All Forum Posts by: Huiping S.

The HR representative asked who I was but refused to confirm even a simple "yes" or "no" regarding whether the individual in question is employed there—despite that person submitting pay stubs showing their company name.

This raises a serious concern: how can landlords and property managers trust the credit and background checks provided through Zillow if employment and income details can be so easily falsified? If an applicant submits fraudulent credit or employment information, could this potentially trigger legal consequences in any state?

Apply a rental is so similar to buy a house. If landlord frauds on files to purchase a house, the consequence is very serious.

I recently listed a single-family rental home and received an application through Zillow from a candidate who initially appeared ideal. The applicant presented a strong profile: a credit score over 770, a 98% on-time payment history, and no background issues. The submitted pay stubs were from a large, well-known hospital or healthcare organization, and her stated income was 3.7 times the monthly rent.

Although communication was somewhat slow, the applicant expressed interest in moving forward and asked how to submit the security deposit. However, I encountered red flags during the verification process. I attempted to contact both her stated employer and current property manager but was unable to reach anyone by phone, and I received no response from the HR department.

Out of concern, I asked a friend who works within the same hospital system to verify the applicant, and they were unable to locate any record of her employment. When I confronted the applicant about the incorrect reference information, she quickly followed up with revised contacts who responded immediately and offered glowing feedback — which felt orchestrated.

When she arrived for the home tour, she brought a young child and revealed she actually had four children under six years old, contradicting her earlier statement of having only one. When I mentioned my friend who works at the hospital, she avoided the topic. She then asked how to pay the deposit and first month’s rent. I requested she use Zelle, as specified in our terms, but she insisted on using a money order instead. I declined and offered to accompany her to her state credit union to initiate payment, but she asked for more time to think.

Within a few hours, we signed a lease with another qualified family who had been on our waiting list.

This is the first time in my 11 years as a landlord and realtor that I’ve encountered a situation like this. I called the HR department of the healthcare organization to report my concerns and ask for verification, but they refused to confirm or deny the applicant’s employment. Instead, they referred me to a generic 800-number, which led to no actual human support.

I am concerned that such policies may inadvertently allow individuals to create convincing but fraudulent rental applications without proper checks. This experience highlights the challenges landlords face in tenant screening, particularly when institutional employers are unwilling to participate in basic verification.

I emailed Zillow about this issue but have not received a response yet. I also tried calling their support line for listings, but no one answered.

To investigate further, I re-listed the property with identical information but without paying for the premium $29.99 option. Surprisingly, the new listing now appears correctly in the search results. This makes me wonder if paying the $29.99 fee might be causing some kind of issue with Zillow’s system.

Will update if Zillow can response me.

I listed a rental property on Zillow and paid for premium exposure to increase visibility. While I understand this may not be the best time for high demand, the lack of inquiries has been unusually low—something I’ve never experienced before.

When I searched for similar rentals in the area, I discovered that my listing does not show up properly. Instead, it is grouped under another address in the same community, which happens to have the lowest price. It’s similar to how apartment listings are grouped by bedroom count and price. However, I’ve never seen single-family home listings on Zillow presented this way. But some properties of same community is not under this chain and can be seen as  single listings.

If I don't scroll past the lowest-priced SFR listing in that chain, I can't even find mine. This is despite there being other similar single-family home listings in the area that are not grouped in this way.

I contacted Zillow about this issue, especially since when I search for my specific listing directly and click on the public view, it shows outdated information (e.g., old history) rather than listing it as available for rent.

What is going on with Zillow’s listing display? This is the first time I’ve had such few inquiries, and my research suggests Zillow might be selectively prioritizing certain properties, like the lowest-priced ones. Why is this happening? 

Thanks.

Thank you so much @Ashish Acharya to share your valuable knowledge!

Thanks to share valuable information!

Emailed CPA and no response. Investors here are much more knowledgeable and helpful than the CPA we hired. 

Thanks Zachary Jensen!

People are so emotional and just throw things away. There are people no mortgage and no any insurance neither.

Lots families were flooded from Hurricane Helene. The flood insurance will cover limited, structure may or may not the contents. Lots people's car, appliances were died. The loss is very big for those family. I drove through some community and like a after war field. 

How those people should be prepared to report loss on tax return? How detail to keep the loss?

Hope tax professionals or experienced people can give some suggestion.

Thanks!

We setup LLC for SDIRA. The LLC has EIN but not the SDIRA. One LLC of SDIRA has three parts: HSA, Ruth, IRA. LLC always has EIN but not the individual part of SDIRA.

The rentals of those LLCs run very well. But the headache: CPA said need to file tax of the SDIRA ; Lawyer who helped to setup LLC said you need not to file tax when you didn't get cash from SDIRA.

Do we need to file tax for SDIRA or not?

Thanks for your sharing!

@Michael Haynes. I know you are very critical but I take your comments. I agree that I paid too much and spend stupidly for this quality although I paid nothing to fix during warranty!! Just made up my mind to dump the new Trane from this experience but very confused to choose which one. 

One SFR of us has a Trane which is 21 years old and the AC maintenance report shows it is in very good shape. The new Trane is junk or I got a junk from a junk dealer! I did all the research but got this outcome.

Ok, Carrier! One brand new SFR with brand new Carrie and air handler's noise level reached 90db.

Brand new Lennox with one SFR replaced leaking coil twice in 3ed and 4th year.

Few Goodman, already there or new. All run well and cheapest price.

Not just AC, appliances of current are easier to break. I think not only me but everyone will experience poor quality for certain time, like the Boeing airplane.