Has anyone used Azibo? Suggestions for collect rents?

Question

I currently have tenants who pay through Zelle and with money orders. I want to move my checking account to a smaller community bank with fewer branches. While the procedure will be the same for my Zelle payers, the limited locations of the community bank will be less convenient for tenants who pay with money orders. Also, most of the tenants are not very tech savvy. Any suggestions?

Julien Jeannot · Answer

I'm using appartment.com for rent collection for all my units. All my tenants including the less tech savvy ones have been converted with no issues. I like that it also automates late fees and collecting proof of renter's insurance.

Jared Boundy · Answer

Hi @Ginger Carr, I'm sorry nobody has responded.  I was using Cozy, which was purchased by Apartments.com in the last couple of years. Apartments.com works fine, but there is about a 5 day delay to actually receive funds into your bank account. The biggest challenge I have is that when you're creating a new posting of a vacancy, you have to wait for it to get approved. So now I mainly just use it for the rent collection, and I use Zillow, craigslist, and Facebook Marketplace to advertise my rentals. I've recently started using Intellirent.com for screening, as it further automates the reference checks (only works perfectly if the employers and former landlords respond), but it includes an authorization form (electronically signed by the applicant) that you can download. Previously, I sometimes couldn't get much info from landlords who required a signed authorization.  I'm looking into Azibo now, but it looks like I'll keep using Intellirent for the screenings.

James Eckert · Answer

I just tried switching a unit over to them and I had a terrible experience. I wouldn't recommend Azibo, especially not for accounting. If they can't fix their own invoices, why would I trust them to keep track of mine?Here's the sitch. I had a rent-collection setup on Azibo for $1850/month, with an $1850 security deposit. My unit's lease started mid-month so I turned on collection for the pro-rated rent (which would've come out to $835 for the remainder of the start month) and security deposit. Azibo should issue two invoices: one for $835 (pro-rated rent) and one for $1850 (security deposit). Right?Instead, Azibo sent my tenants two invoices: one for a full month's rent ($1850) and one for a pro-rated rent payment ($835). My tenants see the correct amount but it has a late fee and they don't know why. We waive the late fee and figure it's a fluke from Azibo with the mid-month lease. Tenants pay, thinking that they've just finished their first month and security deposit.Later, we see one the books that they're missing an invoice for the security deposit and that the one we thought was for the deposit is marked as a full month's rent. I created a ticket with Azibo to find out why, and why  they never collected the security deposit. It was annoying, but since the amounts paid matched up, we could just correct the full month's rent invoice to be a security deposit instead and it would all line up. Right?Not only could Azibo's team not figure out why the invoices weren't created correctly, but their only solution to reconcile the payments on the back end was to keep the full month's rent on the books and request a new payment from the tenants for the security deposit! They were completely unable to reconcile any of the invoices or make any changes at all, and the "workaround" would've meant Azibo telling my tenants that the invoice they just paid was actually past due and now they needed to pay again. Azibo's customer support finally said their fix would be to send the tenants a note along with the payment request to say "Sorry for our error".No thanks. If this is how they run their operation, I don't have any confidence in them.

Jared Boundy · Answer

Sorry @Lois S., In Washington state the owners names are on the public tax records. I would think there’s a way to get that information in CA, but you’d need to ask local experts. Maybe check out a local investor meetup or take a realtor to lunch.

Zhenya R · Answer

I have been using Azibo for all my properties. Love the service. If there is ever a question or issue their support gets back to me by email.

Julie Marquez · Answer

@James Eckert I came here looking for information specifically for Azibo, so thanks for taking the time to share your experience. That's unfortunate that they couldn't process the invoices correctly. Are you still using them, or was that the end of the relationship?

Lois S. · Answer

@Jared, I see this is an older post, but maybe you'll see it.

Are you still happy with Intellirent for screening?  Does it show you the complete credit report, or just a score?  Also, do you know if they verify the previous LL is actually the true owner of the property via tax or other records?

Thanks.

Lois S. · Answer

Thanks Jared.

Has anyone used Azibo? Suggestions for collect rents?

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