Cribspot (YC W15) is a search engine for college housing
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Our number one focus is solving the student problem. We don't intent to take responsibilities away from these agencies, but rather to make it easier to fulfill them. We make it easier for them to fill their properties faster at no cost to them. Generally property management companies have received this very well.
Right now, it is up to the student to make sure they abide by the rules set forth by their landlord for subleasing. Typically this is just filling out a form telling them who will be living in the property, and in some cases, an additional fee. We would prefer to keep the legal responsibilities on the student, but will work towards making it as easy as possible to facilitate transactions and contracts with the subletter online.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
The interface looks great, so much better than Craigslist. What advantages do you provide for landlords that Craigslist/Lovely do not have?
I'm guessing that college students are a much less attractive market. Youth means no/less credit or rental history, students have lower income, and are more likely to damage property. As a landlord, why would I want to specifically target a less-desirable market? Or do you think that, in large college towns, they've already accepted those conditions?
College students don't use Lovely for off-campus housing - the best properties don't need to be advertised beyond a property manager's website. We've been more heavily focused on solving the renter's needs to-date, and focus on bubbling up those properties that other websites don't have. For now, we provide free leads to property managers, so that value is obvious.
College landlords often rely on co-signers (parents), and many perform background checks on both the renter and the co-signer. There are certain areas in college towns where literally every property is rented by a student. If a landlord purchases a house in that area, they understand that their renters will almost definitely be students. Demand for these properties is so high that they are almost guaranteed 100% occupancy every year, so it's still an attractive investment.
I just posted one of my apartments expecting to be the only one in the area (I'm the only host on Airbnb in my city limits), and there were already four other apartments there.
Airbnb doesn't typically have a ton of supply in most of our smaller college towns. We get a lot of sublets posted partially because there aren't a lot of great resources outside of Craigslist.
Has it been challenging to get landlords to agree to a common rental application?
What's the plan to differentiate from companies like cozy.co in the application/leases/rent-payment space?
As with anything, it's been challenging for some and rather easy for others. Our success so far is partially due to the fact that we have existing relationships with a ton of landlords. They know we send them leads and already trust our brand.
Most landlords in our markets don't use much software. We're primarily renter-focused, starting with lightweight tools focused on helping smaller property managers. Again, our existing relationships and the fact that we're already generating a significant percentage of their leads really help our ability to get property managers on board.