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We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

caretaker.com

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Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#211

Post by Magodo »

boringg wrote: post #159

Caretaker: The redfin of brokers. Take all the value for themselves freeze out the brokers (who provide a service but are universally disdained). Ride that wave of positive news for a couples years. Eventually everyone will hate the fraction of the market Caretaker has as they raise prices to make investors happy and people realize there are problems. It's like the same idea of Uber and Lyft. Less human involvement =…

Please, humans are overrated. They lie, they cheat, they conceal and they are certainly biased. In my city an unmarried couple or people of certain religions are not allowed to rent some places

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#212

Post by arcticfox »

e1g wrote: post #129
benmanns wrote: post #111

We used this pre-COVID to get out of a Brooklyn lease and had a fantastic experience (back when it was Flip Instant). Flip basically charged 1 month rent and guaranteed a fill or they'd pay the rest (6 months) of my lease. Compared to our landlord who wanted 1.75x rent, up to 2.75x rent if not filled immediately, after significant negotiation. Hiring a broker myself would have likely cost 1x rent or more anyways with…

The landlord is under no obligation to accept anyone this service finds, so this startup guarantees an outcome they cannot control. It might be a way to build awareness and goodwill, but they are burning VC capital to offer a service that is either fundamentally unsustainable or mispriced.

This probably depends on local laws / lease details, but doesn't the landlord generally have an obligation to make a fair effort of filling the vacancy?

At least with the leases I've signed, if they didn't intentionally fill a vacancy with a decent candidate they would be opening themselves up to some contractual legal exposure

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#213

Post by nightpool »

sudopluto wrote: post #198
boringg wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comments are the perfect example of the short term positive news wave they can generate. Thank you for validating.

i don't care if a tech company extracts a fee, as 1) the process will likely be much better then texting a broker: virtual apartment layouts, ability to see profiles for roommates, no bait and switch of "that unit just got taken buuuuuuuuuuuttttt i have this crappy one that is still available just for you!" 2) the fee they charge will be less than brokers. no way would someone handover a month's rent to some company…

I can 100% imagine tech companies doing all of those things you mention hating brokers for—not having virtual apartment layouts, not having the ability to choose your roommates, using dark patterns to try and bait and switch you into a crappier unit...

The difference isn't between brokers / tech companies, it's between a new market entrant (who is trying to convey a user-friendly atmosphere to attract userss/good press) vs an ossified market where brokers have no incentive to cater to renters, despite the fact that they're ostensibly working for them, since they're chosen exclusively by landlords.

Five years later, there's nothing preventing the tech companies from working in exactly the same way—the reality is that any company that's chosen exclusively by the landlord and not accountable to the tenants is going to face exactly the same set of incentives, since supply-side shortages dominate the urban housing market.

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#214

Post by EricE »

baby wrote: post #207
EricE wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to get out at any time look for month to month rentals. You will likely pay more for the flexibility...

I never had the luxury to limit my research to these places only. Actually I ran into one of these places once in 5 moves and it was a coliving space. I’m convinced they don’t even exist or you’d be looking at 1-2 places for an absurd price.

Not surprising. The biggest expense for a landlord is finding reliable tenants. Churn is HIGHLY undesirable, and thus the market adjusts accordingly.

I may need something temporary - at this point I'll just stay in an extended stay hotel vs. trying to find a place to rent. Anything under a year is, as you note, problematic.

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#215

Post by Ekaros »

mattzito wrote: post #191
sudopluto wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as a student in boston where brokers take 1 month rent for doing exactly *nothing*, i welcome the idea of automating away these leaches. edit: fb marketplace might get the brokers first, most of my friends found their places via landlords posting there

Brokers taking money from renters is ridiculous and should be done away with. Landlords hiring brokers to deal with vetting and showing an apartment and all those logistics seems pretty reasonable and up to the landlord if they feel it’s worth the value.

Depending on cost, broker might not be bad deal. If the general administrative maters are taken care of, that is showing the property and having good contract template and sorting signatures and so on.

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#216

Post by sneak »

It's getting to be that you almost can't engage in any everyday transaction in the US over $1000 that doesn't involve showing an online-verified ID.

Someone who wishes to keep their driver's license out of S3 is getting pretty short on options.

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#217

Post by kreeben »

seneca wrote: post #197
boringg wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comments are the perfect example of the short term positive news wave they can generate. Thank you for validating.

> Your comments are the perfect example of the short term positive news wave they can generate. Thank you for validating. This kind of lazy snark comment degrades this community.

Absolute free speech, however, empowers this community. I say, let each and everyone speak their mind, even the snark.

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#218

Post by sneak »

jandrese wrote: post #32
blakesterz wrote: post #3

This was really well written, such a good read. It somehow made the phrase "Everything that can be automated is automated." less... I don't know... scary I guess. I can't put my finger on it, but giving all this up to some algorithms seems wrong/worrisome for some reason, but seeing exactly how it was done made it less so.

Using the algorithm to eliminate leeching middlemen was one of the promises of the future. Real estate in general is full of middlemen looking for a cut and providing little to no value. The whole industry is overdue for a shakeup.

Now it's just used to eliminate the poor and unemployed.

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#219

Post by e1g »

benmanns wrote: post #182
rembicilious wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure about that? It looks to me like they check the current lease for subletting stipulations. It’s literally the first step under “Sublet your place” on the website.

This is correct. Also NYC leases are pretty standard, and NYC laws are tenant friendly at least as far as subletting goes.

This is not correct for the current context. You are thinking about subleasing today. Yes, this is now friendly. The scenario for OP was handing over the entire lease in NYC in 2019. At the time, this was entirely up to the landlord's discretion, and you were legally on the hook for the full amount. Landlords were not required to find a new tenant. See explanations here -> https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tenants-right-break-...

Re: We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

#220

Post by neilv »

sudopluto wrote: post #198
boringg wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comments are the perfect example of the short term positive news wave they can generate. Thank you for validating.

i don't care if a tech company extracts a fee, as 1) the process will likely be much better then texting a broker: virtual apartment layouts, ability to see profiles for roommates, no bait and switch of "that unit just got taken buuuuuuuuuuuttttt i have this crappy one that is still available just for you!" 2) the fee they charge will be less than brokers. no way would someone handover a month's rent to some company…

> the fee they charge will be less than brokers. no way would someone handover a month's rent to some company who's only interaction with you is via chatbot

In Boston, I would've thought there's no way that someone would pay thousands of dollars of a broker fee for merely unlocking the door so you can see the place for literally a few minutes (and who expects you to bring your checkbook and write a deposit within 5 minutes, because they've scheduled another person to show up 5 minutes later)... but that's the setup, and many people have to play along with that.

You wouldn't think you'd pay 30% cut off the top to an app store, for the privilege of being in app search results, and also to be at the mercy of whatever backstabbing it might do to you in the future (e.g., when they decide to compete with your service, or a partner of theirs does), but that's the setup, and many people have to play along with that.

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