Congrats guys!! First exit in the batch.

Want to add a point. I think the common trait you mentioned in the post that you find in all our current batch mates is passion. I can just sense how everyone is so passionate in their own ways.

People who are passionate are more likely to stick it out to the end. It is something I think that's pretty hard to fake.

Very much enjoyed reading this. It is certainly one of the best posts in this topic. Good job.

Very nice!

The power the brokers have over landlords' is very limited, even in hot rental markets like Boston and NYC. The landlords set the price, and the brokers try to rent them (first hand experience). Unlike sales, typically, there is no exclusivity in rentals, it's first come first serve. Whoever rents the apartments get the prize. Which creates tremendous competition among brokers.

It is in the brokers' best interest that the landlords lower their price and pay a finder's fee. This makes the apartment easy to rent. The idea that somehow brokers bound together to control the price is simply untrue (this notion is somewhat true in sales). Landlords control the price based on supply / demand.

Everyone tend to think that brokers themselves represent market inefficiency, which is also debatable. Everyone knows Craigslist, and if they wanted to be on it, they can. Now, why do landlords go through brokers at all, knowing there is Craigslist?

Last but not least. The reason that renting is such a unpleasant experience lies in the nature of the business, and also what I call the Craigslist's dilema. If you are interested, I'd be happy to write another article to further elaborate on this point.

I agree with your point about competition, and I also believe that a broker/agent with a sufficiently large list of property can add value to a search process (they ought to be better at identifying properties that fit your requirements than a couple of grainy photos and a list of bullet points, and competition induces them to show you the most suitable properties first).

Isn't the problem with Craigslist simply spam? The property for rent listings on Gumtree (UK equivalent of Craigslist which is very useful for finding flatshares which don't involve intermediaries) are rendered unusable by spam for fake properties put in place by letting agents who will then subsequently offer you something more expensive and less appealing that actually is on the market. Essentially the agents collecting lists of tenants with multiple fake properties crowd out anyone trying to directly list real properties.

Thank your for the feedback. I agree with you on your points. I'll ping you separately for a more in-depth discussion.

Brokers are inherently lazy, too. That's the other missing piece of the puzzle. Meaning that no matter what you make for their industry, they're less likely to use it unless they can use it from bed (while still sleeping) and it costs them nothing (because the're broke).

So my advice is, take your revenue assumptions and divide by 100, then multiply your expenses by 5 and triple your timeline for adoption.

On a serious note. Brokers are very hardworking. They may not be the most tech savvy people, but they most certainly are not lazy.

They do not have it easy, and technology is changing so fast, I think they'll have to as well.

That's awesome advice. We find it to be something like that too. My competitor actually did divide his price by 100 (almost, haha).

Very thoughtful response. I really appreciate your feedback. We have our reasons for that price, and might very likely change it in the future. Startups have to change or die.

As with the US real estate suck, that I 100% agree. There are many many reasons why that is the case, and many startups try to solve this problem with no one succeeding.

We are looking to be the one that eventually solves this hard problem, but as I said in the other post, it's an uphill battle.

I agree 100% on the pricing. You may have your reasons, but whatever they are, an extra $50 is not enough.

Perhaps you've found that real estate agents don't like metered pricing. That's cool, but I think you need to develop some kind of value proposition for the high end.

I know a guy who owns student properties in my town. He's given me loads of advice on how to break into the rental market; he is fascinating, and he owns over 200 properties in my area. I think he could really benefit from your service, especially the credit checks etc.

Consider this: the average student property in my area houses 4 people. Each of those people pay him, on average, $100 a month. So let's call it 4x200=800 people. That's $100x(4x200)=$80,000 a month for his business. I think your service could really benefit him, and you would be charging only $100 a month.

Your pricing is really low event for this guy's business, and I'm talking about one landlord in one small town in the United Kingdom. Recognise your market potential and price accordingly for that segment, you owe it to yourselves.

A good alternative is PadMapper.com. Somehow, they are able to cut out a ton of crap from the over postings. Worth a shot if you are looking for an apartment.

Padmapper is phenomenal, but craigslist sucks so bad, that it ends up just being mildly useful. The ability to constantly and repeatedly relist the same (often fictional) property really depresses me. So easy to fix, and would make life so much better for users, yet, it will never get fixed. And yet, craigslist continues to dominate so many markets. Why god, why?

Thanks for the comment. Your point is certainly well taken and not alone. Unfortunately, one of the things we do is to help brokers and agents "spam", but it's a supply / demand thing. Landlords are well aware of Craigslist's existence, and if they wanted to be on there themselves, they would, right?

We ultimately are trying to tackle this issue and make it better for the renters and buyers. Yet, going against the market force will not help. Brokers will do what makes them money, that's that. Many startups came before us trying to cut out the brokers have failed utterly.

I believe companies like us in the long run will actually improve this situation. As software like ours become the standard toolset that brokers and landlords use, then we'll be able to improve the actually renting / buying experiences. It's an uphill battle.

Thanks for responding, I certainly see where you're coming from, as you've said, you can't change an entire industry over night, but that won't stop people like me from wishing that you could.

I guess I'm impatient for a company like yours to succeed and visibly improve things for renters & buyers. I wish you the best of luck going forward.

We are looking for our help too! If you are a developer and looking for work, or want to join a start up. Email us, and join us as the 1st employee, and perhaps more. We are pretty open minded.