BidRent.com Launches “The eBay of Rental Properties”

BidRent.com launched world’s first auction site targeting apartment and house rentals in the U.S.
BidRent.com launched world’s first auction site targeting apartment and house rentals in the U.S.

RISMEDIA, August, 29, 2006-Referred to as “the eBay of Rental Properties,” BidRent.com enables landlords to list vacancies for free, giving potential tenants the opportunity to vie for new living spaces within the context of the popular online auction format.

Founded by Bobby Khalili of Bobby Khalili Ventures, this new approach to rental listing reduces vacancy rates by letting the market set the price.

“Landlords sometimes overshoot on rental prices,” offers Khalili. “As a result, properties remain unnecessarily vacant, and thousands of dollars in uncollected rent are lost. People buy and sell nearly everything at online auctions, but the phenomenon stops abruptly at rental units. Lessees rarely contact apartment owners to offer lower-than-listed rental prices.”

Khalili points to the buyer’s market, where the opposite is true: Bidding below list price on a new home purchase is not unusual — it’s the norm.

“Renting shouldn’t be any different. Landlords are open to negotiations, especially when faced with losing out on another month’s rent. BidRent.com draws fresh lines of communication between owner and tenant.”

BidRent.com also offers YourPropertySpace.com, dubbed “The MySpace of Real Estate,” having a forum similar to the popular online community. YourPropertySpace.com enables owners to build unique profiles which bear descriptions and photographs of their showcased properties. In essence, landlords can make a free website for their property in order to make marketing the property easier.

With YourPropertySpace.com and BidRent.com, property owners afford all the marketing advantages of a dedicated website. URLs correspond to property addresses, meaning www.BidRent.com/NY119ParkPlace would link to a property on 119 Park Place in New York.

“With BidRent.com profiles, tenants and buyers can browse, view pictures, leave messages and ask questions of the owners,? Khalili says. The interested party may be inspired to make a casual offer. At that point, anything can happen.”

BidRent.com will remain free of charge to both landlords and tenants. Khalili wants to encourage widespread use of the site, and subscribes to the notion that the most useful sites on the Net are offered at no cost.

“With real estate transactions at an all-time high, we firmly believe that BidRent.com will become a valuable commodity for everyone in real estate — from average Joe’s to rental property magnates.”

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