Existing Market: After speaking with people in my existing market, they seemed to be hung up on the idea of flexibility in their rentals. Most people believed that there should be more flexibility in how much electricity they have to pay for, or water, or how furnished their place comes. It seems as if the rental market wants more choice in not just their overall rental payment, but what is being added in to get that calculation.
That got me thinking, what if I could actually include the component costs of the rental price, and allow people to pay more or less depending on what they want. For example, if someone wants slower internet, but cheaper electricity bills, they should be able to have that option afforded to them. Most condos or buildings just assume that all people want the same thing. They end up charging everyone for parking when they may not need it, or expensive internet when they tend to use the library mostly. I think the future of my venture would be to make a lot more things in a rental contract custom and able to be negotiated online. Something that maintains the landlords profit margin, but allows people to get creative with how they want to live.
New Market: In terms of the new market, people believe I have the opportunity to sell the rental idea to the landlords or businesses without having to incur the fixed costs of actually paying for land and apartments. If I could create a program or site that would adjust your monthly prices so that you save money from paying for the summer months while still allowing landlords to maintain a level of profit, it could be a happy medium.
That being said, I think it is a harder market to pursue for sure. I think businesses are stuck in their ways and no one has challenged them yet. I think I would first need to create a huge consumer demand because most companies probably feel the demand for this is not as high as they believe. So, probably expanding my existing market is the better idea than going into a new one.
I believe the idea that extends your current market and allows customer flexibility for utilities and other housing expenses is better than your new market idea, not because I don't believe both could be viable, but I believe the former is more practical for you to set a precedent. I would agree with your final analysis in terms of pursuing different marketplaces and finally, understanding where you stand in comparison shows maturity with managing future growth.
ReplyDeletei agree, it will be hard to sell people on doing this because it is already working so well as it is. I hate this saying, but if it aint broke, don't fix it. I disagree with that, but sadly that may be a down fall. I think your advantage though is the area you are in and the consumers you are engaging. College students want new, better and faster ways to do everything, and this is exactly what they need for subleasing.
ReplyDeleteHi Josh,
ReplyDeleteI think adding a customizable rental option to your new rental idea would go very far. I have noticed, especially when looking at apartments that everything kind of comes included, but what if someone would want slower internet, which would mean less cost. I have found this beneficial in living in a house of campus where we pay our rent separate from all our utilities and internet because we are able to chose what WIFI we wanted and we even decided to ditch cable cause we would never use and we are saving on that. Where as in most apartments, you don't have a chose of whether or not to have cable but you pay for it anyway. I think if you found a way around this in an apartment, with your non summer subleases, that would be an even better point of emphasis.