Longwood, FL · Member since 2016 · 10 posts · 14 votes
Hey all,
I just closed on my first rental property and we're getting ready to rent it out. I'm looking at different ways of collecting rent and was just curious if anyone used Cozy. It looks like a great option, but given I don't have much experience, I wanted to see what thoughts others might have on it.
Late response but for people looking for current response: My son's landlord used Cozy after trying to use another rent collection company that was IMPOSSIBLE to navigate. Cozy was SO easy to navigate and sign up for that I created another account to collect rents on my properties and it is absolutely great. I can see exactly when the rent has been processed and they provide updates every step of the way. Customer service is responsive and professional. I can track all of my expenses to make it easy for my accountant. Highly recommend Cozy. I had tried another rent collection company that I shall not name and they were HORRIBLE. It took them ten days to process my payment and they called me and said "they didn't know what went wrong." Ridiculous. Will only use Cozy in future.
Doesn't help anyone when you don't mention who the HORRIBLE one was....
Well you don't need to know which one was the "horrible" one since Cozy is so much better. I don't think it's allowed to mention other vendors' names. Why do you even want to know the other vendor's name if I said they're horrible?
Investor · Columbus, OH · Member since 2015 · 625 posts · 601 votes
8y
@Constance Marines so nobody else uses them lol. I have 3 Tennant's that use cozy. 2 have been set up for two years with no problems. It's easy for the Tennant to set up too.
Investor · USA · Member since 2015 · 325 posts · 447 votes
8y
Cozy is amazing. They have totally changed my business through automation. I love them so much that I named my daughter after them. I wish I was kidding. Baby Cozy was born at the end of March!!! She is in the picture with my name!!!
The only criticism I have is that I wish they had a dashboard that showed all the rentals who has paid, when, when it will be deposited.
I like cozy a lot, but can't compare to other online payment methods.
One thing I really wish they'd integrate, is a way for landlords to have the option to automatically apply late fees after the grace period (if u have one).
I'm new to Cozy so they may have changed since a year ago but they do have an option to add a fee if rent is not paid after your selected grace period.
I tried to use them and had 3 prospective tenants fill out their application which is run through Experian. I could not retrieve the application reports which cost $39.99 per tenant. Cozy only does email support. No phone. I’ve tried numerous times to get Cozy to respond and whey they did, they said verbatim that, “Experian should be able to help me.”
Note that the word is “should”. I’ve called Experian no less than 10 times and probably talked to everybody working there by now. Still no resolution. I’ve switched to Buildium and their support is awesome. Not only can you chat or email with them, but you can talk to people on the phone and get any questions resolved. Right away. I’m a big proponent of “you get what you pay for”. In this case, I had to eat the cost for several reports.
Rental Property Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 30 posts · 9 votes
7y
Anyone tried https://www.propertyware.com/pricing/ , this seems to be little expensive but if you have like 20+ properties, probably it is worth it I think. The features of tenant move-in, move-out reports, tenant portal etc seems to be compelling. I have not used it but I would try it once I have a good number of properties to manage.
Rental Property Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 30 posts · 9 votes
7y
Could some scammer setup our property as their property and start listing, collecting applications, security deposit etc? I have seen some tenants apply and pay security deposit without even looking at the property when they are out of state. How to prevent such scams? Does Cozy or any other software have check on such issues?
Real Estate Consultant · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2017 · 10 posts · 1 vote
7y
I have used Cozy for 4 years and recommend it for rent collection. Although I have been a long time customer of theirs and have noticed them moving the goal post on how long it takes for rent to hit the account. It used to be faster than it is now, unless, you pay of course.
San Jose, CA · Member since 2018 · 76 posts · 13 votes
7y
@all, I just started to use cozy. I had question about when to set due date for tenant to pay. My tenant said they will pay on1st. With Cozy, I will receive my rent on 5th or 6th of the month. Do you guys tell your tenant to pay on 25 or so? How do you make sure you get or will get rent?
Investor · Tempe, AZ · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 731 votes
7y
Hi @Viral Patel, there are standard processing times for any bank-to-bank transactions. Our users have the same wait period when collecting rent. You should set your Due Date to the 1st.
There are two sides of each payment: in and out. To arrive on the 1st, payments are processed a few days before if they set up auto-pay. Typically 2-3 days. Banks hold onto your money to make sure everything properly clears from the tenants side. Whenever you pay for a Quick Payout, you're essentially paying the bank to risk paying out to you before their process is completed.
Since there is a cost associated for that risk, Cozy/Burbz/Tenant Cloud/etc. will charge the landlord a 'Quick Payout' fee to accelerate the transfer.
Inform your tenant if they pay on the 1st then it might not arrive on-time to avoid late fees. It's the same if you mailed the check out on the 1st. They will need to plan on paying a few days early to allow for processing. Then you need to wait a few more days for it to hit your bank account, although it may show as 'pending' once it's been approved on the 'in' side.
Investor · Tempe, AZ · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 731 votes
7y
@Viral Patel absolutely! Being on the Burbz team, I am familiar with the ACH process since we just went through the development process. If you have any questions I am always happy to address them.
Could some scammer setup our property as their property and start listing, collecting applications, security deposit etc? I have seen some tenants apply and pay security deposit without even looking at the property when they are out of state. How to prevent such scams? Does Cozy or any other software have check on such issues?
While possible, less likely than Craigslist. Cozy requires an identity verification using a credit bureau (Experian I believe) before allowing you to collect rent.
Just wanted to get an update on Cozy, is it still working well?
Also, do you manage maintenance & repairs through Cozy? If so, how do you set up contractors/vendors, communicate with them, and issue work orders/ payments?
How is the book keeping? Do you have easy access to all receivables/payables data and can you easily download to excel?
I still use cozy.co, but mainly for backgrounds/application process. We do a lot through cashapp, and cozy is just a nice little extra, but it's not like quickbooks where you can pay people.