Rental Property Investor · Saint Petersburg, FL · Member since 2012 · 38 posts · 10 votes
I had been using cozy.co for collecting tenants rent for years, and was very happy with the platform.
Since their merger with apartments.com I’ve been less than ecstatic with the new platform. Curious if there are any better alternatives for rent collection?
I’ve heard people mention Azibo and turbo tenant - any other suggestions would be much appreciated
I just started using Avail. So far it seems good. They let you do a one month trial. I'll decide in a couple of weeks if I am going to stick with it. I also looked into Rentredi which I could switch to at some point but the reason I didn't go with it is because perspective tenants needs to download an app to fill out the application. For me that lowers the % of potential applicants as not everyone has tons of phone storage for another app.
For avail they have a mobile friendly website, everything from leases, rent etc can all be done from the phone and no need to download an app. Also, if you are a paid used ACH is free for the tenant.
I'm in the exact same boat. After visiting Capterra.com to compare rental property management software, I have a small list. Looking closer into Avail which seems like it might work
I just started using Avail. So far it seems good. They let you do a one month trial. I'll decide in a couple of weeks if I am going to stick with it. I also looked into Rentredi which I could switch to at some point but the reason I didn't go with it is because perspective tenants needs to download an app to fill out the application. For me that lowers the % of potential applicants as not everyone has tons of phone storage for another app.
For avail they have a mobile friendly website, everything from leases, rent etc can all be done from the phone and no need to download an app. Also, if you are a paid used ACH is free for the tenant.
@John Matarazzo, would you mind replying back once you have decided? I'm looking at Avail as well and would like to know how it worked for you. Thanks.
I'll let you know but so far so good. Here are the useful features for me (note I am a brand new investor, just own one duplex).
- State wise lease builder feature. This made it easy for creating my first lease, I also was able to add and subtract things as not everything they provided was relevant but overall it saved me a lot of time.
- E-signing for the lease
- Document storage: along with the lease you can upload documents for both tenant and landlord to have on the portal (move-in/move out list, renters policy, handbook/rules, etc) to access at any time.
- Again, free ACH payments for tenants
- Free website builder, they automatically build you a website for marketing which is included in the cost. It actually looks good and is easy to edit.
- Customer service has been good so far, Avail actually answers their phone and they respond to emails within 1-2 hrs. There is some learning curve but not bad, again when I had questions they were pretty easy to get a hold of.
@John Matarazzo Very good. Thanks for sharing. I've only ever used Cozy (which migrated to Apartments.com) and my needs are basic. Sounds like it will do the job. I'm also intrigued by the maintenance option which can be initiated by tenant or landlord.
I have been using Avail.co for my first 2 single family homes, and it has been great. Makes everything very easy from creating a single listing that syndicates the property on multiple rental websites, screening tenants automatically, creating a state specific and customizable leases, e-signing the lease, having your own web address if you'd like for your properties, and setting up electronic payments. Both my tenants are set up on autopay on the first of each month. I looked into others but for under 20 properties Avail seems to be the best option I found.
@Jeffrey Stein I use Avail... so far so good, but one thing I learned with them: the tenant can initiate a payment on the due date and ALSO select when they want it taken from their account. IE. Initiated on the 10th (due date), but selected for it to come out of their account on the 14th, you don't get paid until the 17th.
I called Avail and they said yes, tenants have that option. I've stressed that if the funds aren't in my account by midnight on the 5th, it's considered late.
I use buildium for my main collection point. They do charge $1 per bank transfer. I opt to pay that but it could be passed along to the tenant if you want. They have the option to us a card but they pay the almost 3% fee. About 3/4 of my current 82 tenants use this. I love it because it enters the payment in the ledger for me. The rest either pay in person at the bank or mail the bank the check. I have renters in several towns so I have accounts at a bank in each town. Currently 5 different accounts. There has been the occasion where I wasn't 100% who's deposit was who's but I figure it out. There are some folks that are not very tech savvy or un-banked who paying in person or in the mail just works better for.
Thanks for this post. I have been dabbling into the idea of using a platform. Most of my tenants pay via Zelle, check, or direct deposit. A few are still through cash and money order. They all deposit into my business checking without having me to go collect.
I'll throw in another vote for Avail. I also used to love Cozy, but after apartmentsdotcom bought them, they killed express payments among other features. I switched to avail about 6 months ago and have been happy with it so far. One automatic feature is that it sends email reminders (and maybe texts?) to my tenants when rent payments are close to due and again when overdue, which surprisingly seems to motivate my tenants who are usually a bit late to go ahead and schedule their payments.
Cozy was not bad but apartments.com is a total disaster, I went to rent manager it is a very detailed and has multiple services and technologies but it is quite complicated for someone with a small amount of tenants, I know of some people that enjoy remote landlord . com as that is some kind in between, its not that complicated but not that dumb as well.
But keep in mind, you cant change your rental platform to often as tenants get confused and start losing trust, it takes time for people to get friendly with a new rental platform.
I've been using Cozy for years also. Hate apartments.com. Just signed up for Rentler and seems pretty easy. I self manage as we are just starting our second SFH so small numbers to deal with. Don't care about maintenance requests, etc. because tenants just text me if any issues. Would prefer to be able to add one time bills as they pay water bill and landscaping bill separately from rent, so might need to adjust rent # on those months it looks like. Will have to check out Avail also.
I have been using Hemlane for a while now, I like that does more than just collect rent, it send automatic emails to tenants if they are past due and automatic charge the late fee if that's the case, and get the rent roll organized. It also can market the property to a bunch of diferente to platforms, save all files from the property on their cloud, and be a communication hub. Very versatile.
@Jeffrey Stein My best advise is to look through a number of platforms and pick 2 or 3 that look like they'll fit for you. Than signup and test them out, this way you'll figure out which one is best for you.
Like others, I used Cozy but Apartments.com is not for me. We switched to Avail in July and it's not working for us. One problem with Avail, if a tenant has a late fee added to their account. They cannot simply pay the total amount due, meaning rent and late fee together. They have to pay the rent invoice and them come back and make another payment for the late fee. There's about 3 or 4 more issues with Avail that is making us switch.
We have been testing Tenant Cloud & Innago.
Tenant Cloud isn't seamless, you have their platform and then you have to signup to Dwolla in order to receive ACH payments. A few other things we didn't like, so we ended out test of Tenant Cloud. The one good thing is, you don't have to accept credit card payments. Having this choice is great.
Innago, so far so good. Easy tenant signup, no other service to sign up to use them. Late fees, Utilities charges all can be put on one invoice for the tenant to pay. As well providing a Credit to the tenants account is very easy to do.
Everyone is going to love their platform, you need to test a few to see what you will love. Good Luck.
@Jeffrey Stein I use Venmo or check. Have been very happy with Venmo for my technologically baked tenants. It’s a free App on their phones.
Comes direct to my phone and the Instant transfer option has a small fee, I think 2.99% and a 2-3 day transfer period is free. As I don’t mind waiting a short while for my money this is fine.