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Zillow Rental Manager: BiggerPockets Review

By Brandon Turner

Jul 29, 2020

These companies are not responsible for any reviews posted on the website, nor do they endorse or guarantee any posted comments or reviews. Reviews should not be relied upon as the sole basis for choosing a financial product. Read our editorial guidelines for reviews.

Zillow Rental Manager is best used by landlords who oversee a handful of properties, since it was never designed to be a complete property management system. In addition, Zillow’s listing capabilities have become almost a necessity for some markets, so some property managers and landlords at various portfolio levels may choose to use the listing element exclusively.

Quick facts

LISTINGS

Marketing information syndicates automatically to Zillow, Hotpads, and Trulia.

APPLICATIONS
Tenant applications can either be open (Apply Now button on listings) or available only by landlord initiated invitation.

SCREENINGS
Tenant-managed data generates credit, eviction, and criminal background reports which can be used for multiple listings within 30 days.

LEASES
Landlords can upload their lease and use the e-sign feature. In some areas, a lease builder tool is available.

RENT COLLECTION
Transfers and card payments (backed by Stripe and Plaid) deposit directly into the landlord’s bank account in three to five business days.

AUTOPAY

Tenants can set up autopay to avoid late fees.

Pricing

Zillow Rental Manager is a collection of services that can be paid for individually and added on over time. There is no sign-up fee and services can be cancelled at any time without penalty.

Listing service: The first listing is free for Zillow, and additional active listings cost $9.99 per week for the landlord.
Screening service: Applications and screening reports are free for landlords. For tenants, there’s a $29 screening fee, which is charged only once in 30 days and can be used for all participating applications.
Rent collection service: Online payments are free for landlords, and ACH transfers are free for tenants. Tenants paying by credit card are charged a 2.95 percent fee, and those paying by debit card incur a flat $9.95 fee.

Pros and cons

PROS

Syndication to widely-used listing sites
Listing info saved for quick updates at turn-around time
Auto-reply feature can be turned on or off
Tools can be used independently of one another while still syncing together
Rent collection is quickly deposited

CONS

Collection feature cannot be used for adding additional bills
Forum users report too many “optional” fields in screening reports, thus limiting the results.
Not designed for full property management functions
Limited in-person support

Zillow Rental Manager and real estate investors

Because of the wide reach of Zillow’s listing capabilities, any landlord could benefit from the advertising portion. Andy Webb, one of our BiggerPockets forum users, says, “Of all the platforms, Zillow by far generates the most leads for me.”

While the per-week charge may seem detrimental to landlords who hold more than one property, Mark Fries from Jacksonville, FL still considers Zillow Rental Manager to be a good value. He says, “For the past 90 days, I've been using the Zillow Rental Manager app on my phone. The results have been incredible, and I see it changing the way I rent my properties. I do my own property management, and since I started using this program, I'm filling my properties within days versus weeks.”

That said, Zillow Rental Manager is limited in its overall capabilities and was not designed to be a full-service property management system. Therefore, investors with larger portfolios would probably not be the best fit for Zillow Rental Manager.

Our editorial team’s recommendations are a result of their independent and vigorous research. Our writers and editors are never made aware of which companies have established partnerships with our business team prior to writing their reviews.