Rent Collection Platforms

[Raylene Pranich]

Tenants move in this month on the 15th, and this is our first time being landlords. We are doing some research on rent collection methods but are new to all of this, so if anyone has recommendations that would be great! We are looking for something that will help us out with automated pay, as well as something that might provide us a tax form at the end of the year. I've heard of baseline, Zillow rent collections, Zelle, etc, but not sure what direction to head. Any insight helps!

[Jim Johnson]

For first rentals, most owners move toward a rent collection platform rather than apps like Zelle. The big benefit is automation, payment tracking, and cleaner records for taxes.

A few simple options many small landlords use:

• Innago – Free and very straightforward. Tenants can set up auto-pay and the system tracks payments and late fees.

• Avail – Good if you want rent collection plus leases, screening, and tenant communication in one place.

• Zillow Rental Manager – Easy to use and keeps payment records with access to 1099s for tax season.

Most platforms let tenants set automatic monthly payments, send reminders, and keep a digital record of every transaction — which makes bookkeeping and tax time much easier.

For a first rental, the best choice is usually whichever platform is simple for tenants and easy for you to track payments consistently.