Zillow to start charging on Feb. 3 - alternatives?

Question

Hi all - Happy New year!

Today I got a notice from Zillow that beginning February 3rd, each rental listing will cost $10 per week. Since Zillow also owns Trulia and Hotpads, I'm not sure how that will translate to those apps but I suspect it will in some fashion.

So my question: what are you all using for alternatives? I don't mind paying for a good service, but I went back through the last few listings and saw that Trulia generated the most leads by far, followed by Zillow and then Hotpads. I'm already somewhat unsatisfied with Zillow for a few reasons, so I don't mind leaving them but I'm unsure where to go. I quit the Craigslist route a few years ago as the applicant quality was really suspect. We still have yard signs but some houses don't lend themselves to drive-by advertising as the roads are secondary.

So what do you all use for lead generation? Is it free or do you pay?

Dennis M. · Answer

I only use Facebook . I see no reason to use any other platform . The beauty of Facebook is the ability to screen the tenants beforehand . You can learn about everything just by their profiles before you even contact them . No other platform offers such a valuable tool .

Bjorn Ahlblad · Answer

@JD Martin my wife posted our Zillow ad on FB marketplace an hour ago..........she just said responses are pouring in........so we may get off Zillow anyway. We only have one vacancy and it became available yesterday.

JD Martin · Answer

I'm not on Facebook but I may have to get on there for the rental business!

John Underwood · Answer

I got that email too. For me FB market place has been the best place to advertise rentals.

I like using ZIllow applications so I might pay for a week and tell everyone to go there and apply.

Bjorn Ahlblad · Answer

Apartments.com has worked well fo us. Zillow etc. produces way more applicants but lower quality. I would imagine Zillow and the trio will include each other whether you want it or not. I don't really see craigslist as an alternative.

Courtney James · Answer

Facebook marketplace has served us well for rentals, and we still use craigslist for when we are looking to sell.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

This isn't a big deal for many private Landlords. I am advertising 10 - 20 new units a month and there's no way I'll pay Zillow when there are dozens of other web sites available for free. I'll just stop using Zillow.

If it impacts my business too much, I can always load properties into the MLS and publish them for free that way.

I think this is going to hurt Zillow because there are too many free options available. This is typical of a large company that offers the moon for free, builds a huge market share, and then ramps up the charges until they eventually price themselves out of business.

Ola Dantis · Answer

@JD Martin I definitely missed that memo and we currently have a listing on Zillow Rental Manager, a tool I really like actually.

Another tool I'd suggest is Cozy, and I find apartments.com to be quite good.

JD Martin · Answer

Thanks for the suggestion. I checked them out today and figured out they do in fact accept single family homes.

Bryan Clement · Answer

Uh, I use Zillow.... slightly hit the panic button, I had not heard of this before! Also sometimes I find Facebook Marketplace to be ok, but similar to craigslist the tenant quality can be lacking a bit. I'm wondering how effective Realtor.com would be for rent listings?

Zillow to start charging on Feb. 3 - alternatives?

Zillow to start charging on Feb. 3 - alternatives?

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