Technology has already disrupted the apartment industry with rental payments, maintenance requests, and document signing all being done seamlessly online.
But there wasn’t a one-stop shop for the home rental market.
In 2015, Alex Lubinsky founded Rentberry, a closed-loop rental platform that’s based in San Francisco, but has seen some of its biggest growth in Dallas-Fort Worth. By the end of 2017, the company expects to have 50,000 properties in North Texas, Houston, and Austin.
Landlords can post their houses for rent and the renters can filter their search based on location, size, bathrooms, and price. Tenants can pay rent, request maintenance, and renew their leases all through the system. All the background checks and credit checks are done through Rentberry.
“All these crucial tasks can be done through the platform. We just remove the hassle from single-family landlords who don’t have access to solutions like large corporations,” Lubinsky said. “The rental market changes so fast even during the same year. As a tenant and a landlord, they can do absolutely all of the rental tasks through one platform.”
PLATFORM OFFERS COMPETITIVE BIDDING
Rentberry introduces haggling and competitive bidding into the single-family rental market, helping both the tenant and the landlord get the best deal.
“As a tenant and a landlord, they can do absolutely all of the rental tasks through one platform.”
Alex Lubinsky
Once a renter finds one they like, they can make a custom offer for the monthly rent and security deposit. They immediately see the demand for that property, making the experience more transparent.
The landlord can accept or deny the custom offers.
In some cases, a tenant might offer higher rent if other offers are on the table or if they have a lower credit score and pets. Someone with a spotless record and high credit score might make an offer to pay less rent, but sign up for three years, for example.
RENTBERRY EXPERIENCING GROWTH
In the next month, Lubinsky anticipates Rentberry’s user base will grow between 95 to 97 percent. The majority of their customers are single-family homeowners who want to rent their home. They do have some investors who own multiple properties.
It’s catching on fast as Rentberry has 100,000 properties listed nationwide with 52,000 users. About 10 percent of those are from Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, and Houston.
For now, Rentberry earns a $25 success fee that’s charged to the tenant for every successful rental lease.
“We make money by charging tenants once they secure the place,” Lubinsky said.
Lubinsky said he’s exploring additional monetization strategies, such as charging landlords who have three or more properties listed and offering better placement for rental properties that pay for it.
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