Investor · Milpitas, CA · Member since 2013 · 12 posts · 12 votes
11y
I have 2 rentals using cozy for about 3 months now. The collection is free, but is rather slow, the money will be in my account on the 8-12th day of the month. There is no phone support, only email support and they are responsive.
Investor · Saint Paul, MN · Member since 2017 · 6 posts · 5 votes
8y
I have been using Cozy for about 18 months. Since starting, as leases have come up I have included Cozy as the only accepted form of payment. I know have all 5 of my rental units collecting rent through Cozy. Also I havr been using Cozy's screening services. I like the service, was collecting checks in the mail before which was always a hassle. From the tenants perspective, I believe rent might be the only bill they were mailing, and check they were writing so it was not a natural habit. Automating with Cozy is a great step in putting the passive in "passive income". I see that Cozy is adding an expense tracker feature and I am interested in trying it. Does anyone in BP have any experiences with it?
I’ve used cozy.co... only complaint is processing time which seems fairly consistent.
For those just managing 1-2 properties, checkout Facebook messenger. Sounds odd but for the millennial’s, it’s perfect. Not only that but get ready for this.... processing time = less than 5 minutes. It’s a debit card to debit card transaction. Used this for my last tenant and friggin loved the speed in which I had access to the money.
Rental Property Investor · Red Bank, NJ · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
8y
I understand. I have an easier time controlling what my tenants do, so when I tell them I do not accept partial payments they don't try and give them to me. If they did I would simply refuse it under Cozy and draft a notice to cease.
Also under Cozy you are never "on the look-out" you receive an email when a process has begun and the amount it is for.
Rental Property Investor · Norman, OK · Member since 2017 · 12 posts · 13 votes
8y
Hi all, working on renting out my first unit! Do you have prospective tenants fill out a hard copy application, and then send them to Cozy for screening? Or Cozy has everything needed, including prior landlord info? Everyone who has contacted me so far has been a college student and they don't know how to use pens, lol, they want everything online. Just making sure I'm not missing something, like prior rental history, if they do it all through Cozy.
Cambridge, MA · Member since 2015 · 651 posts · 736 votes
8y
@Staci Kou Cozy.co has an application. I have just set it up so I haven't actually used it but the sample I read does include prior rental history and references. You can see a sample application on their web site: https://cozy.co/for-landlords/rental-applications. You can see what the applicant sees, https://home.cozy.co/apply/142342 . The applicant has to create a Cozy.co account before they get to the application.
Rental Property Investor · Norman, OK · Member since 2017 · 12 posts · 13 votes
8y
Thanks @Carolyn Fuller! I just had someone apply through cozy and it worked well. If they sign, I'm planning on having them pay through cozy as well. Thanks @Liz C., good to know about cozy over Buildup. With one property I want things as simple as possible
(Last Paragraph) Because you are noticed when a transaction has started you have the ability to refuse partial payment. Best of luck.
That will end all payments from that account
What I am talking about is what other payment collection services have
Eg you tell it to only accepts $1250. When a tenent attempts to pay any more or less it is automatically refused
I also don’t want to have to be on the look out for transactions
I have this same request that is hard to find. @Jordann B. Does a landlord using Cozy.co have the option of only allowing a rent payment that is equal to or greater than the rent due? Or, does the landlord have a way of refusing and returning a rent payment within, say, 48 hours of the tenant sending it?
In some jurisdictions, a landlord accepting any amount of money as rent payment (or partial rent or installment of rent) prohibits that landlord from claiming the rent (or part of the rent) is late, which may block an eviction process. So the purpose for adding this capability to Cozy.co is to protect a landlord's right to refuse insufficient payment of rent and maintain the terms of the lease.
Does anybody know whether Cozy.co can automatically refuse a partial payment of rent, or whether a Cozy.co landlord can manually refuse it?
Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 21 posts · 7 votes
8y
From my understanding with speaking to cozy.co, they do not refuse payments automatically but you can refuse the payment when you first receive the email that the tenant has paid and I do think you can attach a note as to why it was refused.
Rental Property Investor · Bay Area CA | Maui HI · Member since 2018 · 49 posts · 47 votes
8y
My general philosophy on collecting rent is that it should be as friction-free as possible. That means no fees, no delays, and an easily repeatable process. I still haven't found the perfect solution, but I think a straight ACH transfer and/or Zelle come pretty close. ACH can be a pain to set up, but once it's done it's automatic every month and is usually free and (sometimes) quick. Zelle is both free and nearly instant, but it doesn't check the repeatable box because I don't believe Zelle allows recurring payments on a schedule.
If you think an online service like Cozy.co is free because they're charging the tenant, not the landlord, then you're getting duped. Let's say the rent is $800/mo and your tenant uses a credit card to pay, incurring a $22 fee each month. In your tenant's mind, they're now paying $822/mo, which means that rent bump you're looking for when the lease rolls is going to be that much harder to get accepted. Instead, have your tenant pay via a no-fee method and raise the rent to $820. Pocket the extra $240/yr in cash flow, but more importantly, keep in mind that $240/yr of new NOI translates into $4,800 of newly created asset value at a 5% cap rate.
Investor · Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 10k+ votes
8y
Devin, your argument makes no sense. The tenant could already choose the no fee option through cozy. But you’re saying, just raise their rent $20 and then tell them to use the no fee version of cozy. If they don’t want to use it for $800/mo rent why would they want to use it for $820/mo rent?
If you’ve found a company that charges neither the tenant nor the landlord and allows credit card payments with automatic payments I’m sure we’d all love to hear about it. But that’s the only way your argument makes any sense. Since they’d be losing 2% on every transaction I don’t see how they’d stick around long.
Rental Property Investor · Bay Area CA | Maui HI · Member since 2018 · 49 posts · 47 votes
8y
@Bill B. - The argument I'm making goes well beyond Cozy.co or anyone else who might facilitate rent payments. The point is that any rent collection fee levied on the tenant by a third party, whether it's Cozy.co, Visa, PayPal, or your property manager, represents potential lost income.
The tenant might very well switch to a no fee ACH set up (either via Cozy.co or direct) once you bump the rent, which is probably better for everyone. If they previously chose to pay $22/mo in fees on top of the rent, then they're clearly not that price sensitive at $800/mo.
More than anything else, I'm merely trying to illustrate the true cost of rent collection methods that charge transaction fees on the tenant. The best credit cards rebate about 1% back to the cardholder, so that still leaves 1.75% that's lost to intermediaries. Over the long run, those are real NOI dollars that rental property owners are leaving on the table.
Investor · Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 10k+ votes
8y
Yes, so you like cozy because it’s free and charges no fees to tenant or landlord? I’m planning on switching to them or Zelle unless someone has a better option as it will save me a bit of time and hassle and a little money on my rentals. Taking cellphone pictures of checks is easy but I often vacation for months at a time and don’t want to have someone collect the checks from my mail.
Hillsboro, OR · Member since 2012 · 1 post · 1 vote
8y
I think Zelle may have a limit of a $1000. It is also hard to use Zelle if you only have one phone number. I use zelle for personal payments and cozy for my rentals. I have been using cozy about 4 years now, never had any payment issues. Tenants seem to be able to sign up with no problems. I do wish there was a no partial rent problem. I even had a person that was able to pay rent using their unemployment debit card. All my tenants use the free option. I do not like using credit cards because of the fees, but it's nice to have the option.
Gary, IN · Member since 2017 · 83 posts · 62 votes
8y
I've been using Cozy.co for a couple of years. The only thing I see that might turn some people away is that payments are very slow. They take about a week to hit my account after the tenant initiates payment. I cared at first, but it doesn't bother me anymore. I can see when they initiated the payment, so I'm cool as long as it was initiated on or before the due date.
I have used Cozy for a while now. All of our tenants are on it and I dont think I want to ever go back to checks. Upside it is free to both sides. Improvements needed - you can not refund security deposit, deposits take 4-6 days (which is ok other then move in charges), lease changes are not as easy as they should be. All and all it is a great experience for the landlord, but I hear Truerent.com is better and offers more features that Cozy Lacks.
2 years later and they still haven’t added the feature to refund security deposits. Come on Cozy!
They did finally add the feature to automatically add a late charge to late payments. It is so much better than having to do it manually.
Architect · Cary, NC · Member since 2018 · 96 posts · 63 votes
8y
I did a lot of research on online rent collection/ free "management" sites a number of years back. I narrowed it down to two sites. 1. Cozy and 2. TenantCloud. I ended up going with tenantcloud as the features were what I needed for the way I run my investment properties. I have been using Tenantcloud for about 3 years now and I couldent be happier. Rent collection is possible through 3 different ways, but I only utilize the TC payments(through Dwolla). This used to be free in the beginning, but now costs me $9 a month for unlimited transfers. A $9 a month fee to make my life easier is well worth it. I use tenantcloud to keep all my leases, maintenance requests, apartment info and photos and tenant communications organized in one place. There is the option to refund security deposits and you can decide if you wish to receive partial payments on rent or not. (this was a big one for me as well)
They are continuously improving it. Highly recommend the site.
no. Terrible. Will say you are getting rent next day and then poof nsf. The worst was when they deposited rent then took the money back. Should not be allowed to do business. Ridiculously slow getting money. Use a reputable company