Zillow now charging for Rental Listings

Realtor · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 857 votes

Zillow now charing $9.99/wk for a rental listing. Greedy scum since they didn't turn profit this quarter. They say you IF you don't get any leads after a week it's free....but I know if its any leads like you get as a Real Estate Agent I'd rather take a bullet to my head as they are not quality at all

What other sites are landlords using that are FREE?
Craigslist?

Hotpads and Trulia are owned by Zillow so no getting around that.

Just seeing what other landlords are doing to work around this. OR if they have noticed their PM up charging them now for advertising on these websites?

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Karl B.

Rental Property Investor · Erie, PA · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes

Facebook is by far my best source. There's likely a Cleveland, Ohio rental group on Facebook (assuming that's your local market). Join it and post your listings there for free. I would venture to guess 75% of my vacancies have been filled thanks to Facebook and now that number will rise as I'm not paying Zillow or any other site for that matter (mainly because Facebook is superior and free).

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Karl B.
Rental Property Investor · Erie, PA · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
Facebook is by far my best source. There's likely a Cleveland, Ohio rental group on Facebook (assuming that's your local market). Join it and post your listings there for free. I would venture to guess 75% of my vacancies have been filled thanks to Facebook and now that number will rise as I'm not paying Zillow or any other site for that matter (mainly because Facebook is superior and free).
15 Reply
Federico Gutierrez
OP
Realtor · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 857 votes
6y
Great idea. I haven't used it for rental listings BUT I will for sure try it out.
3 Reply
Adam Martin
Rental Property Investor · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
6y
I hate that they have started charging however that is where my quality leads have came from. Sure I get a ton from Facebook but most don't respond back to me or qualify. My rents are on average 50-60 dollars a day, I would hate to miss out on a potential candidate just because I didn't want to spend the $10/week. Your market may be different however I feel for me it is best to just take this one and get it to the most serious renters possible. I am also usually able to rent in a week or 2 so its not like it is on there that long.
12 Reply
John Teachout
Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
6y
In my experience, people looking for rental homes search a multitude of sites. I used to get inquiries from the same people on zillow, trulia, facebook, craigslist, etc. Last turnover I just used facebook and got plenty of action and leased in the usual time frame. I'm getting ready to rent out a new to us house and didn't even advertised that one, had multiple people stop by while we were working on it to see if it was going to be rented.
3 Reply
Brian Garlington
Realtor · Oakland, CA and a Real Estate Investor with Multi-Family Units and a Self Storage Facility · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
Zillow is trash. The potential renters don’t even read the ads..... they just look at the phone number and price then call.

Zillow the website is also hot garbage as far as rentals. Last two times we placed ads on GoSection 8.... Zillow duplicated the ad and put it on their website to get more traffic.... people were calling us and we told them we didn’t even advertise on Zillow.
6 Reply
Matt M.
Specialist · Easton, PA · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
@Federico Gutierrez
I went to list a rental on Friday, and Zillow tried to hit me with the $9.99. No thanks, I’ll stick with FB Marketplace. 45 messages this weekend.
They are stupid to try and charge, especially when FB marketplace seems to be the busy spot right now for rentals, and it’s only going to make Zillow slower now that they’re getting greedy.
4 Reply
Daniel Volk
Cleveland, OH · Member since 2019 · 38 posts · 17 votes
6y
@Federico Gutierrez I've gotten a lot of volume from FB market place, but most people 1) don't respond after initial inquiry, 2) don't read the post, and/or 3) don't qualify. If you get good tenants through Zillow, I agree with the previous poster who said to pay the $10/week.
2 Reply
Federico Gutierrez
OP
Realtor · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 857 votes
6y
Give FB a try for a week to see how it pans out. So far I've had a lot of interest let's see if they actually turn up for the showing
1 Reply
Joseph ODonovanPro Member
Property Manager · Ridley, PA · Member since 2017 · 427 posts · 449 votes
6y
@Federico Gutierrez Why would you expect a public for profit company to offer free services? Do you offer your tenants free rent? I've used Zillow for all of my rentals and have gotten excellent leads. I'll be happy to pay $10 a week!
12 Reply
Federico Gutierrez
OP
Realtor · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 857 votes
6y
Originally posted by @Joseph ODonovan:
@Federico Gutierrez Why would you expect a public for profit company to offer free services? Do you offer your tenants free rent? I've used Zillow for all of my rentals and have gotten excellent leads. I'll be happy to pay $10 a week!

Zillow has been FREE for years that's why. Now they go and change their model? I can't wait to short their share. Hopefully Zillow goes back down to $30/share. Crap company that's been ripping agents off for years!

But so far I'll stick with CL and FB Market place.

3 Reply
Ned CareyPro Member
Moderator
Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 13k+ votes
6y
@Federico Gutierrez "Greedy scum"

I guess that makes you greedy scum because you expect your tenants to pay rent to stay in your properties. It is a perfectly reasonable decision for them to charge for listings. Why should they do it for free?
You may not think it is worthwhile but that doesn't make them "greedy Scum"
9 Reply
Lynnette E.
Rental Property Investor · TN · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
I use Cozy.co so I list through them. They list on other sites.  I get a lot of responses like 'send me the floorplan' or 'tell me about this rental'. I respond back with 'do you have a specific question?' Because they can just hit that button I think that they do not read the ad and just ask the same question for every rental they see.   They NEVER have followed up ever. MY ads have all the information, so likely they did not even read it. Lots of so called interest but no follow up.
Facebook Marketplace and groups webpages get a lot of interest, but most of the groups are garage sell type groups and that is the type of prospective tenants I get, will you drop the rent, will you work with me on the deposit, will you accept no credit check because mine is bad, "you should not count my domestic violence 7 year prison term as a violent felony because I really did not hurt her", will you take less for cash payment and no written contract, can you furnish it so I can list it on AirBNB? So many scammers.
In the end so far the actual tenants have come from Zillow in my area.
I hate to pay, but at the same time my time is worth something and all the time I spend screening unqualified people is worth something, plus the time and gas to drive to show it for sooo many no-shows, or people who lied and are not qualified. but think they can scam into the property. Many people think that a private landlord can be scammed pretty easily...no I never had an eviction...
Also  have not ever been threatened by the Zillow applicants. Factbook some, can be scary and time consuming. One family threatened me that I was discriminating because of their diversity, I told them no it was the 374 credit score, but they were getting an attorney anyway. Never did be kept wasting my time.   Another rather large man came and put his pitbull dogs into the back yard as I was showing the house to another person. They left, then he said, he was moving in and his dogs were already in the backyard. Did I have a problem...as he walked up to me trying to back me physically into a wall.
2 Reply
Kyle J.
Rental Property Investor · Northern, CA · Member since 2012 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
6y
@Federico Gutierrez I've used a variety of platforms before (i.e. Zillow, Craigslist, yard signs, etc) and have rented properties with all of them. Hands down though, Zillow now performs the best for me. Up until just recently, it was free to use in my state. Unfortunately, they just recently announced that they'll now be charging the $9.99/week in my state too. I'm of the opinion that you get what you pay though, so I'll continue using them.

Zillow has consistently brought me hundreds of interested potential applicants each time I've listed a vacant property, and it hasn't taken me more than 2 days to rent a property using their platform. Plus, they also push their ads out to their partner platforms (Hotpads and Trulia) so you get that extra exposure. So I won't mind spending the ten bucks to rent a house to a quality tenant.

But if it's just free you're looking for, Craigslist is still free. You just have to navigate through all the scammers and spammers that site has become inundated with (at least in my area).

And then there's other free sites, like Apartment (dot com), but if you're like me and only rent out houses those may not be the best sites either because sites like that tend to focus more on apartments than houses (some cities in my area actually have zero houses listed on them).

I've also heard good things about FB Marketplace. However, just realize that not everyone has FB (I don't even have it), so there will always be a segment of the rental pool that you're missing if that's the only place you advertise.

Ultimately, your goal should be to get as many quality applicants to choose from so you can select the best tenant for your property, even if it costs you a few bucks. In the grand scheme of things, it's a relatively small price to pay (in my opinion).

Being a Realtor, I’m sure you’re used to paying for advertising. It’s just the cost of doing business, no matter the business.

2 Reply
Jaquetta T Ragland
Real Estate Agent · Winston Salem, NC · Member since 2014 · 486 posts · 303 votes
6y
@Federico Gutierrez wow this is definitely news to me and I guess it’s to be expected. I thought they were making their money through real estate agents paying for advertising but I guess this will be lucrative for them also.
0 Reply
Jim S.
Sterman, MI · Member since 2017 · 378 posts · 306 votes
6y
I have never had a showing from FB. Never a second response. "Is this available" is all I get. Zillow doesn't charge in this area...yet. When they do I won't be happy about it but I will pay it. I don't get much response from CL but some, better than FB.
0 Reply
Dave PoeppelmeierBusiness Member
Realtor · Maumee, OH · Member since 2015 · 491 posts · 722 votes
6y
Unfortunately I think we are stuck with paying Zillow for the leads. I tried FB Marketplace a few years ago, and like other people have said it was a circus with not 1 quality lead for a house. In Toledo, Craigslist became a non-factor for my student housing market, so Zillow it is. We have had great leads from them the past couple of years, so hopefully it just doesn't go up from here.
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Andrew FidlerBusiness Member
Real Estate Broker · Toledo, OH · Member since 2011 · 384 posts · 434 votes
6y
...if you become large enough in the marketplace you can negotiate pricing with Zillow.

@Dave Poeppelmeier maybe we should look into asking for an association discount for PIN (Property Investors Network, a Toledo REIA).
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2 Reply
Lesley Resnick
Real Estate Agent · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
6y
I don't like it either, but there is no good alternative. They dominate the market. I also use Buildium to syndicates the listing in a number of the lesser used sites. Craigslist is still a viable option, although I am regally asked if I am scam or can I actually rent the unit?
Never userd FB, could be another option.
0 Reply
John Teachout
Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
6y
The typical Facebook inquiry of "is this still available"? is a button people push. One reason is that many people advertise things on facebook but don't remove the ad when it's sold. So to the "is it available" I just answer with a "yes" and then see if I get further response. As stated above, people seriously looking for a rental tend to use ALL of the sites and if you leave out a couple venues, you're still likely to garner the interest of the same people. From my experience the Zillow group does not have a grip on this market and although I've used them many times in the past, when I chose not to because of the fee structure, I didn't notice any variations in the inquiries and time to rent.
1 Reply
Henry Lazerow
Real Estate Agent · Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
As mentioned above Zillow tends to have the better applicants. Facebook has a lot of sketchy people. I will pay the $9.99 it's not really a bid deal unless your units are very low rent properties.
2 Reply
Christopher B.
Investor · Southeast, MI · Member since 2016 · 425 posts · 184 votes
6y
Apartments.com has been ok for us. We don't get nearly as much volume as Zillow, but do get what seems to be quality leads, when we do get them.
1 Reply
Tyler Bell
New to Real Estate · Crystal Lake, IL (60014) · Member since 2020 · 8 posts · 0 votes
6y
@Brian Garlington It was probably a scammer not zillow happens all the time cant see zillow going out if way to just mess with a listing.
0 Reply
Steve Bracero
Real Estate Agent · Westboro, MA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 471 votes
6y
I have had success with Facebook marketplace. The key is to "screen" with pre written responses.

I would say about 20% meet the minimum screening requirements which is not bad

0 Reply
Tim Winter
Broker · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2015 · 151 posts · 55 votes
6y
I use Zillow and they haven't charged me yet, but assume its coming. I get the best leads though from NextDoor, surprised nobody else has mentioned it? Probably because I live in the same are that I'm listing most of my units (and one of them is my guest house) so probably not an option for others?
Quality is actually lacking from all three of the popular ones mentioned (Zillow, Facebook, Craigslist) unless you hit them with pre-screening questions and make them answer them first. If they can't spare 3 minutes to answer a handful of questions, they're probably not a tenant for me anyway. You always get a few scammers, a few no shows, but I always text out reminder to them morning of or 2 hours before the meeting time, and block out times to show in about 2 hours, so its not a total waste of my time (ex. bring your laptop and work while waiting.)
I've heard of others using the show-yourself automated lockbox to save time for no-shows, but I'm a bit skeptical of that system. I do install digital keylocks on all my rentals, but have heard horror stories of people "moving in" and having someone come to a showing with someones stuff already there. Also, how are you going to judge body language to answers to questions, and get that gut feeling about a tenant? 30 years and no eviction yet (knock on wood) so think I'll stay with in-person showings for now.
Anyone else had success with cozy.co listing? Or sublet.com? I've gotten zero leads from them last time I advertised in Phoenix market just this last month.
1 Reply
Pranav G.
Investor · Blackwood, NJ · Member since 2015 · 91 posts · 36 votes
6y
I self manage all my properties, Now I use real estate agent to find tenants after trying zillow/Craigs list etc
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