Rent.com

The #1 internet listing site for housing rentals in the U.S.!
Local Sites: 
United States
Social Presence: 
Blog: The Shared Wall,
Social Presence: 
Facebook,
Social Presence: 
Twitter
What is Rent.com

Rent.com is the #1 Internet listing site (ILS) in the U.S. in the rental housing industry, enabling renters to find a residential rental property online using a free robust search tool. Rent.com has the most online traffic and the largest inventory of contracted property listings.

Renters can search the site's detailed property listings, including contact information, pricing, photos, floor plans, and virtual tours. With the ability to directly contact property managers, finding the rental housing of your dreams is as easy as 1-2-3.

As the only national ILS with a pay-per-lease business model, Rent.com allows large-property managers to cost-effectively fill their vacancies. In addition, managers of properties with 1-49 units can pay a flat fee to list their properties on Rent.com for up to 60 days. With our detailed activity and performance reports, managing your property listings is easy.

Rent.com is dedicated to giving renters a convenient way to find the perfect place to live and building innovative tools that bring renters and property owners together.

At A Glance
By the Numbers: 
The nation’s #1 Internet listing site (ILS) in the rental housing industry
Delivering more renter traffic than any other national ILS since 2004 according to comScore Media Metrix
Averaging 4.2 million unique visitors per month and 51 million page views per month
Approximately 4 million rental units nationwide are listed on Rent.com
History: 
April 2000 - Scott Ingraham and Allan Hunter launched Viva.com (now Rent.com), in Santa Monica, CA
October 2001 - the site was relaunched as Rent.com
October 2004 - Rent.com became the most visited national ILS
December 2004 - acquired by eBay, deal closes in 2005
Content & Users: 
The majority of Rent.com's users plan to move because of a life change, such as career, finances or family
The most common type of apartment listed on Rent.com is a 2-bedroom
New York City, Houston, and Chicago boast the most pet-friendly apartment listings
Nearly 40% of users search for apartments with a washer/dryer in the unit; 30% search for apartments with air conditioning; and 10% look for buildings with fitness centers

Team Spotlight

  • Kim
    Business Development Manager, Strategic Partnerships
    I am responsible for helping drive growth through strategic partnerships. This involves building relationships with advertisers of products and services that help make the moving process easier for our users. It also involves working with affiliate publishers to help introduce and reinforce the value of Rent.com to the right audience at the right time. Rent.com is always on the hunt for relevant, new advertising and affiliate partners – If you know any, please send them my way.
    We recently launched Lessor Resources on our company manager and property manager pages, through which Rent.com provides exclusive partner discounts on services relevant to owners and managers of rental units. I think it’s really cool that (in addition to providing the broadest online reach for their property) Rent.com is now able to provide added value to our lessors through strategic partnerships.
    That even with $100 on the line, some people still forget to submit their lease report. ;)
    I learn a ton from my interactions with current and prospective partners. I LOVE that my job involves meeting new people, being introduced to new business models, and exploring new ways to collaborate. It energizes me to learn how companies are innovating in the ways they are helping make moving less stressful. And it excites me even more to be able to introduce these solutions to Rent.com’s users.
    My background is primarily in “traditional” consumer packaged goods marketing, so working at Rent.com was a great opportunity to expand my experience in the online space. Also, the marketing nerd in me was excited to work with a leading brand with a huge user base.
    It’s large enough to significantly impact the rental housing industry and yet lean enough for each individual to play a critical role in achieving (and exceeding!) company goals.
  • Reynold
    Sr. Software QA Engineer
    The major goals that I’m working to achieve at Rent.com are: Increasing quality and cost savings. Increasing quality ensures that all areas of our site work properly and that everything functions according to plan. Cost savings means assuring that quality translates to cost savings and an improved bottom line.
    I’ve been able to work on a variety of cool and awesome projects. A project that I’m currently working on with the QA team is building out an Automation Testing Framework. This is an on-going project that strives to provide more testing coverage of functionality, reduce the elapsed time for testing, and improve productivity.
    Management’s Attentiveness to employee’s opinions, suggestions, and well being. Management at Rent.com cares about its employees, which helps us operate as a well oiled business.
    The most amazing experience at Rent.com is being able to work alongside smart and talented individuals. There are a lot of smart people working here at Rent.com, and I’m able to expand my skill sets and learn from them.
    My most favorite benefit about working at Rent.com is the flexibility in working hours. I can come into work when I’m most alert during the day.
    I decided to work at Rent.com because this company was exactly what I was looking for. Rent.com has a small company feel, and thus provides easier work flexibility and adaptability. Being able to really take ownership of my work was also a big reason why I decided to work at Rent.com.
    I like working at Rent.com because of the unique company culture and work environment. At Rent.com there is a great support for innovation, the leadership is highly effective. As an employee I feel fully empowered.
  • Michelle
    Manager, Project Management
    My main goals include: Successful completion of the Rent.com website rearchitecture project. Success will be defined by leaving no stone unturned when soliciting input from business stakeholders and users on how the site should work. This is a massive site improvement project meant to wipe out 10 years of technical debt. The deliverable is a new site that takes minimal effort for change so we can stay ahead of competition and on top of customer demands. Keep abreast of super-fast paced mobile market developments and work with key people both internal and external to Rent.com to optimize Rent.com’s mobile strategy. Serve as both the product manager and project manager to Rent.com’s mobile initiatives.
    The coolest project I have worked on at Rent.com is the build and launch of our mobile apps for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. Now it’s a challenge to gauge and decide how we will leverage the expanding world of mobile through iPads and other tablets. Another cool “project” was the implementation of Agile Scrum methods to improve our task and project workflow process. We started in late 2008 and over the past couple years we have tweaked our workflow based on input from business stakeholders and the Tech team. It was a great challenge rolling out Agile Scrum methods and getting buy-in from the entire company. In a Scrum manner, we continually inspect and adapt the process to work smarter.
    The work/life balance here at Rent.com is optimal. When necessary, we put forth extra effort to get the job done. Overall, however, we work at a sustainable pace. I’ve seen burnout and the loss of good people due to working at an unsustainable pace. When I first arrived at Rent.com, it was a pleasant surprise to get a life outside of work!
    An amazing experience for me was the opportunity to roll-out Agile Scrum (and some Lean Development) methods to identify and eliminate roadblocks in our project workflow. It was amazing to me how receptive senior staff was to try Agile Scrum after I briefed them on the concepts gained from a ScrumMaster class. Without senior staff support, there is no way we could have launched Agile Scrum.
    The Sabbatical! I recently spent mine with my husband in China and ended up with a strong desire to come up with Rent.com’s business model for China. My supervisor is learning of this desire as of this writing.
    As a start-up recently purchased by eBay, Rent.com did not have a project manager or project workflow in place, so the idea of setting up a task/project workflow for the benefit of the company was very attractive to me. I was offered the chance to recommend and implement improvements instead of following the waterfall approach of my previous job.
    There are so many positives of working at Rent.com. A few of the positives are listed below. The people! Our technology team is comprised of highly knowledgeable, top-notch engineers and developers. Our UED team is highly talented and always on the cutting edge of look and feel. Our business and marketing teams are well versed in macro and micro-economic impacts to our business with ideas on ways to combat downturns in the rental marketplace. The opportunities! There are always areas to pitch in and help here at Rent.com since we run such a tight ship. My supervisor enables me to make time to work on non-project management related tasks such as mobile app and WAP product management. The work environment! Plush office, free snacks and coffee, and the gym is downstairs making it easy to work out before or after work – no excuses!

Buzz

Rent.com:

The best green cleaning products as reviewed by @goodhousemag: http://t.co/tKF96SrX
via Twitter on 12/16/2011
Rent.com:

Holiday Entertaining in a Small Space http://t.co/stqVGE1u
via Twitter on 12/16/2011
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