Zillow Rental Manager is Zillow’s offering for rental owners, property managers, and real estate agents looking for basic tools to manage their rental listings and properties.
The feature set is highly limited, but it has a few essential things to make managing a rental online easier.
However, it's debatable whether it’s good for anything more than using Zillow’s listing feature.
Let’s look at Zillow Rental Manager’s features, pricing, and pros and cons to see what it offers.
Later, we’ll take a look at a head-to-head comparison with a full property management software to see how they compare.
Notable Features
Zillow Rental Manager doesn’t offer much in terms of features, but it’s relatively simple and easy to use.
Its features focus on applications and tenant screening, including the following:
- Background checks
- Credit history
- Eviction reports
You also get access to basic rent payment options, though there isn’t much in the way of features here besides credit card payment functionality, auto pay, and payment history.
And of course, from Zillow Rental Manager you can manage your property listings which syndicates to Trulia and Hotpads.
Notably, many features you’d expect to get from a typical property management software are missing, such as tenant communication tools, maintenance management, and more.
Zillow Rental Manager Pricing
Zillow Rental Manager itself is basically free to use, though there are fees attached to most features.
Zillow charges $9.99 per listing per week after your first free listing, which is the primary cost associated with the platform.
You’ll also pay $29 for applications and screening reports, a cost that can be placed on the applicant.
The site also offers a premium add-on for listings (for each property).
Zillow Feed Connect is also $2.45 per listing per day.
There are transaction fees as well (2.95% for credit card and a straight $9.95 for debit cards), which can be passed off to tenants.
Pros and Cons
Now that we’ve taken a look at Zillow Rental Manager’s features and pricing breakdown, let’s pan back and take a wider view to get an idea of its unique pros and cons.
Is Zillow Rental Manager for you? This section should offer additional clarity.
Pro: Starts “free”
Technically it starts free minus the listing costs, if you don’t include the fees that can be passed off to the applicant/tenant. In this way, Zillow Rental Manager is a low-cost solution.
You’ll need to keep an eye on your listings to not let them run longer than intended and avoid incurring unnecessary charges. Users report paying extra they didn’t plan on paying after forgetting to take their listing down once filling a unit.
Pro: Easy syndication to big listing sites
While you can technically take advantage of this with other property management tools as well, it's still worth mentioning that with Zillow Rental Manager, you have convenient access to your listings and tenant information in one place.
Plus, you get your listing automatically syndicated to other big listing sites like Trulia and Hotpads.
Con: Not designed to be a full property management solution
Zillow Rental Manager’s biggest con is its limited set of features.
Full-featured property management tools can do a lot toward helping you streamline and optimize your entire property management business.
Zillow has a few nice features, but it pales in comparison to a full-featured property tool.
Con: Users report bad customer service
Many users report that Zillow’s customer service is clunky (tickets only), slow, and just downright unreliable.
That’s bad news when you’re depending on a tool to help you manage your business on a day-to-day basis.
If you run into an issue that keeps you from being able to process applications or rent payments and support isn’t getting back to you, what do you do?
Con: Fees can add up fast
While it starts free, if you’re not careful, the fees for using Zillow’s listing tools and other features can add up fast, to the point where you’re paying more than you would with a more complete property management tool.
Zillow Rental Manager vs. DoorLoop
Now, let’s finish with a comparison between Zillow’s Rental Manager and a full-featured property management tool like we’ve been referencing: DoorLoop.
Here’s how they stack up:
Features
With Zillow Rental Manager, you get the following:
- Rent collection
- Leasing tools
- Tenant screening
- A convenient mobile app
With DoorLoop, you get every feature you could ever need to optimize your entire property management business:
- Rent collection
- Leasing tools
- Tenant screening
- A convenient mobile app
- Maintenance management
- Marketing tools
- Tenant communication tools
- Tenant portal
- Owner portal
- An accounting suite
- Much more
Pricing
Zillow Rental Manager has various associated costs, but not one set monthly charge.
Its main fee is the $9.99 per listing per week after the first free listing, which can add up quickly if you’re not careful.
For DoorLoop, you pay one transparent amount: just $49 per month for up to 20 units with the basic plan if billed annually.
Customer Support
One of the bigger negatives of Zillow Rental Manager is its customer support.
According to verified users on major software review platforms like Softwareadvice.com, Zillow only allows tickets and doesn’t offer phone or even email support.
In addition, users report that support is slow to respond, and issues aren’t always resolved satisfactorily.
Conversely, DoorLoop has award-winning customer support with everything from a vast help center to lightning fast email, chat, and phone support.
DoorLoop in Action
Zillow Rental Manager has a small collection of useful features that makes it a great tool for new landlords with 1-2 properties.
But if you’re serious about streamlining your process or you have a larger portfolio (such as a larger property management company), DoorLoop has all the features you need to save you both time and money in efficiency.
But don’t take our word for it.
Schedule a free demo to see why DoorLoop is the best alternative to Zillow Rental Manager,and decide for yourself if it’s right for you.
