Using Zillow for rent payments

[Stephen Reyes]

I am using Zillow to collect rent payments.  I like it because it is free, the tenants can pay online, it is automated, etc.  However, it takes 7-10 days (which is longer than Zillow claims) for me to actually get the payments.  Honestly waiting for the payment is not a big issue for me, however, I am worried if their payment does not "clear" I won't know for 10 days.  Am I worried about nothing?  Are there better platforms?

[David M.]

@Stephen Reyes

Not sure why you need a "platform."  Just have them send the rent via Zelle from their bank account.  Just about all banks are plugged into it.  Transactions are really instantaneous...

I guess you could use Paypal or Venmo, but I have very little experience with those.

[Christopher Cole]

ACH payments by their nature take a few days to know if it actually clears (you can know faster for credit card payments). 7-10 days I'm guessing is something like this:

2-3 business days Tenant -> Zillow
2-3 business days Zillow -> Landlord

So in summary, you'd almost surely know within a couple days if the tenant sends a bogus payment, even if you don't get it into your bank account until later.

[Michael King]

Why don't you use Zelle? Most banks have it, it's instantaneous and free, with a text alert on deposits. Also Venmo, but takes 3 biz days I believe. Free unless you want the $$ faster. There are other apps too - cash app, paypal, who knows what else. I had one tenant who didn't use the internet, so I had her pay cash at my bank into my account. Personally I wouldn't use Zillow, I can only imagine they want to introduce a future fee for the service.

[Randall Alan]

We use Rentecdirect.com.  They fund ACH’s the following day, however if the payment later bounces they reverse the transaction.  They are a complete rental management solution for about $4/door per month.  We love them!  They charge no fees on ACH’s and have a lot of great features / services. 

randy

[Michael Noto]

There are so many options to collect payments these days, but in general I would not choose one that takes 7-10 days to clear. Just not worth dealing with because there are better options out there. 

[Scott M.]

Should really stop using Zillow for everything and anything.  Their goal is to put you and most people reading BP out of business.  Realtors, property managers, landlords and even investors wanting to buy properties.  Their longer term goal is to use the money you give them to put you out of business.  

[Joe Splitrock]

The ACH transaction itself takes 24 hours or less, as far as money leaving the tenants account. The tenant sees the money out right away. Part of the reason that some rent payment services "float" the payment is to make sure it clears. If they put it in your account right away and it bounced a day later, they would have to pull the money back from you. This could be risky for them if you already transferred money out of your account or closed it. The float ensures the transaction clears and they make a little on interest to help fund free payments. Most of the fast ACH services will charge a transaction fee.

Zelle uses ACH but operates faster because member banks pre-authorize that funds are there. There is no reason to wait for funds to clear, because the sending bank only sends if money is there. 

[Jasmine Delves]

As some have mentioned already, there are other platforms out there that have a lower average transfer time (like 3-5 working days). 

Regarding better platforms, it depends on what your priorities are when it comes to features. Zillow is especially good for advertising, creating listings, etc. but there are other platforms that focus more on rent collection or accounting and financial tracking. It's worth doing some research to find the best one for you.

[Marian Smith]

@Scott M. Why do you say that? I think Zillow just wants to make money, take a cut where they can to pay themselves for running the most popular real estate site in the country. I have no problem paying them to host my rental advertisements...but I don't think I would link them to my bank account.

[Colin Rhoads]

Quote from @Michael King:

Why don't you use Zelle? Most banks have it, it's instantaneous and free, with a text alert on deposits. Also Venmo, but takes 3 biz days I believe. Free unless you want the $$ faster. There are other apps too - cash app, paypal, who knows what else. I had one tenant who didn't use the internet, so I had her pay cash at my bank into my account. Personally I wouldn't use Zillow, I can only imagine they want to introduce a future fee for the service.

Zelle is the absolute last resort for rental payments. They only keep payment history for 90 days (depending on banking partner). There's zero security if payment is accidentally sent to wrong person. And they cap payments at around $2,500 - so depending on rent amount it's not good. Zelle and Venmo are to pay your buddy back for coffee, not transferring thousands of dollars every month.