Rental site Lovely has partnered with Experian on a new rental application system the company claims makes it “the first fully integrated rental marketplace where renters can find, apply for and secure” an apartment using a single platform.
“Apply with Lovely” saves apartment hunters time and money, the company claims, by allowing them to submit their rental application complete with an Experian credit report with a single click, for a flat fee of $20 per application.
Lovely today also launched a revamped tablet-optimized website redesigned from the ground up using HTML5. The site upgrade includes listing alerts; advanced search; and an inbox where renters can track properties they’ve tagged as favorites, which ones they’ve applied to and which properties might be a good match, based on their rental credentials.
Promotional video highlighting how landlords and property managers could use the Lovely platform.
The new site allows property managers and landlords to see applicants’ Experian credit scores, full credit reports and other details like yearly income. Lovely, which makes money from listing feed partnerships and renter application fees, provides free tools for rental pros.
Landlords can review renters’ profiles on the site through their profiles, which can be LinkedIn-verified, and invite them to view their properties. For each listing, landlords can access tabs that show “new renters,” “candidates” and “applicants.” They can also view an application and Experian credit score and extend offers within the site.
“Our goal from the beginning has always been to be not just a complete search solution for home rentals but a fully integrated platform and marketplace — combining search, transparency, transaction management and more into a holistic marketplace — to disrupt the status quo that has persisted historically in the rental industry,” said Blake Pierson, CEO of Lovely, in a statement.
In October 2012, Zillow rolled out a suite of tools for rental pros to help them syndicate, manage and market their listings, and in December introduced free consumer-facing websites for them to display their listings.
Two other rentals-focused startups, Cozy in San Francisco and Pendo Rent in Vancouver, have built platforms for small-time landlords focused on rent collection and management that also include tools for handling tenant applications.