Zillow Rentals

Previously I used Zillow to help manage my rental properties until recently when my account was suspended when a scammer reported my account and zillow took the side of the scammer. The scammer attached an obviously fraudulent document from the VA claiming to be a disabled Vet. As a disabled vet myself, I easily picked up on inconsistencies in their form that made me suspicious (ie, no VA waterpark, the VA seal was in black and white, the use of “we find you…”, and lastly the pay amount was not consistent with the amounts from the VA website, etc). Next, was the then bank statement. The bank statement had three laughable entries and thats it, the next document was their bank statement. The bank statement had three entries and thats it… then finally the credit report of the individual had a statement that “my identity had been stolen on 11/15 and please reach out xxx-xxx-xxxx to verify any credit applications.” The number was different than the number on the zillow application and I reached out to the guy and he confirmed he did not make the application. At this point, I denied the application and called out the guy as a scammer to which he reported my account. When I protested Zillow’s customer service they laughed at me and said I violated the fair housing act… are you serious? Where in the fair housing act does it protect someone who stole someone’s identity and is using fraudulent documents?

This app offers no suggestions even after inputting all the information it asks for. When doing a search it shows all properties that are outside of the set parameters, none or extremely few within parameters. Half of the possible details to most listings say “contact manager.” Seriously? If you mean “no pets” just state “no pets” and stop wasting my time!!! By the way, about a third of the time when the listing says “cats, small dogs, large dogs” what they mean is “no cats.” Again state what you mean to begin with! Contacting a property only gets a response about one out of twenty times, and then it is just an automated response that doesn’t answer your query. A few just direct you to another website that makes you look through 50 more rentals that don’t fit your needs and the answer to your question about the one property still isn’t available if you can even find the property you were asking about. Most properties listed are already off market but haven’t been updated. Others go off market within an hour of the listing going up (who can view a property, apply and be approved that quickly????). There should be a way to remove listings that the user has already ruled out for whatever reason, so those same properties don’t keep popping back up. This app has just added to my frustration and wasted 3 weeks of my house-hunting time.

I use Zillow a lot to find rentals, as we move frequently. Usually it’s very helpful to be able to look at rentals using this app from another state. My only complaint is I recently applied through Zillow before we could even view a house, and they charged $29 per adult to complete the application, and it was not refundable. To charge $60 just to view a house that you may not rent is absurd. It allows you to utilize that application for a month, but in the area we were looking not many rentals were listed on Zillow. I think the fee should either be refundable if you do not move forward on the rental, or that it should not be charged until you do move forward on a rental. Other than this one compliant, it is a very useful app.