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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

#251

Post by hourislate »

handmodel wrote: post #206
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 =…

Uber and Lyft are 100% a win though. - It is now cheaper for the average person to get a ride to an airport/bar than it was before. It is safer, more predictable with timing, and more predictable with pricing. - Uber drivers make more money today than taxi drivers used to/or do today. There are also way more job openings in this than there used to be, with less friction to get involved. The world is not a zero sum ga…

Have you noticed a trend in this thread where everything is way more expensive in cities like NYC and SF. I wonder why that could be? I just used Uber for a 35 minute trip to the Airport in San Diego and it was $30. Pretty damn cheap and the driver was amazing.

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

#252

Post by nefitty »

icholy wrote: post #240
dralley wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>- It is now cheaper for the average person to get a ride to an airport/bar than it was before. Is it? Or are venture capitalists just footing the bill? Whatever model of "price" you use needs to take into account the fact that not only are Uber and Lyft lighting enormous piles of Saudi money on fire to "gain marketshare" but that the actual drivers are being paid peanuts. This isn't pure win, it's more like Nestle h…

I never understood why uber needs 2000+ engineers on staff.

Their client seems to work on almost any Android and iphone, including a web client, has possibly hundreds of screens, supports multiple languages, regions, currencies…

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

#253

Post by dempsey »

__sy__ wrote: post #161
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SmartKey is a mechanical lock that is rekeyable without removing the cylinder. You unlock with the old key, insert a tool to release the internal wafers, then insert the new key and it repositions the wafers to match the key.

oh right! Yeah it's pretty neat actually (for anyone interested[1]). Unfortunately, it does require physical presence/labor (i.e. $$$) by whoever has the master reset tool. For Airbnb's or even self-tours, that's kind of a non-starter. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5MQz3JjZl8&ab_channel=Kwiks...

When you perform a move out or move in inspection, you change the key. It's super easy. The reset tool can fit in your wallet or glove compartment. It's a big change versus having to change the cylinder as in the past. Having to manage a load of electronic locks is likely more costly. Again, this is long-term rentals not short-term.

As for self-tours, they make electronic lockboxes. They've been around forever and used by every MLS.

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

#254

Post by cmeacham98 »

boringg wrote: post #228
seneca wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

How does it degrade? It was exactly what I was saying happens and someone exactly said the comment. It's 100% validating. In fact it is your lazy finger wagging comment that degrades this community.

Your comments all presuppose the existing broker solution is superior and people just haven't found the problems with Caretaker yet (and some vague and unfounded speculation about a future price increase).

Consider that perhaps Caretaker is taking customers from brokers because they actually provide a better and/or cheaper service. Maybe the positive comments aren't a short term buzz but instead good reviews of a good product.

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

#255

Post by TeMPOraL »

Magodo wrote: post #211
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

On the other hand, technology is full of bugs and idiotic assumptions, from which it can't recover - it's also strongly biased towards the one controlling it. And it can also lie, cheat and conceal things, and there's exactly shit you can do about it.

The older I get, the more I prefer dealing with flesh-and-blood people rather than self-service solutions. Life is too short for dealing with systems that go out of your way to railroad you into a bad deal.

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

#256

Post by specialist »

handmodel wrote: post #206
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 =…

Uber and Lyft are 100% a win though. - It is now cheaper for the average person to get a ride to an airport/bar than it was before. It is safer, more predictable with timing, and more predictable with pricing. - Uber drivers make more money today than taxi drivers used to/or do today. There are also way more job openings in this than there used to be, with less friction to get involved. The world is not a zero sum ga…

Regulations, guns, or both, define markets.

Technological progress disrupts markets.

The only thing that changes are the cast of winners and losers.

Society sometimes prefers the greater good (fairness) by reigning in the powerful.

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

#257

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

Robotbeat wrote: post #193
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Singapore do anything in particular with regard to landlords?

Singapore has “social housing” except the government builds the housing and sells it to people for cheap: https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/a-singapore-plan-for-publi...

My understanding is that the median condo in Singapore costs $1M USD. Is this not true, and if it is, then how is $1M USD for a condo considered cheap?

You can get condos next to The Four Seasons in Beverly Hills for that price...

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

#258

Post by handmodel »

gfxgirl wrote: post #229
handmodel wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber and Lyft are 100% a win though. - It is now cheaper for the average person to get a ride to an airport/bar than it was before. It is safer, more predictable with timing, and more predictable with pricing. - Uber drivers make more money today than taxi drivers used to/or do today. There are also way more job openings in this than there used to be, with less friction to get involved. The world is not a zero sum ga…

It is NOT cheaper in SF. 2 miles costs at least $20 and can be as high as $40. I don't think I've been anywhere in the world where prices are that high for taxis and there are plenty of places in the world where taxis are plentiful. I'm happy the services exist but they are not cheap, at least not here.

It isn't the case they are more expensive than taxi's where I am. I take it now that isn't the case everywhere. And even in in the SF area I don't believe that taxi's would be cheaper if you lived slightly out of the core areas and had to call one to drive out to you.

I am also still extremely skeptical they contribute to higher prices though. If Uber and Lyft did not exist I believe (just a theory) that taxi prices would be much higher.

Perhaps someone who lives in a city where ubers are banned could state if taxi prices have grown over the years.

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

#259

Post by vel0city »

Using a broker to find an apartment to rent is a very alien thought to me but I guess I've only ever really rented in big apartment complexes. I would normally just browse the area I wanted to live in on Google/Bing maps, find a few places that looked interesting, see floorplans on their websites. Take the top few of those and spend a Saturday driving to each of those to check them out. I guess if I was trying to find a place with a lot of independently owned apartment units you'd need a broker to find stuff, but really it seems like something that doesn't need a broker getting paid several hundred dollars for an evening and a day of inconvenience of shopping around. I mean, you're probably going to spend that Saturday viewing the apartments anyways, now you just have someone you're paying to join you.

Lease contracts in my state are pretty much entirely standardized. Pretty much every place uses the same lease that has a bunch of fill in the blanks for amounts, unit numbers, etc. There's not a lot of additional forms to be filed. When I bought a house I was happy to have a real estate agent with me as there were a lot of forms, several different 3rd parties to deal with, much more risk, and the whole process was a lot longer. Plus you pretty much need an agent to get in to the more accurate MLS listings. There would be so many homes still listed as for sale on sites like Zillow and others that were already sold while the MLS listings were usually up to date within several hours.

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

#260

Post by baby »

gfxgirl wrote: post #210
baby wrote: post #139

I don’t get leases. In Europe I can get out of my apartment any time. In the US I’m stuck with my place for a year.

A lease is also a plus for the renter that the rent will not change for the duration of the lease. Some places rent month to month but they may up the rent every month if the market suggests they can. Of course that could be solved by regulation I guess if a landlord was only allowed to change the rent between tenants and or once a year or so.

Yeah I guess rent control is bad enough in the US that not having a lease could be worse.
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