The stack splits by where your tenants come from, which is why you're getting contradictory answers.
If placements arrive through relationships with employers and relocation management companies, you need very little software. A lease and rent collection platform, typically 15 to 60 a month for a handful of units. Something to hold your inventory list and condition photos, which can be a spreadsheet and a shared folder. A smart lock service, a few dollars per door per month, which earns its keep when a tenant arrives at 11pm from a delayed flight.
If you're filling gaps by listing on mid-term marketplaces, add a listing management or channel tool, which for small operators tends to run in the tens of dollars monthly, sometimes a percentage of booking instead. Some of those marketplaces take a commission from the guest side rather than charging you a subscription, so the cost shows up as a lower net rate instead of a line item.
The expenses that will do more damage to your model than software are the per-turn ones. A deep turn clean on a furnished unit with linens is commonly 150 to 350 depending on size and market, and if you place four tenants a year that's a real number. Consumables restock per arrival. Linen and towel replacement annually.
The line most underwriters leave out entirely is time. Corporate housing is a hands-on operation, with arrival coordination, inventory checks, and a client relationship to maintain. If you're not paying a manager for that, you're paying yourself in unbilled hours, and a furnished management fee runs well above the 8 to 10 percent typical for unfurnished.
