Ever since its origins in 2006, Zillow has been a popular resource within the real estate industry. Zillow has a comprehensive system for evaluating, researching, and comparing properties. Until now, it has been the golden standard for real estate websites.
The site itself is simple enough in intent. It works by allowing the user to post their location and find houses nearby that are available for rent or sale. The site is easy to use and lets users choose price point and criteria they set as parameters.
It has been revolutionary because of the way it completes all three needs of real estate. It covers buying, renting, or selling a house in most markets. Zillow brought previously unparalleled reach to the layman trying to sort through their options quickly.
Searching through traditional rental ads via craigslist, the paper, and scrounging through other sources is outdated. Tenants can find the perfect property within minutes using Zillow and platforms like it. Many new and established renters are beginning to rely on them. For the landlord/property manager that is trying to get their apartment rented as soon as possible; these platforms can be an invaluable tool.
However, limiting yourself to Zillow as one platform also limits your chances of finding the absolute best potential tenants for your needs.
Some alternatives in direct competition with Zillow also ease the rental process for renters and property managers. These other platforms do so by building on the ideas Zillow’s team presented. Each of these alternatives is known for its quality of service, ease of use, and unique advantages.
In this brief guide, we will go over a few of those options to check out.
Padleads
Padleads is a platform that syndicates rental properties to over 50+ sites. This gives you the advantage of diversity via casting a wide net when you’re looking for possible tenants but haven’t had enough success from using one site.
The site works by allowing the user to create a listing for their apartment/home, upload photos, and add features/amenities that will entice interested parties. By doing so, it attracts more users, increasing the chances of a possible rental, giving them the most complete idea possible of what to expect.
Can you imagine having to post 50 separate listings for your property manually? Padleads takes the burden away from you by posting your property on Zillow, Padmapper, Apartments.com, and much more. That way, you can receive leads more efficiently than doing it yourself.
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Rent Jungle
Rent Jungle has over 700,000 active home/apartment listings available. At any time, there are thousands of potential tenants scouring their listings for the one that’s right for them. While the price point a bit high and lead pool can be inconsistent, they’re a good secondary choice.
When using Rent Jungle, your potential tenants can narrow down their search results based on monthly rent, bedrooms, bathrooms, and other criteria to ensure they’re a perfect fit.
Its ease of use is one of its main advantages. Users can easily contact potential tenants and vice versa quickly without long processing times that email and phone can lead to via back and forth and getting lost in spam communication.
This is an improvement from traditional search sites that require you to fill out a contact form to message a landlord. This cuts down on time between initial interest and the discussion stage.
Rent Jungle has apartment listings in most popular cities such as New York, Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Pittsburgh, and more areas.
Realty MX
Realty MX gives users a simplified way to post listings online. It supports data feeds in multiple formats such as XML, CSV, RSS, and others. So you’ll have enough monitoring tools to help you assess your performance and track your property ads.
Its pricing might be a bit expensive, but there is a 30-day free trial available. This allows you to post your rental property with high-quality listing syndication. After uploading your profile, it will post it in over 45 marketplaces. The more marketplaces, the higher the chances of tenants getting interested in your property.
Conclusion
There are alternatives to Zillow that can assist you with managing rental properties and ensuring your real estate needs are met. They are efficient at tracking your property listings, rental appointments, and help you put together the right deals. These tools save time, money, and energy cutting through delays.