsÂ
Q1: How much history should I migrate from Yardi to Rent Manager?
In the majority of portfolios, it is best to migrate the current fiscal year and the opening balances. It strikes a balance between audit needs and expediency.
Q2: Can I bring security deposit histories and apply interest rules?
Yes. Rent Manager can import deposit subledgers, interest rules, and refund records, provided they have been correctly mapped out of Yardi.
Q3: How do I ensure my opening balances and subledgers tie out?
Always balance your trial balance, the aging of the A/R, and the aging of deposits against your Yardi snapshot (EoD T-1).
Q3: What is the most common migration break?Â
The most frequent issues are GL mis-mapping, tenant duplication, or lost deposit subledger. Thwart them using data audits and pilot imports.
Q4: What is the translation of recurring charges and the late fee rules?
Recreate Rent Manager charge codes using equal frequency and proration logic. Test recurring charges always before go-live.
Are you Ready for the Migration Process?
Get a Free Migration Call…We perform end-to-end Rent Manager migrations, including data, GL, and month-end processes.
