Investor · Greenville, SC · Member since 2019 · 3 posts · 0 votes
I’m new to the rental business. I’m using apartments.com to accept applications and rent. I’ve had a few tenants and potential tenants complain about the difficulty to signup, and sign the lease. Have you guys had any issues? Is the service much different since Cozy merged with apartments.com? What would be a better service?
Omaha, NE · Member since 2020 · 611 posts · 665 votes
5y
I did find it a bit cumbersome to sign up with Apartments.com and it was somewhat challenging for my tenants too. There's always that initial stress that they will sign up on time for the first recurring payment, but I've ultimately never had an issue. Once adjusted, I found it as good as Cozy and haven't tried any other services, because it's hard to beat free!
Once Apartments.com is going the money comes without much thought. i check on the first to see that the transaction has initiated then again on the eighth to see that the money deposited. Otherwise, it's like a good dog and walks itself.
You might consider handling the lease portion yourself to alleviate that portion of the stress. I have my own lease and handle it with a paper document, that way I can walk the tenants through the property on move-in day with a move-in checklist and a short tone-setting discussion of what I expect from anyone who rents one of my properties. Thus far, doing this seems to have helped me avoid any misunderstanding and poor behaviors. Best of luck to you!
Omaha, NE · Member since 2020 · 611 posts · 665 votes
5y
I did find it a bit cumbersome to sign up with Apartments.com and it was somewhat challenging for my tenants too. There's always that initial stress that they will sign up on time for the first recurring payment, but I've ultimately never had an issue. Once adjusted, I found it as good as Cozy and haven't tried any other services, because it's hard to beat free!
Once Apartments.com is going the money comes without much thought. i check on the first to see that the transaction has initiated then again on the eighth to see that the money deposited. Otherwise, it's like a good dog and walks itself.
You might consider handling the lease portion yourself to alleviate that portion of the stress. I have my own lease and handle it with a paper document, that way I can walk the tenants through the property on move-in day with a move-in checklist and a short tone-setting discussion of what I expect from anyone who rents one of my properties. Thus far, doing this seems to have helped me avoid any misunderstanding and poor behaviors. Best of luck to you!
Real Estate Broker · Tulsa- OKC Oklahoma · Member since 2017 · 868 posts · 801 votes
5y
Your goal is to get a tenant who can navigate an online portal for maintenance request and paying rent online. If they cannot get through the first step that might be an issue in the future. There are a lot of platforms that will do this for you. Yes you have to pay but few dollars per transaction is a small price to pay for the ease and convenience
Attorney · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2019 · 12 posts · 13 votes
5y
@Joe Frank I’m a huge fan of Turbo Tenant to market properties, manage leads, screen tenants and lease up. It’s free for landlords. For marketing, you enter property details and photos and they submit to all big sites including FB marketplace, Zillow, Realtor, and Zumper. There’s also an easy way to import the listing to craigslist. There are lots of helpful tools like a customizable pre-screening questionnaire, text/email interface to communicate with leads, and a database to keep leads organized. For tenant screening, applicants complete an online application, upload dox to verify their identity and pay a $45 screening fee (This is how turbo tenant monetizes). Leases are simple to upload and get signed electronically for $9 fee for DocuSign. A very simple platform that saves time, keeps leads organized and makes it easy to lease up.
Property Manager · Windsor Locks, CT · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
5y
I've found apartments.com to be a bit clunky, especially on the listing side. There's so many hoops you have to jump through and some of their filters, captchas, and etc. are crazy.
Cozy is WAY easier to list an apartment on (with the exception of the media limitations). I hope apartments.com takes a note or two during the merger process.
Real Estate Broker · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2015 · 239 posts · 224 votes
5y
I'm in the process of transitioning out of Cozy due to the limited functionality and my dissatisfaction with the apartments.com merger. Cozy was "good enough" for awhile but the lack of a mobile app and multiple tenants having issues setting up payments, etc caused me to look elsewhere. I do like the built in leasing that apartments offers over the OG Cozy site, but I don't really want to pigeon hole myself into the apartments.com brand (or Zillow, or any other of the type) so I'm starting to use rent redi.
It's a bit outdated, I think there are better solutions today. But definitely use an online portal, it's much more convenient especially as you get more tenants.
Property Manager · Eastern Region, US · Member since 2023 · 39 posts · 16 votes
1y
I'd say Turbo Tenant, and this is from the perspective of a someone who commonly speaks with owners who've recently placed or have been placing their own tenants - the general lean seems to be towards Turbo Tenant. Few complaints, popular, ubiquitous.