Real Estate Broker · Salt Lake City & Oklahoma City · Member since 2018 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
5y
Cozy is the best resource I could possibly put before you for personally managing your properties. I''d direct each and every one of your tenants to pay there and not accept payments otherwise. Your future self thanks you in advance for the simplifying decision.
Real Estate Broker · Salt Lake City & Oklahoma City · Member since 2018 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
5y
Cozy is the best resource I could possibly put before you for personally managing your properties. I''d direct each and every one of your tenants to pay there and not accept payments otherwise. Your future self thanks you in advance for the simplifying decision.
Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2020 · 299 posts · 476 votes
5y
@Xavier Hamblin I would suggest looking into property management software to collect your rent online. There are plenty of free ones out there that would help you collect payments from your tenants that will be directly deposited into your bank account.
Rental Property Investor · Boston, MA · Member since 2019 · 124 posts · 121 votes
5y
Cozy (now Apartments.com, since they purchased Cozy). One thing I like about Cozy/Apartment's.com is that is sends rent reminder emails a few days before rent is due, can clearly see when a tenant has initiated a rent payment , easy to setup
Real Estate Broker · Tulsa- OKC Oklahoma · Member since 2017 · 868 posts · 801 votes
5y
Cozy and Rentredi seem to be the best options for self managers. These integrate with the software. To me that is a better option than paypal and venmo type payments. You are running a business not getting some cash from a buddy. Treat it like that....even if it cost you a few bucks.
Largo, FL · Member since 2016 · 53 posts · 62 votes
5y
I like Cozy. It automatically adds late fees if the tenant is late, so it is reflected in their balance due. I used Venmo when I first started but I wanted to use something more official so I switched to Cozy.
We use a software based management (rent manager) It's spendy but works great for our requirements, it includes all kinds of payment options for tenants from ACH, Credit card, online and even paying at the local walmart or krogers.
Prior to that, I would only accept rent as a direct deposit at the local bank checking account we set up.
Cozy sounds like a great option to start with I'd look hard at that option first.
Investor · Fontana, CA · Member since 2020 · 128 posts · 94 votes
5y
I'm a big fan of Cozy.co. It's easy for tenants to use and even if the tenant doesn't pay online, you can use it as an online tenant "portal" to track their charges and payments.
Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2020 · 50 posts · 31 votes
5y
@Renee Potoczny Follow up question: is the tenant social security number given anywhere on cozy? We had bad tenants before and had to give that info to our lawyer last time.
I'll add my vote for Cozy as well. As has been mentioned, Cozy will send reminders to tenants and has the option for them to put rent payment on auto-pay, making it very much hands-off for both parties. It's also very easy to add bills for other items should they occur, such as utility bill-back. The online rental application feature is great. It allows you to screen tenants virtually and all background checks and credit reports are run through Cozy so you don't have to be in charge of collecting fees, handling sensitive information, and doing any of the busywork.
Multifamily Syndicator · Houston, TX · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
5y
@Xavier Hamblin I would instruct our tenants to set up ACH and the bank just directs the payment to our account every month.
Now, as more and more of our tenants are getting younger many ask to pay rent via Venmo so you can just set up an account for Venmo and give that to your tenants. CashApp, PayPal. You can check out ApTexx, Cozy, and Zillow Rental Manager as well.
@Renee Potoczny Follow up question: is the tenant social security number given anywhere on cozy? We had bad tenants before and had to give that info to our lawyer last time.
No we don't add the SSN in Cozy. We do credit and background checks where the tenant adds the SSN at that time.
@Renee Potoczny Follow up question: is the tenant social security number given anywhere on cozy? We had bad tenants before and had to give that info to our lawyer last time.
Cozy might collect the SS# if you have them run the background checks, but I don't think they give it to you. I don't collect SS#, I just have them enter it into my (CoreLogic) credit check themselves. You could start collecting it along with their ID, but I don't see having a tenant's SS# as a best practice for me.
Investor · Ann Arbor, MI · Member since 2013 · 178 posts · 225 votes
5y
We use rentmanager and paylease that works through rent manager. Residents can pay with a credit card, debit card, can ACH the money, or use a cash pay card where they take cash to kroger or walmart and that money goes directly into our bank account.
Investor · Lehigh Valley, PA · Member since 2020 · 3 posts · 1 vote
5y
I have been using Buildium for several months now and it has been awesome. It has a built-in accounting module, e-leases, maintenance management, and facilitates online payments. Tenants even have a management portal where they can see their payment history, outstanding balances, and open maintenance requests (while uploading pictures to support). One of my favorite features is the check-writing; it has a built-in mailing module that allows me to send digitally signed, physical checks to vendors (such as the city hall) that do not accept ACH.