AZCentral
3 college friends who grew tired of paperwork hassles while leasing property to renters have developed an online site that modernizes the age-old deal between landlords and renters by making it electronic.
The 20-something entrepreneurs working on the fifth floor of a rented Brickyard office in downtown Tempe flipped the switch on their site, RentalSpaceNetwork.com, last week after 2 years of development.
Asked why someone else hadn’t come up with the idea, Zlotoff said, ‘You’re right. But think of all the times you have a good idea and never act on it. Surely you’ve thought of things and just figured someone else would do it.’
The partners said they funded their start-up with several hundred thousand dollars from private investors.
But the biggest investment came from the three friends themselves, who spent countless hours researching rental laws across the country, buying domain names from Scottsdale-based Godaddy.com, developing the site’s security features and creating a word-of-mouth marketing plan that rewards anyone who refers business their way.
The site is free to renters but costs landlords $24.99 per month per property, or $199 per year per property. Apartment landlords pay $34.99 a month and $279 a year to advertise their units on the site.
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