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Ask HN: Review RentPost.com

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Re: Ask HN: Review RentPost.com

#181

Post by jacquesm »

rwhitman wrote: post #146
ryanwaggoner wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not trying to attack you personally, but your response is typical of the real estate industry, and exactly why there's a hole in the market worth billions. For whatever reason, customer service is almost uniformly bad in the real estate industry. It's so bad, people don't even realize how bad it is, because they've never had anything else to choose from. For example, this kind of attitude makes me really sad: I t…

The problem is the landlord-tenant relationship is asymmetrical. As a tenant you want to live in a particular place, whether its for location, or amenities, or price etc. When you lease an apartment, the landlord's record of customer service is almost never a factor in signing the lease. It just never comes up. And the cost of moving is so high that its unlikely someone will leave a unit because the landlord sucked (…

I've lived abroad quite a bit and when you're not sure how long you will be in a city renting is pretty much the only option unless the local turnover is very high (and barring market collapse).

As a consequence I've had a fair number of landlords over the years, from owners that let out the top floor of the house they owned to apartments in high-rises.

The funny thing is that there is no hard and fast rule that says landlords can't be great, I've had absolutely fantastic landlords and really terrible ones and not always in the place where you'd expect them.

Re: Ask HN: Review RentPost.com

#183

Post by webwright »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #101
DanBlake wrote: post #50

I own with my father a 30 unit building. With that, let me just address the tagline: "Connect with tenants effortlessly, automate rent with online rent collection, organize work orders, and much more!" - Connect with tenants effortlessly - Not a good thing, Usually leads to excess work orders, more "asks" and petty squabbles about this and that. - Automate rent with online rent collection - Not sure how this is going…

I'm not trying to attack you personally, but your response is typical of the real estate industry, and exactly why there's a hole in the market worth billions. For whatever reason, customer service is almost uniformly bad in the real estate industry. It's so bad, people don't even realize how bad it is, because they've never had anything else to choose from. For example, this kind of attitude makes me really sad: I t…

I think any business with strong customer lock-in, infrequent purchase decision, and an immutable monthly cost/revenue evolves into a business where the company tries to minimize support. Think of the level of support you get at a bank, cell phone company, etc. Awful.

I'm not sure about the opportunity there. If you spent 2x on support costs, what would you get out of it? Tons of referrals when people are moving out? Probably not-- movers are busy and rarely have friends handy who are in that rare moment of hunting for an apt/condo.

Now, SERVICES on the other hand... Certainly there's room for apartment buildings that have great gyms, social events, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Review RentPost.com

#184

Post by silverbax88 »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #130
DanBlake wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you come off saying that our customer service is bad? Thats a pretty big jump without knowing me or our business. Dont assume that because we dont want to induce more work orders / complaints that we have bad service. What you are saying is "bad" is akin to me asking why sites dont have a "Dissatisfied? Click here for a refund" button on every page. Providing absolute ultimate customer service will cause you…

Again, don't take it personally, but I've been doing real estate for the last six years and I've spent tons of time talking to other investors and landlords. I also still rent because the returns in SF for buying are so abysmal. So I've had plenty of exposure to the way the real estate industry works. And the customer service is almost uniformly terrible. I read your statement as saying that you didn't want to make i…

Please don't take offense, but you are going to run into tenants eventually who will call you DAILY to fix things or complain. Maybe they feel the bedroom is colder today than yesterday, or they saw a spider in front of the building, or maybe they don't like the shape of the clouds overhead on Thursdays.

Until you rent to enough people to start getting these renters, you've been isolated.

Re: Ask HN: Review RentPost.com

#185

Post by matwood »

axod wrote: post #162
flatline wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern banking, and the expenses that go along with it. I'm not sure that it's actually legal to do this but almost any service like this (particularly rent and school payments) includes a "convenience fee" to offset the service provider fees, or for the middle-tier provider to make a profit, or both. Checks, electronic or physical, don't incur fees beyond whatever your agreement is with your bank.

UK Free banking No charges No "convenience fees" Free online banking, setup automated payments, one offs, transfer money to other banks in the UK instantly, etc I assume you're talking about the US?

I have all of those with my credit union in the US. Heck, every bill I pay using online bill pay gives me rewards points typical to what using a CC would do. This includes paying bills where the credit union ends up mailing a physical cashiers check.

All of the above with no charges, although they may have a requirement to have direct deposit set up.

Re: Ask HN: Review RentPost.com

#186

Post by JacobAldridge »

mdemare wrote: post #179
thasmin wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rocket surgeon. Great mixed metaphor. :-)

But not a new one: "Rocket Surgery Made Easy", by Steve Krug, http://amzn.com/0321657292

Yes, I claim no originality. I just find it useful to insert mid-rant, because it lightens my tone (and tests who's listening / reading!).

Re: Ask HN: Review RentPost.com

#187

Post by theoreticalee »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #147
ululululu wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

slumlord

That's not productive :) Dan isn't a bad guy, I can almost guarantee you. Tenants can be difficult to deal with, and there's just a certain status quo in the industry that everyone has come to accept. I'm just saying that there's a better way, and things like RentPost.com and RentMonitor.com are a step in the right direction.

Thanks ryan.

This does bring up an interesting concept though we can look into... The ability to disable the work order functionality.

Thanks Dan :), and if you ever want go w/ us, just hit me up and we can work a special price up for you for your contribution - Lee

Re: Ask HN: Review RentPost.com

#189

Post by makmanalp »

rwhitman wrote: post #146
ryanwaggoner wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not trying to attack you personally, but your response is typical of the real estate industry, and exactly why there's a hole in the market worth billions. For whatever reason, customer service is almost uniformly bad in the real estate industry. It's so bad, people don't even realize how bad it is, because they've never had anything else to choose from. For example, this kind of attitude makes me really sad: I t…

The problem is the landlord-tenant relationship is asymmetrical. As a tenant you want to live in a particular place, whether its for location, or amenities, or price etc. When you lease an apartment, the landlord's record of customer service is almost never a factor in signing the lease. It just never comes up. And the cost of moving is so high that its unlikely someone will leave a unit because the landlord sucked (…

Online reviews fix that. 200 times "hated the landlord, terrible service" says a lot.

Re: Ask HN: Review RentPost.com

#190

Post by webwright »

oojacoboo wrote: post #172
solutionyogi wrote: post #71

Website looks great but the copy needs some serious work. The main phrase: Start Simplifying Rent™ in the RentPost Cloud If you make the lady at my leasing office read this, she will be like 'What????' Connect with tenants effortlessly I don't think the landlord wants to connect with the tenant. He is interested in collecting rent. "We're just getting warmed up; get on the bandwagon." Why should I care that you are w…

we are targeting a more technical audience right now while we get our feet in the door. We feel this is the best audience to help us get going. If we start to see issues with traction (it's been great so far), we will pivot as needed.

Huh? Having a great headline for normal people generally means it's a crappy headline for tech people. Regardless, tech people have non-technical friends/relatives that they might send this to.

Regardless of your opinion (and mine) you should A/B test your headline to maximize the traffic/attention you are getting.

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