
Rentobo (YC S11) Helps Landlords Fill Apartments - jshkol
http://rento.bo/tc_launch
======
shawnee_
_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.

~~~
clumsysmurf
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...](http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-
health/allergy-and-asthma/articles/2010/12/17/smokers-former-homes-may-retain-
tobacco-toxins)

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.

~~~
planetguy
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.

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dazbradbury
Very interesting - we applied to YC W11 with the idea for OpenRent
([http://www.openrent.co.uk](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!

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georgespencer
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
> 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?

~~~
dazbradbury
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.

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gatsby
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.).

~~~
jshkol
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!

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graue
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?

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ShabbyDoo
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.

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iharris
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).

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ezl
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!)

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samstave
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?

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

~~~
graue
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.

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tocomment
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?

~~~
jshkol
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.

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

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

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

