Comments on: Startup faces tough odds in crowded New York rental market

By: LandlordLinks

LandlordLinks — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:37:01 +0000

I always find it surprising when someone with limited real estate experience “develops” another website to solve the multitude of problems found on Craigslist. I agree with everyone here who has said: “This is not a new idea.” I, too, developed and created several websites to help renters connect directly with landlords. The most popular has been http://www.LandlordLinks.Net . We charge the apartment seeker a small amount of money (approximately $35) to purchase landlord data. The information is sent to them in the form of an eBook with links to landlord and management company apartment listings. Additionally, as a real estate broker with over 20 years experience, I include my inside tips (which gives Landlord Links users a HUGE advantage against other renters. Not paying a broker fee is as important, I believe, as getting real access to real listings. You can’t do that on Craigslist anymore. And if you rely on website like Streeteasy, you’re going to pay either more for your “no fee” (really translates into “hidden fee”) apartment; or you will pay a broker fee. -Kirby Sommers, CEO & Founder Landlord Links

By: nyclove

nyclove — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 19:36:38 +0000

I agree with Alicia and think HowtoRent is a great site. Another site that has only owner listings is called http://www.urbanedgeny.com, its free.

By: AliciaS

AliciaS — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:10:35 +0000

I created http://HowToRentInNYC.com to specifically connect renters directly to landlords and for the NYC renter community at large to be able to share their experiences with each other regarding what past landlords have been like. I think renthop would go over better in other cities where it is difficult to connect the landlord to the renter. It will work in NYC to a degree as well but it is getting more and more transparent with free sites where landlords don’t have to pay a fee to get an apartment rented.

By: Benito

Benito — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:48:47 +0000

I agree with Alvin. Besides Renthop already having to compete with popular websites Craigslist, http://www.SkipBrokers.com and http://www.Streeteasy.com, this business model will be tough to replicate across the country. I also read that the founders of this no broker fee apartment website (Renthop.com) are actually brokers. That alone makes them lose credibility right off the bat.

By: Alvin

Alvin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:50:12 +0000

The reason this website wont work is because of websites like NYbits.co and http://www.urbansherpany.com – These websites do exactly what renthop.com hope to accomplish except go a step further.

Renthop is basically a broker working for no fee owners but only taking half the fee. UrbanSherpaNY.com & Renthop.com do the same thing for an owner except collect the owner has no fee to pay to the broker.

In terms of brokers posting on renthop.com and giving up 20% of their fee, no broker in their right mind would do this. they have to do just as much work and for a $2,000 apartment they have to split it with their company and then give a cut to renthop. These fees are not large enough to split three ways.

I would just suggest using urbansherpany.com or nybits.com if you want to rent an apartment without a broker & without getting scammed on Craigslist.

By: Chris Maresca

Chris Maresca — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:12:24 +0000

There are several red flags with this business model. I would say that the pitch is well edited, but I don’t think the business itself is that well thought out.

It’s extremely New York-centric, not many other cities have rental markets with this model.

Also, the statements about programming being the biggest cost is backwards, marketing and sales will far larger, particularly with their model. It will likely take several million and at least five years for them to gain scale outside of NYC.

Finally, I’m wondering what the actual TAM is, since the average rental price hovers around $1000-$1200/month in most cities (http://rentbits.com/blog/free-rental-ra tes-tool/average-rental-rates-in-top-us- cities). Never mind the fact that in most US cities, rentals are seen as something that caters to lower incomes. I think this model would generally stand a better chance in Europe, which has a much higher percentage of people renting.

Bottom line for me (and I’ve done strategy for around 60 startups, mostly on behalf of boards/investors), I would like to see a more robust understanding of the market mechanics outside of NYC and if there is actually a TAM that would justify the expense of marketing the service in other geos.

By: bryan

bryan — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:45:53 +0000

“why hasn’t this worked before?”

That is a ridiculous question. It does work already.

RDNY.com (rent-direct.com) has been around for years and has extensive human-verified verified listings of no-broker-fee apartments.