

Ask HN: Would you ever use a group buying website for home rentals? - GroupRefer

My startup Grosper.com is basically a groupon for home rentals. We tie up with real estate landlords and developers, to get users bulk pricing on home rentals. So if multiple rent at the same time, the price is lower than market price.<p>Would the readers here ever use such a service? If yes, why? If not, why? Comments please.
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anigbrowl
Yes, I would seriously consider that - although I would want to think
carefully about the division of group and individual terms, to ensure that
individual renters did not get stiffed on things like maintenance and so forth
(and likewise for the group to be legally insulated from the defaults of
individuals who fall behind on the rent).

I've been home-hunting in SF for going on 2 years now, and it's been a
miserable experience. The rental market is not much better; a _lot_ of the
housing stock in SF is really shitty, and prices are being kept artificially
high by irresponsible lenders _and_ borrowers. This market is ripe for
disruption and there is definitely room for alternative business models. What
you're proposing sounds somewhat similar to housing associations I've seen in
some European countries.

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GroupRefer
Well, the group aspect would only be applicable at the time of rent. Once the
rental transaction has been completed, each tenant is treated as an
individual. The group is not recognized separately as a legal entity. This is
only for the purposes of better price and terms at the time of renting

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GGNH
I would, but I think it would be difficult to get a bunch of people to rent
houses all at once unless you yourself are renting multiple. :)

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GroupRefer
Yeah, that is the main issue. We have over 200 people moving houses a day in
the city of Dubai, so that is something to consider.

