Rentahome website
Rentahome is a renting web app platform for students, recent grads, and newcomers to Canada.
Rentahome includes listings that do not require a co-signer (or credit history/score) but instead provide bank account summary to prove that they have enough funds and can afford to pay. This can help newcomers secure a place while they continue to search for a job.
Here is some brief information on my research.
Students, recent grads and young professionals prefer living with roommates as rent prices are expensive for them to afford
- Students require co-signer
- People with jobs need to provide a letter of employment
Pain points for student/ recent grads/ young professionals
- Looking for a roommate to live with
- Recent grads may not have a job yet to provide a letter of employment
User needs:
- Show posts of just the room rent instead of a full unit
Secondary research into how recent immigrants renting process are like
Pain points:
- Don’t know where the “good” places are in terms of location
- Don’t have credit card history or credit score
- Don’t have previous landlord reference
- Building/ condo companies won’t take them in unless they have a co-signer
- Possible language barrier
How they can rent:
- Have a family member who already lives in Canada who can co-sign
- Show their bank account to prove that they can pay for the future rent
- Look for a landlord (private property) to rent it out to them
User needs:
- Show properties that are ok with no co-signer instead with bank account info
- Recommended popular places/cities
What's on the landing page:
1. [Main section] Users can use the search bar to find a specific place that they are looking for. Students/ recent grads/ young professionals can select room rent on the search bar instead of having to rent the entire unit and finding roommates. This allows them to find a place that they can afford efficiently.
2. [Popular cities section] Show newcomers the popular cities since they are new to the country.
3. [Featured Rentals section] Listings show the tag "no co-signer needed" for newcomers
4. [What people say section] Show users of other's reviews on Rentahome to build trust.