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We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments

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

#371

Post by AJRF »

jollybean wrote: post #340
AJRF wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP here - Estate agent asked for 6 months bank statements, which I assume was requested by the referencing agency. I don't think is common practise in the U.K, but I asked around and lots of people told me it is more common that the larger agencies ask for it, plus it was for an apartment in a very competitive development so I feel like it might have been a forcing function to reduce the amount of applicants but that…

"Estate agent asked for 6 months bank statements, " WTF. That's a crazy practice. Paystub maybe, but bank statements? My gosh.

Hey I don't make the rules - but if I don't play by them I lose a place I really wanted to live in. Sucks, but that's life.

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

#372

Post by devoutsalsa »

compsciphd wrote: post #322
AJRF wrote: post #302

I recently moved house. I was previously living with my friend, and we had an agreement I pay sometime before the end of the month. He gave me a contract and said you'll need this, just because when you go to the next place they will ask you for your previous contract. He found it online, it was boiler plate and we agreed verbally I pay him whenever during the month. We we're really good friends, and I lived there fo…

serious Q. how in the world would any credit agency know what day you are paying the rent? In the US, I don't believe any credit agency has insight into my personal bank accounts re size (I think?) or when things are paid to whom they are paid or the like (pretty sure about this). they know about my debts, but unless the landlord puts me into collection, I ca't imagine a reason for my rent appearing on the report (it…

I wonder if they have access to your balances via Plaid, which seems to be popping up all over the dang place. I should look more closely at their terms of service.

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

#373

Post by pishpash »

xadhominemx wrote: post #66
pishpash wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That and the entire rental background check industry. $30-$50 fees for each submission of the same report on what is effectively your own data.

It’s necessary in many markets IMO. Otherwise people would just spam applications at every apartment that satisfies their broad filters.

Nonsense. Spamming applications is strictly better than spamming low-information contact requests, and nobody seems to mind that. Instead you'll get structured applicant information that can be filtered against.

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

#374

Post by xadhominemx »

pishpash wrote: post #364
xadhominemx wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s how it usually works

I've never seen it go towards first month's rent, but that's not the point. The money isn't going to the landlord or the tenant, but to the data aggregators.

A lot of it is highly manual on the back end, calling and faxing random state agencies. It’s not like it’s a 90% operating margin business or a lot of companies would be getting in and driving pricing down.

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

#375

Post by tobiasSoftware »

AJRF wrote: post #302

I recently moved house. I was previously living with my friend, and we had an agreement I pay sometime before the end of the month. He gave me a contract and said you'll need this, just because when you go to the next place they will ask you for your previous contract. He found it online, it was boiler plate and we agreed verbally I pay him whenever during the month. We we're really good friends, and I lived there fo…

I have a similar story. I got married and my wife moved to my state and was in the middle of the process of getting a license when COVID hit. She had gotten a learner's permit to practice for the driving test, and it expired but got extended due to COVID. We decided it was finally time to sort out the mess.

However, to get that learner's permit required her to take a couple written tests. We were told she would have to retake those tests because the software had them down as expired. Then when she went to take the test, they told her she didn't need to because she had already taken them! Our second visit they finally sorted it out but we had to wait multiple hours while they got managers involved to assist us.

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

#376

Post by frumper »

mlinhares wrote: post #325
compsciphd wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

serious Q. how in the world would any credit agency know what day you are paying the rent? In the US, I don't believe any credit agency has insight into my personal bank accounts re size (I think?) or when things are paid to whom they are paid or the like (pretty sure about this). they know about my debts, but unless the landlord puts me into collection, I ca't imagine a reason for my rent appearing on the report (it…

Credit agencies can 100% know when you pay you rent as the receiver can send this information to them. Credit cards also say when you pay so they can keep track of when you're delinquent or late for payments.

I think the person you are replying to is surprised that a landlord would bother reporting that information to a credit agency. I have never heard of that, and after using some of the bigger name property management companies in my area as both a renter and landlord, it just isn't normal here.

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

#377

Post by j1dopeman »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #360
jollybean wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Estate agent asked for 6 months bank statements, " WTF. That's a crazy practice. Paystub maybe, but bank statements? My gosh.

I've been looking for a new apartment in NYC and the place I applied for wanted 2 month's of paystubs and 2 month's of bank statements. Most agencies I've seen request this or more. It's insane but if you find a place you like things sell so quickly here that you have no choice but to play by their rules or leave the city. Unrelated rant but the reason I've been looking is my current landlord has taken over 35 days t…

NY places limits on landlords such as: cannot consider or even look at past evictions, cannot ask for more than a month deposit, and others. Also they completely left landlords out in the cold for rent for over a year and counting. NY is extremely tenant friendly and it can cost a lot if you get a bad tenant. Year(s) of unpaid rent, legal fees, and money for repairs.

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

#379

Post by dailybagel »

The article mentions how important it is to keep availability status accurate:

  Before I get into the solution, I should explain why 
  these renters have such persistent trust issues.
  [...]
  Because messaging/applications/leasing were all 
  on-platform for us, we could know when a lister was 
  unresponsive or a lease was signed. That insight naturally
  allowed us to reliably prevent stale listings. Critically, 
  however, new renters to our website didn't know that. And 
  they wouldn't believe us when we said it. We were in a bit 
  of a pickle.
When sampling listings in Manhattan, the second one I came across was in fact not actually available [0].

  “Hi, this unit has been rented, what exactly are you   
  searching for?“
[0]: https://apartment.app/listings/2-bedroom-west-53rd-street-ne...

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

#380

Post by benburleson »

AJRF wrote: post #302

I recently moved house. I was previously living with my friend, and we had an agreement I pay sometime before the end of the month. He gave me a contract and said you'll need this, just because when you go to the next place they will ask you for your previous contract. He found it online, it was boiler plate and we agreed verbally I pay him whenever during the month. We we're really good friends, and I lived there fo…

Further, companies already exist [https://carpe.io/] that mine your online presence to help calculate your risk score.
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