Three years ago we launched the very first version of RadPad, a simple iPhone app built around high quality images of apartments and homes for rent. Last year we released Pay with RadPad, enabling renters to easily pay their rent to any landlord in America.
Today, we begin the next chapter of RadPad as we announce the launch of two major new products:
We’re opening RadPad up to include short term pads (weekly and month-to-month rentals)
Three years ago when we started RadPad, I asked Tyler to move from Toronto to Los Angeles to join Tim and me full time. He had only ever spent a handful of days in LA and while he knew he needed to be here more permanently to help us build RadPad, committing to live in a new city he barely knew for more than a few months was a little scary.
Short term apartments and homes give renters like Tyler a lot more flexibility. They make it even easier to live somewhere new without feeling trapped. There’s a reason why homeownership is at 25 year low and continues to fall. People just don’t want to commit to living somewhere for long periods of time anymore.
When we started RadPad, we only had long term apartments and homes for rent. But that all changes today because we’ve opened RadPad up to also include weekly & month-to-month listings.
This does not mean we’re competing with Airbnb and we have no plans to go head-to-head against them. While Airbnb focuses on travelers, we’re focused on renters — which is a distinctly unique but growing subset of the rental market. We don’t care how long you want to live somewhere, just that you can find it on RadPad.
To kick off the launch of short term pads, we’ve partnered with onefinestay and HomeSuite, two companies that have incredibly beautiful and unique short term rental options. Beginning today, you’ll see all of their short term listings when you search for short term options on RadPad.
RadPad is moving from a lead-generation business (like Trulia, Zillow & Craigslist) to a transactional-oriented marketplace (like Airbnb, Hotel Tonight & Uber)
One year ago we launched Pay with RadPad. Last month we paid more than $5M in rent payments and this year, we’re on track to pay more than $100M in rents. Pay with RadPad was the first hint of the direction RadPad has been headed.
Today we’re launching Apply Instantly! a new product we’ve been working on for four months that enables renters to apply to any apartment on RadPad.
With Apply Instantly! renters can securely send their Income, TransUnion Credit Report, Criminal & Eviction Screen & Rental History with just one click to any landlord. We also partnered with Plaid so that renters can connect their bank accounts to their RadPad profile and securely allow a landlord to verify their income.
Landlords who list directly on RadPad can now qualify applicants in real-time by setting qualification criteria when they create their listings. We’re no longer providing landlords leads. We’re sending them qualified applicants who are ready to rent their apartments.
Renters pay just $30 to apply to as many apartments as they want and landlords can now upgrade to renter qualification for $25/listing, allowing landlords to qualify renters instantaneously based on the landlords own qualification criteria.
With today’s launch of Apply Instantly, we’re a big step closer to having an end-to-end marketplace where renters can discover a new place to live, apply, sign their lease and pay their rent through RadPad and landlords can list apartments, qualify applicants and get paid.
In addition to today’s product announcements, we’re also very excited to be releasing our new logo, The Spotlight. Not only did we completely redesign RadPad’s logo, which was originally designed in the fall of 2012, but we’ve spent nearly six months developing a new brand identity for RadPad, which includes the Spotlight, a new typeface and four new secondary brand colors. Don’t worry, RadPad Yellow (#FFBB00), which we’ve become so well known for is still our primary color :)
Later this week, in a special post Tyler is working on, we will share the backstory and evolution of the new Spotlight — so stay tuned.
2016 is going to be our biggest year yet and today marks the next major chapter in RadPad’s relatively short journey. We can’t wait to show you what else we have up our sleeves. What you’re seeing today is only a glimpse of what’s coming over the next several weeks.
-Jonathan
iOS & Android will be updated in the coming days.
Oh, and one more thing. We’re working with drones… but more on that later.
