Property Management Agreement (image: c-rem.com)
Are you managing your own rentals homes in San Jose, Campbell, Los Gatos, and Saratoga? Do you dread the idea of tenant screening?
Well, Cloud Computing solution from a Google funded company called Cozy might be just want the doctor ordered. Cozy has some beat unique features which should eliminate some of the pesky requirements of tenant screening.
For example if you opted to accept applications online from your tenants, then your site has to be SSL certified and you would need to develop robust privacy policy to protect the identity information of your applicants. And mind you the cost of using SSLL might be higher than the $9/month/unit fee for using Cozy.
Here are some additional benefits of using Cozy right out of the box:
1) Online applications: Accepting paper based application which are faxed to our office is time consuming and inefficient. Since there is huge demand for rental properties in San Jose, Campbell, Sartoga and Los Gatos, we typically get more than 20 requests for any of our properties. Processing that many paper applications is insane when you have services like Cozy where each applicant creates profile on your listed property which you can then review to identify the best candidate for your property. The beauty of the online application is that you are not responsible for the privacy protection and security of the private information disclosed by the tenants.
2) Scam Proof: Rental scams are common in every market. You should never make a payment online or in person, unless you have seen the property. But since you are not accepting payments in person, this should provide consumer with confidence that you are not trying to scam them and the property is indeed available for rent.
3) Background Checks: Cozy can screen your tenants where all the information about each applicant is in one place as opposed to dozen emails. The Cozy background checks identifies the previous landlords for you that you can contact to complete your due diligence and selection process.
4) Security: Just like privacy concerns since you are not collecting the information directly from the tenants, you are not responsible for on’t have to worry about storing the data in a safe and secure environment.
5) Online rent collection: Another pain associated with managing your own rental homes is the rent collection. Using Cozy is the online payment feature which is an option that your tenants can participate. The challenge with this option is that your tenant will have to input their bank account information into Cozy. Some of our tenants are not eager to furnish such information and we can not force them. But when the tenants use such a feature, it’s wonderful since it provides predictability into your rent collection and takes the US Postal Service out of the mix as well.
We believe Cozy offers a neat solution to help small landlords avoid these challenges at a very reasonable cost.
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