Finding the right apartment to live in can be a daunting and time consuming task. Introin tries to make this process easier by creating a platform where prospective renters can communicate with current residents. Current residents can earn referral bonuses from their rental complex when they convince a prospective renter to move to their complex. Introit also gives renters the opportunity to advertise their own apartments for subleasing.
Introin currently only has listings available for the United States, but there, it does seem to have a relatively complete list of apartment complexes. What makes the site a lot less useful, though, is the fact that the search functions are extremely basic, to say the least. Other sites focused on the rental market like ForRent.com or Rent.com allow you to filter your search by everything from available fireplaces, to pools, and pet policies. Even Apartmentratings.com, which mostly focuses on reviews, allows for searching by number of beds and baths, as well as maximum rent.
Introin, on the other hand, only features a location based search and an option to search by name. That's it. After the search is completed, you are presented with an alphabetical list that can only be sorted by number of referrals. The information Introin displays about apartment complexes is about as spare as its search functions and doesn't go beyond name, address, and phone number. There are no photos, no links to a complex's web site, not even an indication about the cost of renting there. There is a button that says 'show details,' but it's inactive.
Even though the search presents a pretty bare list of information, this is the central hub for renters to connect. You can add your own information here to be listed as a referral and you can list your apartment as being available for sublease. At least in the sublease form, you can start entering some information about your place. You can not, however, upload any pictures.
Once a connection between renters has been made, the communication between them is then handled on the site on a message board. If there are no subleases or referrers available yet, you can set an alert and you will get an email once somebody else signs up for referring or subleasing.
If current renters, though, are mostly motivated by referral bonuses, the question remains if their opinions can be fully trusted. Many complexes offer bonuses close to $300 or a certain number of rent-free weeks. Introin doesn't feature any reputation system. This is problematic in a system that has a conflict of interest built into it by default.
The problem for Introin right now isn't this potential conflict of interest, though. The problem Introin faces right now is one that many community sites face in its early stages: it's empty. In all my searches, I have yet to come across a single apartment available for sub-lease or a users who registered as a referral.
Introin is probably most useful in areas around college campuses where people move in and out on a regular basis and somebody is always looking to sub-lease apartments for the semester breaks or after dropping out of school. Here, however, Introin also faces stiff competition from long established local sites and, of course, Craigslist.
Introin is build upon a very interesting idea. If the developers tackle some of the problems outlined above and start adding more information to the system so that the search function becomes more useful, then this service would have potential. Right now, there is simply a lack of activity on the site and the fact that the search is so limited reduces its usefulness to the point where it would be hard to refer anybody to the site with a clean conscience.
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it look like it a similar concept and idea of hotpads.com.
Nat
www.workersinc.com
Posted by: Nathaniel | June 27, 2008 5:19 PM