All Forum Posts by: Mike McGee

Cozy tells me they use real live humans too. Regardless, they say some counties just don't bother reporting to the national database. I that case, I imagine few would find the conviction. No service is going to manually check every county in the country.

@Lucas HallI would like to mention on more thing about Cozy. In every case in which the prospective tenant admits in the application that they have a criminal conviction, the Cozy background check comes back clean. These are cases where the people were not minors and the convictions were only 5 to 7 years old. Makes me wonder how good the background checks really are, and whether other vendors (like SmartMove, for example) are any better.

Great! Support told me that was coming, but I didn't know it was live now. Thanks for the good news!

I'm using both as well, and they both have their pros and cons. TenantCloud gives you a free landlord / company website, which is nice. (Coincidentally, I was going to post a link to my TenantCloud site, but I just went there and it's down! Oops! Looks like their whole site is down. I submitted a ticket.) Anyway, from your website, prospective tenants can find your current listings and apply online. The problem is, I don't really like their online application, and you can't really edit it. You can add some Yes/No questions, but you can't add any text field questions. I also don't like the prospective tenant's process to complete the application. First they have to create a TenantCloud account, wait for a confirmation email, click on a link in that to confirm, and then start the application. Then, it's just not intuitive for the user to complete.

Then, the real problem is it doesn't include credit checks. Just recently they added background checks, but still no credit checks. So, after filling out the application I'd have to make the prospective tenant go and fill out something else to get a credit check. Too much trouble.

Cozy has a more simple and intuitive application and process, and it includes the credit and background check. So the prospective tenant fills one thing out and you get everything you need. I still have some complaints abut their application. (It has things like employment and rental history marked as "optional," and I can't change that. Hello!?! Those should be required fields, or at least I should have the option of making them required!) Still, it's pretty decent overall.

Cozy has web pages for individual listings, but no "company" or "landlord" website. So, I can't have a single URL to give people or put on my yard signs or business cards so people can see all of my available inventory.

So, I end up using TenantCloud for my main website and Cozy for the application / background / credit checks. The problem is, there is an "Apply Now" button on each listing on the TenantCloud website, which goes to their application, and I can't disable it. So I get some people filling out that application, and then I have to direct send them the Cozy link and apply there. 

Basically, if Cozy would provide a company / landlord website, it would be a good one-stop shop. Similarly, if TenantCloud would offer credit checks and improve their application and process, it could also be a good one-stop shop.

As for electronic payments, I'm using QuickBooks. I hear Cozy payments are pretty decent, too, but kind of slow. As @Dale Stevens said, TenantCloud payments just ties in Dwolla or Paypal. I also don't use TenantCloud's accounting features because I use QuickBooks for that, too. 

Makes sense that property managers would like it, it saves them time and money, and hey, it's not their house, so why should they care? Something gets damaged and they just bill the owner. 

But for those of us who own our own properties, the potential downsides exceed the benefit, IMHO.

I agree, but I see a sizable property management company using it locally on SFRs. The prospective tenant has to enter a credit card, but they could easily do more damage than they might be able to cover on their card. Who knows, the 99 cents they get charged might be the last 99 cents they have before their card is maxed out!

Looking for feedback from those using Rently, a lockbox/service which allows prospective tenants to let themselves in to view a property. http://use.rently.com/how-rently-works/

Seems a little scary to me. Any horror stories?

I was looking on waypointhomes.com the other day and noticed that they require all tenants to purchase personal liability insurance with a minimum $100k limit. They suggest tenants get their insurance through www.MfipHome.com. I checked it out, and it's through Assurant, which I believe is one of the largest providers of renter's insurance. 

Anyway, using that link, provides a liability-only option which isn't available if you just go to Assurant's website, and it has a much lower premium. It seems like a great option for tenants to want low-cost coverage but don't want to pay to cover their personal property. 

Has anyone used mfiphome.com? Can anyone use it? At first I was thinking it might be some exclusive deal with Waypoint, but after looking at the site in detail that doesn't seem to be the case. 

 Such as....?

99 cents? That can't be the Allure Ultra the OP was talking about. Perhaps just the regular Allure? 

I'd love to see the Ultra go on sale again. Is there any regularity as to when HD puts it on sale?