ZZuma

Zuma is an AI leasing and collections agent for multifamily operators who are losing leads after hours and spending too much onsite time chasing rent. Its agent, Kelsey, answers calls, texts, emails and web chat, books tours on the team’s calendar and works delinquency conversations, with a Zuma human team ready to step in. It fits mid-size and large apartment operators on Yardi, Entrata, RealPage or Knock. Raintree Partners, with a 7,600-unit portfolio, saw 2.4 times higher lead-to-visit rates, according to Zuma.

Price transparency and security documentation are the areas to plan around. Zuma bills per unit per month on 30-day terms and gives 30 days free, and it could help buyers by publishing dollar rates and listing security certifications on its public pages. This review is based on Zuma’s published pages and press coverage as of October 2026; we have not tested the product.

Zuma’s Evidence, Mostly From Its Own Clients

Zuma is a young company, so most of its evidence comes from its own customer results. Each fact was checked on the source page; performance figures are the company’s own.

Fact	Detail	Source and date
Seed round	$6.7 million led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Y Combinator and others; $7.2 million raised in total at the time	TechCrunch, November 19, 2021
Early customer result	Bungalow saw a 2.1x average conversion increase within 30 days and saved about 50% on sales staffing costs	TechCrunch, November 19, 2021
Case & Associates	$19 million-plus in lease revenue and 5,500-plus tours booked across a 30,000-plus unit portfolio	Zuma pricing page, accessed October 2026
Raintree Partners	2.4x higher lead-to-visit rates and 44.8% better conversions across a 7,600-plus unit portfolio	Zuma pricing page, accessed October 2026
Unified Residential	$1 million-plus in lease value	Zuma pricing page, accessed October 2026
Response time	1.3 minutes on average, 24 hours a day, every day	Zuma Leasing AI page, accessed October 2026
Staff time	70% of onsite team time given back; 240% improvement in lead-to-tour rate	Zuma Leasing AI page, accessed October 2026
Collections workload	85% reduction in rent collection workload; one customer reached 100% collection in its first month	Zuma FAQ, accessed October 2026
Company size	About 30 employees as of mid-2025; headquartered in Santa Monica, California; founded in 2021	Zuma FAQ, accessed October 2026
Bundle discount	Full Platform costs 30% or more less than buying Leasing AI and Collections AI separately	Zuma pricing page, accessed October 2026

For a buyer, the most useful facts are the named portfolio results. Case & Associates and Raintree Partners are real operators with tens of thousands of units between them, so their results suggest Kelsey can run at scale. Ask Zuma for references from both and for the baseline each result was measured against.

The company’s size is the other side of the ledger. About 30 people serve a customer base that Zuma says includes many of the largest US property management firms, and the human-in-the-loop team is part of what you are paying for. Check how that team is staffed overnight and what response times it commits to.

The 2021 Bungalow figures are dated and describe Kelsey when it answered by text with human backup, so weigh them less than the recent portfolio results. The newer numbers point the same way, though: faster replies and more tours per lead are where Zuma claims most of its value.

Kelsey as a Member of the Leasing Team

Zuma sells Kelsey as a member of the leasing and resident services team rather than a chatbot widget. It connects to your property management system and CRM, takes over first contact with prospects and residents, and hands off to people when needed.

Leasing AI

1. Lead intake. Kelsey picks up inbound calls through a built-in phone menu and replies to texts, emails, web chat and lead forms from listing sites, keeping one conversation history across channels.
2. Qualification. It answers questions about the community, availability and policies, qualifies the prospect and builds interest in the property.
3. Tour booking. Tours go straight onto the onsite team’s calendar, and booked tours show up for staff in the systems they already use.
4. Nurturing. Kelsey runs outbound nurture calls and follow-up texts to leads who have not yet toured or applied.
5. Reporting. Managers get analytics, a daily tour email and post-tour survey emails.

Collections AI

Collections AI contacts current residents and recent move-outs who owe money. It sends reminders across channels, records promises to pay, follows up when a promised date passes and risk-scores residents so staff know where to focus. It connects to a payment provider and to Yardi, Entrata or RealPage. A Chrome extension shows staff the transcript and lets them take over a conversation. Managers receive a daily collections summary.

Move-Outs and the Wider Lifecycle

Zuma describes its platform as covering the full resident lifecycle. Kelsey handles move-out notices, final balance reconciliation and tracking of security deposit returns, in addition to leasing and collections.

Setup and Onboarding

Getting started runs through a demo request. Zuma describes onboarding as quick, with support from a strategic account management team and customizable workflows so Kelsey matches your brand voice from day one. In practice, expect to connect your property management system and calendars, load community details such as pet policies, fees and amenities into the knowledge base, decide which lead sources Kelsey should answer, and set the rules for when conversations go to onsite staff. For collections, you also set the reminder cadence and connect the payment provider.

Zuma’s Own Operators Pick Up Hard Questions

Routine conversations are automated. When a question cannot be answered from your knowledge base or public information, Zuma’s own human operators take over, and Zuma says this team works 24/7/365. Onsite staff still run tours, approve applications, make collections decisions such as payment plans or legal action, and own fair housing compliance of the scripts.

How Zuma Bills, but Not What It Charges

Zuma publishes how it bills but not what it charges. Every plan is a per-unit monthly subscription on 30-day terms, priced by portfolio size.

Plan	Price	Billing	What’s Included	Limits
Leasing AI	Custom per-unit rate	Monthly, 30-day terms	24/7 lead handling on phone, SMS, email and web chat; tour booking; built-in IVR; outbound nurture calls; human-in-the-loop team; analytics and daily emails	Integrations listed for Yardi, Entrata and Knock
Collections AI	Custom per-unit rate	Monthly, 30-day terms	Delinquency conversations, promise-to-pay tracking, payment provider integration, Chrome extension for takeover, human team, daily summaries	Integrations listed for Yardi, Entrata and RealPage
Full Platform	30% or more below buying both separately	Monthly, 30-day terms	Everything in Leasing AI and Collections AI	Rate still quoted by sales
Free start	Free for 30 days	None	Try before you buy	Arranged through a demo request

What Each $1 per Unit Means at 1,500 Units

Without public rates, the most useful math is how a per-unit price scales and what the bundle discount is worth.

A 1,500-unit operator. Every $1 per unit per month adds $18,000 a year, so a quote of $2 per unit for leasing would cost $36,000 a year. Treat those as illustrations of the arithmetic rather than Zuma’s prices. Compare the result with the cost of the leasing agents or overtime it would replace.

Buying both modules. If leasing and collections were each quoted at the same rate, the Full Platform discount of at least 30% means paying no more than 1.4 times the price of one module for both. On a 1,500-unit portfolio at an illustrative $2 per unit per module, separate purchase would be $72,000 a year and the bundle no more than $50,400.

Hidden and variable costs. Ask whether phone minutes, outbound calls or the human team carry extra charges, how unit counts are measured during lease-up and whether payment provider fees apply to collections.

Rate Card and Human Team Coverage to Confirm

• Rate card: the per-unit price for each module at your unit count, and how it changes as you add communities.
• Human team: whether Zuma’s 24/7 human operators are included or charged by volume, and their response time commitments.
• Integration scope: which property management system, CRM and calendar connections are included for your exact setup, such as Yardi Voyager with RentCafe CRM IQ or Entrata with Knock.
• Exit terms: how conversation transcripts, tour data and collections notes are exported if you cancel on 30 days’ notice.
• Security: the security questionnaire, data retention policy and any third-party audit reports Zuma can share.

Zuma Compared With EliseAI, Funnel and Entrata ELI+

Zuma competes most directly with other AI leasing agents that sit on top of a property management system. The table uses each vendor’s published information.

Tool	Starting Price	Free Plan	Main Strength	Main Trade-Off	Best For
Zuma	Custom per-unit quote	No (30 days free)	Leasing and collections agent with a 24/7 human backup team and 30-day terms	No published rates or certifications	Operators wanting a flexible, month-to-month leasing agent
EliseAI	Custom quote	No	Large operator base and broad lifecycle coverage across text, email, chat and voice	Sales-led and geared to larger operators	Large portfolios on major property management systems
Funnel	Custom quote	No	Sierra-powered agents in 20-plus languages inside a renter-centric CRM, with optional pay-per-resolution pricing	Implementation described as complex by reviewers	Operators willing to adopt Funnel’s CRM or its Fenix AI
Entrata ELI+	Custom quote	No	Native to Entrata, so agents act on live data	Tied to the Entrata platform	Entrata customers

Zuma’s distinguishing points are the 30-day terms and the human team behind Kelsey. EliseAI and Funnel bring more scale and, in Funnel’s case, a full CRM. Entrata ELI+ is the natural choice if you already run Entrata and want one vendor. See all options on our property management agents page.

Operators Losing After-Hours Leads or Rent

• Operators losing after-hours leads: Kelsey answers in about 1.3 minutes at any hour, per Zuma, and books tours straight onto staff calendars.
• Portfolios with rising delinquency: Collections AI runs reminders and promise-to-pay follow-ups, and Zuma says it cuts collections workload by up to 85%.
• Teams on Yardi, Entrata, RealPage or Knock: these are the systems Zuma names for integration.
• Buyers who dislike long contracts: 30-day terms and a free month make a pilot low-risk.
• Operators wary of AI going off script: a human team takes over questions the AI cannot answer. For leasing agents in sales roles, see our real estate agents page.

Single-Family Managers and Security-First Buyers

• Single-family and commercial managers: Zuma says it works only in multifamily.
• Buyers who need published prices: rates are quoted by sales.
• Security-first procurement teams: Zuma does not yet list certifications publicly, so expect extra due diligence.
• Operators wanting maintenance coordination: Zuma’s published modules cover leasing, collections and move-outs, not work orders. Look at Vendoroo for that job.

Agree on Baselines Before Measuring the 240% Lift

• Vendor metrics: figures such as a 240% lift in lead-to-tour rate and 70% of staff time returned are Zuma’s own. Agree on baseline metrics before the free month starts.
• Security documentation: Zuma’s public pages do not yet list SOC 2 or similar certifications. Request its security questionnaire and data processing terms before connecting your property management system.
• Company scale: about 30 employees as of mid-2025 is a lean team for a vendor serving large operators. Ask about account management coverage and escalation paths.
• Fair housing and collections rules: AI answers about eligibility and debt follow-ups carry legal risk. Have counsel review the scripts and the collections cadence.
• Data ownership: Kelsey’s conversations become part of your leasing and collections record. Make sure the contract says who owns transcripts and call recordings and how long Zuma keeps them.
• Human-in-the-loop scope: confirm which conversations Zuma’s team handles and whether that is included in the per-unit price.

Credible and Low-Commitment for Multifamily Operators

Zuma is a credible, low-commitment way to put an AI leasing and collections agent in front of your renters, and it scores 8.0/10 on our scale. The case for it is practical: 24/7 coverage across four channels, tours booked straight onto calendars, a collections module most leasing agents lack, and named results from Raintree Partners and Case & Associates. The 30-day terms and free month let you test it on real traffic.

The score reflects unpublished rates, no listed security certifications and no public ratings yet. Use the free month on two or three communities, track response time, tours booked and collections against the prior month, and ask for security documentation before rolling out portfolio-wide. Compare alternatives on our property management agents page.

Kelsey’s Coverage and Rates, Other Leasing Details

How Much Does Zuma Cost?

Zuma bills Leasing AI and Collections AI per unit per month on 30-day terms, with the rate set by portfolio size. The Full Platform bundle costs at least 30% less than buying both. Dollar rates come with a quote.

Who Is Kelsey at Zuma?

Kelsey is the name of Zuma’s AI agent. It answers inquiries, schedules tours, sends payment reminders and handles calls, with Zuma’s human team as backup.

Does Zuma Offer a Free Trial?

Yes. Zuma advertises 30 days free and says there are no long-term agreements. You start by requesting a demo.

How Is Zuma Different From EliseAI?

Zuma says it focuses only on multifamily and is the only multifamily AI company with a human-in-the-loop team working 24/7/365. EliseAI is larger and covers more of the resident lifecycle. Both are sold by quote.

Can Zuma Collect Rent From Former Residents?

Yes, within limits. Collections AI holds delinquency conversations with current residents and recent move-outs, tracks promises to pay and follows up. Decisions about payment plans, write-offs or sending balances to an outside agency stay with your team.

Which Systems Does Zuma Integrate With?

Zuma names Yardi, Entrata, RealPage, Knock and CRM IQ, plus CAM, Outlook and Google calendars and a payment provider for collections. Check that your exact property management setup is supported before the trial.