by saumi February 23, 2025
Managing rental properties can be time-consuming, but digital tools like Zillow Rental Manager aim to simplify the process. Designed for independent landlords and small property managers, this platform offers essential features such as rental listings, tenant screening, and online rent collection.
But is it the right tool for you? In this review, we’ll break down Zillow Rental Manager’s pricing, features, and overall ease of use. We’ll also explore real user experiences to help you decide if it’s the best fit for your rental management needs.
Zillow Rental Manager is an online platform specially designed for real estate business professionals, landlords, and property managers who are actively searching for a way to list rentals, manage applications, and collect payments easily and securely. Although it’s a reputable service platform, especially for distributing your property listings across Zillow, Trulia, and HotPads user experience may differ based on various aspects.
User Experience: What You Need to Know?
Zillow Rental Manager is a popular platform among landlords and property managers, offering tools for listing properties, screening tenants, and collecting rent. Many users appreciate its user-friendly dashboard, which provides a centralized hub for managing rental properties. With this dashboard, landlords can easily post listings, track tenant applications, and oversee payments, making the rental process more efficient. The platform also boosts property visibility by listings across its networks, helping users attract more potential tenants. Features like tenant screening and online rent collection add to its convenience, making it a solid choice for small to mid-sized landlords.
That said, there are a few downsides. Many users has complained it’s fee structure add up, especially if a property takes longer to rent out. Additionally users also expressed their disappointment for lacking some advanced features that larger property management businesses need. Customer support experiences also vary, with some landlords reporting slow response times when issues arise.
Overall, Zillow Rental Manager provides a simple and effective user experience. Its strengths lie in its easy-to-use dashboard, broad listing exposure, and built-in management tools. While it has a few drawbacks, it remains a useful option for landlords looking for a streamlined rental management solution.
What User's Reviews Say About Zillow
For gaining a transparent and honest perspective, analyzing several sources, including testimonials, social media engagement etc is necessary. Below are a few reviews from users:
- “The platform makes listing rentals easy and reaches a broad audience, but had problems with delayed customer service responses when problems arise.”
- “It’s a solid option for independent landlords, but the costs can sneak up if you’re not careful. I accidentally forgot one listings active and got charged extra.”
- “The tenant screening tools are quite helpful, but a it would been prefer if the platform offered more robust options for maintenance requests and communicating with tenants effectively.”
This feedback and review outline both positive advantages and negative drawbacks of the Zillow platform. Although it’s an efficient measure for marketing rental properties and screening tenants, this may not be enough for landlords without having a vast portfolio list of more complex management needs.
Key Features of Zillow Rental Manager
Zillow Rental Manager offers important tools to easily help landlords and real estate professionals effectively manage property tasks. Although it doesn’t provide a full package of features found in other property management systems, it covers the necessities well.
Listing Syndication
Another major benefit of this platform is the tool to automatically distribute your listing across other platforms. This efficiency not only saves time but also boosts visibility, allowing your rental listings to reach a broad audience without the hassle of manually posting on multiple platforms.
Renter Evaluation
The Zillow platform provides several Integrated features like automated screening provide credit assessments, background verification, and eviction of history reports, ensuring a smoother and more efficient management process.. Although this is a useful feature some users have felt that the screening features are too basic and not as advanced as required for management compared to the alternative competitor’s platform.
Easily Manage Application
Landlords can easily build and manage rental applications through the platform, allowing prospective tenants to submit applications online. Zillow Rental Manager also offers electronic lease agreements, making it easier to handle document signing and lease management digitally.
Mobile Responsive
With its mobile responsive app, landlords can oversee their listings, communicate with tenants, and track payments. While this feature is loved by the users for its ease of use, it also points out the platform’s limitations, as it lacks more advanced property management tools.
Missing Features
Zillow offers an efficient user-friendly approach but it has its potential drawback of lacking numerical important features that are essential for the management of vast property professionals, or larger landlords. It lacks important tools required for maintenance request tracking, advanced tenant communication tools, or detailed financial reporting. For landlords or real estate professionals who handle multiple projects or need more dedicated software, opting for an alternative could be useful.
Zillow Rental Manager Cost Breakdown
This platform offers a “ freemium” cost model in which the basic are free of cost but additional tools for better management will require a specific price. Below you can find a structured list of the cost.
Property Listings
The initial listing is free of cost but after that, any additional listing will cost you $9.99 for per list weekly to remain active on the platform. This price comes with visibility across Zillow. Most landlords and real estate professionals have appreciated this measure but some have also reported unexpected charges after accidentally leaving their listings once their properties were rented.
Rental Screening Feature
The platform provides features of For $29 per applicant, the service includes background verification, credit assessments, and eviction history reviews. Landlords and real estate professionals have the option to either cover this fee or pass it on to the applicants. Although it has competitively cost many users have significantly noted occasional delays in receiving their screening results report.
Rent Collection
Landlords can collect rent online through Zillow, with different fees based on the payment method:
- Credit card : 2.95% transaction fee
- Debit card payments: $9.95 per transaction
- ACH transaction: Free
ACH is the preferred payment method for numerous users to avoid extra costs, but some Credit and debit card fees might be a deterrent for tenants.
Premium Listing Option
It offers a premium option for a cost of $2.45 per day per property called Zillow Feed Connect. This option helps to increase listing visibility by giving it a high position in its search results.
Fee Summary
- Initial listing: Free
- Additional : $9.99 each listing weekly
- Rental screening: $29
- Rent payment fees: 2.95% for credit cards, $9.95 for debit cards, free for ACH
- Premium listing: $2.45 each day for every listing (optional)
While the free first listing is a draw for new users, costs increase for add up for those managing multiple properties or using premium features regularly.
Pros & Cons Users Should Consider
Pros
User-Friendly Interface
Zillow Rental Manager is designed for simplicity, making it easy for landlords to create listings, screen tenants, and collect rent. This is particularly useful for those who don’t need a advanced listing tool system.
Broad Listing Exposure
Listings are automatically syndicated across its networks. helping landlords reach a more larger range of clients eliminating the necessary to post on multiple sites manually.
Free First Listing
The initial listing doesn’t require any cost, making it an attractive option for beginners or or user with small listing. This allows users to test the platform before committing to paid listings.
The Screening Tool
Zillow offers tenant For $29 each applicant, the service provides background screenings, credit evaluations, and history reports. The process is simple and helps landlords make informed leasing decisions.
Cons
Drawback on Features for Large-Scale Landlords
Zillow Rental Manager lacks advanced tools like maintenance tracking, automated lease renewals, and financial reporting, making it less ideal for landlords managing multiple properties.
Fees Can Increase Overtime
While the first listing is free, additional listings cost $9.99 per week, and payment processing fees (2.95% for credit cards, and $9.95 for debit cards) can become costly over time. Forgetting to remove a listing after filling a vacancy may also lead to unnecessary charges.
Customer Support Issues
Many users report slow speed and not drawback on customer support, as Zillow primarily relies on ticket-based customer service instead of live chat or phone support.
Lacks Advanced Management Tools
Unlike full-scale property management software, Zillow Rental Manager does not offer features like tenant communication portals, faster maintenance updates, or in-depth financial analytics. This may be a drawback for landlords handling multiple rental units.
Conclusion
Zillow Rental Manager is a convenient tool for small landlords, offering easy listings, tenant screening, and rent collection. However, its fees and limited features may not suit larger portfolios. If you need a simple, user-friendly solution for basic rental management, it could be a good fit.
Leave a Reply