Casalova, a real estate app that streamlines the rental process for tenants and landlords, will make life easier for real estate agents too, says the app’s developer.
“Our plan is not to eliminate agents, but rather to make it easier for them to do their jobs,” says Casalova CEO and co-founder Ray Taaeb.
The platform lets agents list and find rental properties, and speeds the process by letting users do everything from searches to paying rent online.
Agents can help those who are unsure about neighbourhoods or the rental process, such as clients’ children who are entering the rental market for the first time. Casalova will also make it easier for agents to find suitable tenants for clients who bought an investment property but want to be passive landlords, Taaeb says.
The idea for Casalova was born from Taaeb’s own bad rental experience. He and two roommates were moving to Toronto and needed a three-bedroom condo. It was a manual and lengthy process, with everything done on paper, he says. It was also inconvenient because the three roommates all had to be available at the same time for meetings and to sign papers.
Once they moved in, their problems weren’t over. The building was relatively new, so they were shocked to have to deal with broken elevators and garbage chutes, and a bad concierge, he says.
“This is stuff residents know” and that would have been handy to know about before we rented, he says. “How is it that I can find 100 reviews of a sushi restaurant that I’ll be eating in for an hour but no reviews of a building that I’ll be living in for a year?”
So Casalova recently rolled out a new feature that will allow residents and renters of buildings across the Greater Toronto Area to leave ratings and reviews. “The feature comes as a result of feedback from users and the general renting population, who have found themselves without a platform to voice and express their opinions and experiences about their living arrangements,” he says. “With the influx of horror stories from poorly built condos to questionable management practices, this feature is intended to weed out slumlords and reward builders who are providing quality service while giving renters valuable decision-making information.”
The user demographic is young professionals and couples aged 22 to 36 years. In Toronto, the average age for a first-time buyer is 37-years-old because of high house prices, which means lots of young people are looking to rent.
“There is also an increase in the renting culture, a more ‘access over ownership lifestyle’,” he says. “Access over ownership means this demographic uses things when they need them and are not interested in holding on to or hording them.” It explains the popularity of Uber and Airbnb.
Tenants might pair up with roommates, or rent a mini 200-square-foot condo with a little kitchen and a bed that comes out of the wall.
Casalova has listings for apartments, houses and rooms. Tenants can search for rentals, schedule viewings, make offers and pay rent all online using a single profile. It eliminates paper applications and also weeds out rental scams because Casalova verifies listings and landlords. Tenants are able to view the profile of the person listing the unit and view verifications and references to reduce the risk of scams.
Landlords, property managers and agents can list their properties, handle all viewings, easily compare and accept tenant applications and collect rent into their bank account. The biggest value for them is reduced tenant screening time to minutes and centralizing the relationship and communication with tenants in one portal to easily manage the renting process.
The platform is agent friendly, allowing listings to be promoted. They are attached to the agent’s profile and also show the agent’s other listings.
There is no cost to sign up. Packages are available for $5 for three days to more extensive packages for $65. Credit checks can be done for $20.
Casalova was founded in September 2014 by Taaeb and CTO co-founder Curtis Layne. Taaeb, who has a background in business, accounting and finance, was formerly with KPMG’s private real estate practice. Layne was formerly a software engineer with Amazon.
Since its launch on May 8, 2015, Casalova has grown to 10,000 active monthly users, reports 37-per-cent growth per week and has 500 listings across Canada.
Taaeb and Layne recently filed an application for partnership with CREA. That would allow agents to submit listings from realtor.ca directly to Casalova.
For more information, visit casalova.ca and click on the landlord page.
Connie Adair is a contributing writer for REM.
