Rentobo (YC S11) Helps Landlords Fill Apartments

by jshkol • 14 years ago

82 29 14 years ago

gatsby• 14 years ago

Congrats on the launch!

Are the founders HNers? I like the design and simplicity but I'm curious how Rentobo will differ from the other solutions out there (Appfolio, RentJuice, On-Site, YGL, Buildium, RealPage, PropertyBoss, Yardi, Property Solutions, RentSentinel, etc.).

jshkol4• 14 years ago

Gatsby - Thanks so much. We are HNers but should probably work on getting our karma up :-).

Those companies/sites cover pretty much full spectrum of size and focus for real estate software, so how they differ from Rentobo varies from one to the next.

In general I would say the biggest single differentiator for Rentobo is in ease of use and ease of access.

Our goal from day one has been to provide software that is powerful enough for a real estate professional but easy enough to use for a real estate novice. Anyone can signup for a Rentobo account directly from our home page and be up and running in minutes without any special training.

We are always looking to improve and welcome any feedback about how we could make things easier!

dazbradbury3• 14 years ago

Very interesting - we applied to YC W11 with the idea for OpenRent (http://www.openrent.co.uk), which is surprisingly similar, but failed at the interview stage.

We launched a couple of months ago in the UK, and it's going well so far. The only problem, which I'm sure you will also face, is reaching out to landlords in an effective/targeted manner.

Very happy to see people attempting to improve the rental market though, and I wish you all the best. If you guys ever wanted to get in touch, feel free to at [redacted] - would be happy to share our experiences.

Good luck with the rest of the launch!

tocomment2• 14 years ago

I'm a landlord and I would love this. Here's what I need it to do:

1. List property on MLS.

2. Be able to run credit checks.

3. Is there anything it can do to make checking references easier?

thematt• 14 years ago

Not just credit checks, but background checks as well would be valuable.

jshkol4• 14 years ago

Thank you both.

We are currently looking for the best possible partner to provide credit checks directly through Rentobo. One of our top criteria is finding a partner who can provide a complete tenant screen (credit check, background check, and eviction screen). In keeping with our core values we are also committed to making the screens available with as little work on the part of the landlord as possible.

Please keep an eye on our blog or FB/Twitter feed for an update once we have that relationship in place.

jshkol4• 14 years ago

tocomment- We have been exploring some options to make checking references easier.

Many larger landlords use a Reference Verification form that they ask references to complete. One strategy would be to create an online version of that form. At this point we're trying to gauge landlord interest.

If you'd be interested in talking more about what type of solution would work for you, please reach out to me at the support email address on our web site.

tocomment2• 14 years ago

Any progress on the MLS, or is that a hairy problem?

georgespencer2• 14 years ago

We've been doing this in the UK for about a year now (http://rentify.com).

Landlords are really receptive to it. We're currently processing about 4,000 tenants per month & acquiring landlords pretty quickly too. You shouldn't have any problems convincing them that this is an improvement on the alternatives :)

Credit checks are what sparked our interest. I was charged £450 for a credit check through a letting agent. I asked why it was so expensive and he instantly dropped the price to £150. (They're nowhere near that much wholesale.)

Good to see other people fixing a broken area.

citricsquid• 14 years ago

> Do you do Rightmove/RentRight etc.? > At the moment we don't, but email us to let us know if that's important to you and we'll take it on board.

I assume this means that there's a reason you don't. If you can share it, what is the reason? Rightmove is the only site I browse for apartment rentals, do they have restrictions on who can list on behalf of others?

dazbradbury3• 14 years ago

Whilst I can't reply on behalf of Rentify, we have a Rightmove subscription at OpenRent, and I can see why Rentify might not have gone down that route for the time being.

Using Rightmove has a few extra costs associated, firstly the subscription fee, but more importantly the fact that tenant leads can't be passed directly onto landlords means that some intervention is required. Ie. People answering the phones and arranging viewings.

I also have the feeling that if you told Rightmove you were allowing landlords to list for free, they wouldn't be too pleased about it, as their main customer base is estate agents.

ps. Rentify - had no idea you guys had been up and running so long! We only spotted your service around the same time we were launching. If you wanted to get in touch - my details are in my profile.

georgespencer2• 14 years ago

We aren't convinced that there isn't an awful lot of crossover between the DPG sites we use and Rightmove (especially with Zoopla merging with DPG). They couldn't substantiate unique hits so we said no thanks.

ezl• 14 years ago

Congrats guys on the launch. The site looks great! The rental listing page is particularly awesome. (Very envious of your awesome design, coming from another founder working in the rentals space!)

ahmedaly• 14 years ago

I wonder what it takes to make TechCrunch write about my startup too. :)

graue2• 14 years ago

At first glance, this looks similar to PadLister (http://padlister.com), the companion service from the guy who did PadMapper. Both post your listings to multiple sites and can accept online applications and do a credit check. Is there a difference I'm missing or are these two direct competitors?

iharris• 14 years ago

This looks great! As a former property manager, I can definitely say that integrated credit checks would be a godsend (when I was doing this there weren't any great web-based tools like there are now).

samstave• 14 years ago

Wow - seems like this space is getting a little crowded... what with padmapper's announcement and other sites like rentify.

Though, www.rento.bo redirects me to bitly.com?

jshkol4• 14 years ago

samstave - We use bitly as our link shortening provider for rento.bo. Our home page is rentobo.com.

graue2• 14 years ago

This seems like something you need to fix. Pretty important IMO... if someone's trying to find you, don't send them to the wrong site.

shawnee_• 14 years ago

The team, which was part of the Y Combinator Summer 2011 class, started off originally with the idea of auctioning off apartment rentals.

Auctioning rentals? Seriously?

Just what the world doesn't need: yet another tool to "help" landlords inflate rents by further distorting market data about housing supply and demand. Purchaser practices (like auctioning and credit discrimination) don't belong in the renter's sphere.

When will a startup build something that actually _helps_ renters?

the startup plans to make money from landlords based on the number of listings they manage using the platform.

Landlords tend to pass the cost of pretty much everything onto their renters, so let's make a theory about what this will do to the cost of rent in an area.

dazbradbury3• 14 years ago

    let's make a theory about what this will do to the cost of rent in an area.

In the UK at least, the option for landlords to spend £20 to advertise their rental (in our case on Rightmove), obtain a contract, conduct referencing, handle the deposit and other traditional agencies services, is resulting in landlords being able to lower their headline rental fees.

Our landlords have traditionally listed at far below what the same property is listed at with a traditional agent. So these savings are, in part, passed on to tenants.

One must remember that agents will charge landlords 5-11% of the annual rent just to find a tenant, plus the hundreds of pounds they charge tenants in admin fees. This does not even include management fees.

Removing these unjustified fees, and creating a fair marketplace, can only benefit tenants rather than harm them. That is at least what our intention is with OpenRent.

clumsysmurf• 14 years ago

Yes, I wish there were more tools to help renters. The whole process is plagued by information assymetry with regards to transparency, and the renter is at a huge disadvantage. BadNYCApartments is trying to do something about this, but as far as I can tell, its NYC only still.

For example, some things I would like to know before renting a unit:

1) what persistent problems has this specific unit had? I live in a complex that spans an entire block. I can not find such information for this unit.

2) what kinds of "fees" does this landlord add to rent? And what are those fees on average? Our landlord just recently (without anyone's approval) got Valet garbage removal. I'm amazed such a thing could exist. The dumpster is right there, but we are now being charged $35/mo for something that nobody wants. And there are more animals and bugs in the area. More people snooping around. The fees are being added when the lease is up for renewal.

3) What is the average rate increase between renewals?

4) Smoke free areas. Without getting into the debate of whether this should be regulated; I would like to know how I can find buildings which are smoke free. For a number of years, a chain smoker in the building caused problems for almost everyone, as the secondhand smoke escaped his unit and migrated to the ventilation systems of everyone else. The landlord may try to help, but often there is little that can be done (and this is, unsurprisingly, very common according to the ALA). When he moved out, a few prospective tenants changed their mind because that unit still smelled like smoke after it was turned over. I was sad to see a young lady move into said unit recently, I wonder if she would have if she knew the place was likely a toxic cesspool. It still smells like smoke even with multiple passes of ozone generators. In addition, its unlikely that unit will ever be free of contaminants.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/allergy-a...

5) What is the average amount of noise here? Noise is classified as pollution. I can guess from how close it is to a street, but there are lots of other factors.

planetguy2• 14 years ago

On the other hand it would also be nice to have an equivalent site, BadNYCTenants, so that deadbeat tenants could be easily tracked and blacklisted.

pumblechook• 14 years ago

I live in a major metro area and have moved each year for the past 5 years, and each year is worst than the last. Renters need SERIOUS help.

planetguy2• 14 years ago

I'm confused as to how auctioning rentals would distort the market.

All a landlord needs is one tenant who is willing to pay $N a week. An auction is just an efficient way of finding the appropriate value of N.

There are other issues which make auctioning rental properties a bad idea though. Auctions are good in situations where the appropriate price is unclear; in most rental markets it's fairly clear to everybody roughly what a given apartment is worth, though, plus or minus five or ten percent. The second issue is that as a landlord I'd much rather have a good tenant who I think is likely to be able to pay the rent than a tenant who looks bad on paper but is willing to pay an extra ten bucks a week; so I don't automatically want to choose the highest bidder as my tenant.

nabraham• 14 years ago

Nailing the 5%-10% delta could be huge. The yield management software used by big property companies promises 2%-5% improvement and that is a billion dollar business.

Additionally, a more realistic choice facing the landlord would be picking between a "good tenant" on paper paying the rent, and a "bad tenant" on paper willing to pay an extra $250/month.

tgrass• 14 years ago

A startup will build something that actually helps renters when renters exhibit a willingness to pay for it.

shawndrost• 14 years ago

Founders -- why'd you move away from auctions? Seems like a money machine for landlords.

ShabbyDoo• 14 years ago

A reputation economy for tenants/landlords would be worth a lot to both parties. I just bought a rental property in Chicago, and I'm terrified of a bad tenant because the state/local laws are so pro-tenant. It could take me months to get rid of someone, and I risk penalties if I don't do "essential" things like provide a timely statement of interest earned on a tenant's security deposit. I'd gladly accept $100 less/month for someone who has proven himself reliable in the past. Conversely, I'd like to develop a verifiable reputation as someone who hasn't screwed over any tenants.

A friend who is an attorney lives in Texas (a very pro-landlord state) and has had to threaten legal action against his past two landlords to get back security deposits. Even as someone who is more capable than most at fighting back, he would love to avoid the trouble by picking from landlords who haven't screwed over others.

Rentobo (YC S11) Helps Landlords Fill Apartments

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