RentHop (YC S09) Launches Algorithmic Apartment Search In Boston

oliverjay1017 wrote: post #3

o0oooooo wrote: post #2

finally,!!! Boston.

perfect timing...was just looking for a new apartment after my landlord raised rates again...

Perfect timing would be yours and the parent account's registration times.

Re: RentHop (YC S09) Launches Algorithmic Apartment Search In Boston

#8

Post by ericd » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 10:07 PM UTC

chrisballinger wrote: post #5

Is this just a ripoff of PadMapper ( http://www.padmapper.com )?

So, I wrote/write PadMapper, and I'd say not really. Thanks for looking out for me, though :-)

The map UI is clearly inspired by it, but the data sources are very different. If I understand correctly, RentHop mostly focuses on getting information directly from and making money from rental brokers, whereas PadMapper just tries to index everything it can (PadMapper takes direct listings from a lot of the top agents/agencies in NYC/Boston as well, but lots from Craigslist and other places)

As a result, there are data quality differences (RH's is probably cleaner in some ways if it is mostly direct), but also as a result RH necessarily has less selection and a larger percentage of RH's listings probably come with broker fees. Ultimately, which setup you prefer is down to whether you'd prefer to work with a broker, I think.

Re: RentHop (YC S09) Launches Algorithmic Apartment Search In Boston

#9

Post by tibbon » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 10:08 PM UTC

Seems, not quite there yet. I like living in Somerville, which is one of the neighborhoods it indexes.

1) It only returns 19 results for Somerville

2) None of them allow cats (really? Every apartment I've lived in Somerville was more than happy to have cats).

3) There is no option to search for ones with garages (yes, there are garages in Somerville!)

4) There is no feedback as to where this Hop Score comes from (freshness, quality, manager? How do they know who a good landlord is?)

I'm not sure what this does for me honestly over other services. It looks nice. But 3 years, MIT developers and funding don't seem to add up here.

Fundamentally, the problem of indexing information about apartments is still broken completely, and no one seems to be able to fix it.

Re: RentHop (YC S09) Launches Algorithmic Apartment Search In Boston

#10

Post by benologist » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 10:09 PM UTC

Thrillist looks like they've taken the garbage tactics of AOL and somehow managed to make them even more shit - the website the whole article about is linked only through a redirect-with-our-frame-at-the-top script at the bottom of it.