Tech Startups Are Making Home Ownership Less Stressful (& More Profitable!)
These four tech companies are making it easier for landlords, homeowners and real estate professionals to manage properties and reach their #businessgoals with ease.
Every day, news outlets and industry leaders report on the current real estate trends around the country — mostly with a keen focus on the affordable housing crisis that’s racking most of the nation’s major cities.
While cities like Atlanta are seeing major (but possibly unsustainable growth), economic insecurity throughout most of the nation is keeping more young people from going fully into the profitable, yet changing rental market.
As history has shown, however, hardship can lead way to innovation, and these newest real estate disruptors are proof that an industry can continue to reinvent itself. Whether or not you’re a landlord, homeowner, homebuyer, agent or just keeping an eye on the market, take a look at these apps that can alleviate your property-related stress.
For Property Management
Rhino
According to TechCrunch: Rhino is an insurance startup that looking to replace costly security deposits for renters with a fee-based insurance policy for landlords.
The app allows both landlords and renters to forego the security deposit process, which can sometimes cost prospective tenants thousands of dollars before they even move in.
By charging tenants between $10–20 a month to pay their security deposit throughout the lease period, Rhino is able to then offer landlords an insurance policy for their properties that is typically twice the value of one month’s rent. That’s real value.
Factor in Rhino’s commitment to paying out claims within 24 hours and this service quickly becomes a must have for aspiring real estate moguls.
TenantCloud
Not everyone is suited for landlord life, and even for those that are, the headaches that come from managing your property or properties can make a sound investment seem like a drain.
Enter Tenant Cloud, a popular mobile app that allows landlords to manage administrative tasks for their properties such as applicant screening, accounting, online invoicing, and more.
If you’re planning to take on new tenants, remodel your current units or looking to better organize your rental business, Tenant Cloud is worth signing up for.
For Home Equity
HomeBinder
With such a fickle modern real estate market, it’s no wonder homeowners are more concerned than ever with getting the most equity out of their properties.
One app that’s looking to provide a solution is HomeBinder — an app that literally tracks your home improvement and maintenance projects in a virtual binder.
HomeBinder is a great option for first-time homeowners who are just learning the ins and outs of DIY home-repairs or for the home renovation lover who needs to easily quick track of projects, paint colors, and model numbers for later reference.
The best part? HomeBinder will compile all of the data entered from your projects over time to give you, your real estate agent or a mortgage lender a high-level appraisal of your home’s value.
If you’re looking to truly track the ROI of your home’s sweat equity, download this app.
Houzz
Home and interior design has seen a booming return to public interest over the last decade, thanks in part to our last recession, but also HGTV and the DIY Network. Now that homeowners have been exposed to the versatility of shiplap and the charm of antique hardwood floors, one website has emerged as the Chief Aggregate of home renovation ideas: Houzz.com.
The Houzz Mobile App won “Best App” of 2016 and it’s for good reason. Along with its library of thousands of home design photos, the app also features a virtual reality Room Decorator tool that lets users visualize how select retailers’ furniture and home decor items would look in their home before they purchase.
Since homeowners can also use this app to find contractors, home repair professionals, and talk to other Houzz users who’ve recently completed similar projects in their area, it’s safe to say that Houzz really is the best home app there is.
For Vacation Rentals
Innclusive
Marketing itself as “a platform that celebrates people”, Airbnb competitor, Innclusive, aims to foster more trust and less discrimination within the short-term rental market.
While claims of discrimination and bigotry are not without controversy for the vacation rental giant, Airbnb’s biggest upside for property owners is the ability to pre-screen the guests who will be signing on to stay with them or alone in their homes.
Innclusive’s (formerly known as Noir BnB) goal is to retain the same spirit of shared vacation living as Airbnb, but with more transparency for renters who often are at the mercy of Airbnb hosts for their travel plans (despite the chance of having their reservation cancelled at the drop of a hat, or potential run-ins with overly vigilant neighbors).
Currently in its early phases, Innclusive is already up and running in over 130 countries, and is accepting hosts from all corners of the globe with a focus on finding “welcoming and affordable” long-term rentals. If you’re looking to generate more income from your vacation rentals, adding your home as an Innclusive host property can help you bring in more vacation bookings as the platforms continues to grow.
Another app that can help property owners manage their rental business is our text-enabled hashtag service, willu for Real Estate. Landlords or property owners can create attention-grabbing vanity hashtags (like vanity URLs) and add it on our nation-wide hashtag database.
Share your hashtag with your social followers and use it to share instant messages and alerts directly through text. Sounds good? Then add a vanity hashtag to our waitlist today!
