Online rent collection

Broker Associate/Investor · Carmel Valley, CA · Member since 2014 · 45 posts · 9 votes

I've been using Cozy.com for rent collection (11 office/retail suites and 15 residential units) but it's a little clunky and some tenants are challenged using it. Would love some recommendations for electronic rent collection systems that are easy on tenants and not too expensive.

Thanks

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Darnell J.

Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2016 · 31 posts · 28 votes

@Jordan Moorhead So, with all the mentions of Cozy.co I signed up for an account and added a few of my properties for trail run. It is a great platform and is really easy to use. I do however have to rate TenantCloud as a better platform than Cozy.co. TenantCloud does practically everything Cozy.co does, plus more. The graphical user interface for both look very similar...its almost like TenantCloud copied Cozy.co platform and added some additional features to it.

Some highlighted features of TenantCloud are:

Ability to customize online rental applications
A File Manager for each property, it categorizes all uploaded receipts and documents for each property
A Document Template to upload custom lease agreements, house rules, pet rules, and other addendum to the lease.
Allow tenants to sign lease agreements electronically.
Receive online ACH payments with TCPayments (Dwolla) - Tenants pay rent online
Allows you to list multiple owners for a property and enter all detail information about property, such as the purchase price, purchase date, insurance, taxes, down payment, annual interest rate, current loan balance, loan terms, mortgage loan company, amortization schedule, depreciation years/schedule, utility providers, and much more.
Online rental applications & vendor to screen your applicants
Built-in renters insurance vendor for when your tenant signs lease
Auto invoicing and late fees
Free listing website
Tenants can submit maintenance request online using a very cool and easy to use interface, of which you can easily assign/forward the maintenance request to one of your service professionals.

The Financial Reports sections has a number of great reports that can be auto generated, such as:

Depreciation Tracker report that allows you to track annual depreciation for your residential and commercial rental property, which is also used in your tax preparation report.
Expense report that provides the expenses based on the property or a specific unit. It is available for accrual type accounting only. The report shows all paid expense invoices for all properties and units excluding liabilities (deposit, prepaid rent, pet deposit, etc.). This report can be searched based on owner.
Monthly Property report shows the property accounting based on each unit. The income and expenses including payment to owner and management fees. This report is designed to be for a property manager in order to deliver to an owner.
Operating Statement report that shows the invoices of which have been marked “paid” for both income and expenses. The report includes records for all properties and units excluding liabilities categories (deposit, prepaid rent, pet deposit, etc.). The purpose of this report is to monitor cash-flow coming in and out of the rental property.
Rent Roll report that shows all tenants that have an active lease in each property. The report includes the tenant's name, deposits held, market rent and the balance owed. This report can be searched by property owner or property.
Tax Preparation Report that shows all income and expenses for a specific period of time. This report is designed to help a landlord file their taxes. The report will include all income as well as expenses, management fees paid, depreciation and interest expense over the set time period. Deposits, Prepaid rent and other liabilities will not be included.
Tenant Statement report that shows a tenant's accounting based on when it was due. The report includes deposits, prepaid rent and other deposits. It will also include all invoices outstanding to date.
Provider Statement Report report that shows a vendor's and service professional's accounting based on when it was paid. Report includes all unpaid bills. Any blank or empty amounts in the Paid column are amounts that have not been entered as paid.

There are some other pretty nice features to it that I'm not listing. Its FREE, so it doesn't hurt to sign up for an account and compare it to others such as Cozy.co. Like I said the interfaces are very similar so you won't have much of a learning curve moving from Cozy.co to TenantCloud. I personally also like the Dashboard of TenantCloud better...again more features. I hope this helps. Enjoy.

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Karen Johnson
Investor · AMBLER, PA · Member since 2013 · 158 posts · 98 votes
8y
Hi Kathleen, Just a couple of suggestions; I’m sure others will have more/better ideas: If Chase bank is local to you, consider getting an account with them. Chase Quickpay is an easy way to get funds from the tenants. Alternative, perhaps consider something like Zelle or PopMoney - this is fairly simple to set up and use and a lot of people are familiar with these already (and can be used between different banks on the same platform, I believe). Hope this helps. Good luck to you!
1 Reply
Jose Romero
Brooklyn, NY · Member since 2018 · 10 posts · 1 vote
8y
Hi Kathleen, If you want to go the route that Karen mentioned, there are actually about 30 banks on the Zelle network. Therefore, it may not matter what bank you or your tenants are using. The transfers are available usually within minutes for banks in the network, and up to a couple business days for those that are not.
1 Reply
Derrick E.
Investor · The Creek, WV · Member since 2014 · 890 posts · 1k+ votes
8y
I collect my payments through Venmo 100% Free. I make it a requirement to rent off of me.
5 Reply
Jordan MoorheadBusiness Member
Real Estate Agent · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
8y
I use Cozy but do see it’s limits as you start to scale. Venmo, Zellner, money transfers are not scaleable and are not systemized in a sense that you can build a business around them. I’ve heard appfolio is good but costs money. I haven’t used it personally.
[email protected]512-888-9122
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2 Reply
Rob D.
Investor · Riverside, CA · Member since 2015 · 280 posts · 111 votes
8y
I have one general account where all the money is deposited. It’s not tied to any of my other accounts.
All rentals deposit the money in this account and I move it to the specific account it belongs to. I leave $200 in there as a balance.
0 Reply
Jesse Pettway
Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 2 posts · 1 vote
8y
Www.rentalutions.com
1 Reply
Account Closed
Rental Property Investor · MN · Member since 2015 · 186 posts · 149 votes
8y
I've used Cozy few years after I started investing. It's pretty limited for sure. Since then I found Buildium.com - wow, hands down the best tool for managing all your properties, tenants, billing, profit/loss, online background/credit checks etc. I don't know what I would do without it. If you decide to use it, give me your email and I'll send you a link which will give you $50 of account credits (and for me as well).
2 Reply
Ben G.
Rental Property Investor · Will County, IL · Member since 2018 · 39 posts · 11 votes
8y
@Jordan Moorhead @Account Closed
Could you guys kind of explain what limitations you have found with Cozy? I use it right now, but I only use it for my one 4-unit multi-family. What are you seeing as you scale up?
2 Reply
Ola Dantis
Multifamily Syndicator · Houston, TX · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
8y
@Kathleen Hendricks If this is just for online rent collections, you can use Venmo, Zelle, and PayPal. The key is to make sure that you tenant sets up a recurring payment, so that way, it is truly automatic.
In addition to this, the good ol' ACH works just well, I just feel like younger tenants don't actually know what that means. I've heard that a couple of times, so educating them about calling their bank to set up ACH helps.
Goodluck. Thanks! - Ola
1 Reply
Shiloh LundahlPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
8y
@Account Closed What is the monthly cost to buildium.com and how does it help with rent collecting?
480-206-1209 Podcast Guest on Show #287
0 Reply
Tanya F.
Rental Property Investor · Madison, WI · Member since 2013 · 629 posts · 339 votes
8y
Cozy is friendly for the tenant but takes a long time to clear (the 7th or 8th sometimes). About half our tenants write paper checks and the other half pay through ACH. Both cozy and ACH are free.
0 Reply
Edward B.
Investor · Midlothian, VA · Member since 2015 · 980 posts · 823 votes
8y
@Shiloh Lundahl , "property management software is completely free! When you use Rentigo to collect rent, we charge a processing fee. To process eChecks, there is a flat fee of $.99. To process debit cards, there is a low processing fee of 1% To process credit cards, there is a low processing fee of 2.5% The property manager can control who bears each individual fee, either themselves or the tenant."
1 Reply
Shiloh LundahlPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Gilbert, AZ · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
8y
@Edward B. I like that. How many properties do you manage using Rentigo? Also, can you manage it for more that one company that you own? For instance if someone has real estate in different LLCs.
480-206-1209 Podcast Guest on Show #287
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Edward B.
Investor · Midlothian, VA · Member since 2015 · 980 posts · 823 votes
8y
Originally posted by @Shiloh Lundahl:

@Edward B. I like that. How many properties do you manage using Rentigo? Also, can you manage it for more that one company that you own? For instance if someone has real estate in different LLCs.
I don't use rentigo. I just looked it up because I am shopping for an online payment solution as well. I have narrowed it down to cozy and tenantcloud, but may take a closer look at this too. They all have their limitations.
1 Reply
Neal Collins
Developer · Portland, OR · Member since 2014 · 732 posts · 490 votes
8y
Shiloh Lundahl Buildium would be my preferred way to go with a small portfolio when you aren’t leaning back on quickbooks. Having one system for rent collection and another system to track expenses is too antiquated and cumbersome. Just making a simple income statement takes an extra step having to marry income and expenses.
0 Reply
Mitch Price
Rental Property Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2014 · 83 posts · 21 votes
8y
@Jesse Pettway is rentalutions.com good in your opinion? I just signed up and I like it so far. I just wanted different opinions on it...
0 Reply
Jesse Pettway
Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 2 posts · 1 vote
8y
I like it and the 1st unit is free. They do online leases which I like as well. Try it and see
0 Reply
Justin Marshall
Real Estate Agent · Ankeny IA · Member since 2015 · 89 posts · 34 votes
8y
My banking institute offers an ach option of which I use for a minimal fee each month. I make this a requirement for anyone that rents from us. Not only is it convenient for us but for the tenants as well. The hardest part doing it this way is I’m not sure which deposits are which without making each rental unit a little different in price. I.e 798,800,802. For scaling in the future this won’t work the best and I too will have to move on to a better option.
0 Reply
Mohammad Sheatt
Investor · Mason, OH · Member since 2016 · 61 posts · 19 votes
8y
@George Emmons you might want to look into this 😀
0 Reply
Ryan MurdockPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
8y
I use https://www.paylease.com
It integrates seamlessly with Rent Manager software which is why I like it best but you can use it on its own as well.
There are processing fees depending on the type of payment method used and like other services you can opt to absorb those or pass along to the tenant. I make the tenants pay them.
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1 Reply
Jordan MoorheadBusiness Member
Real Estate Agent · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
8y
@Ben G. doesn't allow for automated late fees is the biggest issue for me.
[email protected]512-888-9122
The Moorhead Team5140 Reviews
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0 Reply
Andrew S.
Investor · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 708 votes
8y
Originally posted by @Edward B.:
Originally posted by @Shiloh Lundahl:

@Edward B. I like that. How many properties do you manage using Rentigo? Also, can you manage it for more that one company that you own? For instance if someone has real estate in different LLCs.
I don't use rentigo. I just looked it up because I am shopping for an online payment solution as well. I have narrowed it down to cozy and tenantcloud, but may take a closer look at this too. They all have their limitations.
What are the "limitations" everyone is speaking of? I have not done an exhaustive comparison, but I have been using Cozy for a couple of years now, and works just fine for me. True, if you want the no fee version, then your rent money is hung up at Cozy for a few days. However, if you have a Property Manager, guess what, your money is hung up even longer. So, I'm just curious what items people want to see that are not present in Cozy (or similar products). Maybe it has all to do with integration with accounting software, etc. I guess, I'm not big enough for that to seriously matter to me.
3 Reply
Travis Darden
Rental Property Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2015 · 46 posts · 16 votes
8y
I’ve used eRentpayment for about 3 years now. It’s awesome. Cost $3 a month which is nothing compared to what it does. It’s sends out the reminder for you, connected straight to bank accounts. Super easy! Helps that my tenants are fantastic too I guess. 😊
0 Reply
Kathleen Hendricks
OP
Broker Associate/Investor · Carmel Valley, CA · Member since 2014 · 45 posts · 9 votes
8y
Thanks everyone I really appreciate the suggestions and feedback on different platforms. I'll do some research and make a change.
Love BP and the collaboration.
1 Reply
Shadonna N.
Developer · . · Member since 2014 · 520 posts · 162 votes
8y
I agree with the earlier poster about Cozy. They take way too long to send the money. I had a really bad experience with a professional tenant who sent the money through Cozy then disputed the payment. Cozy pulled the money back from my account. l was not able to speak to anyone, only emails.
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