California’s more than 217,000 Realtors will have access to software tools from Rental Beast, an all-in-one online rental listing service, at no additional charge through their membership in the California Association of Realtors.
Rental Beast and Real Estate Business Services (REBS), a for-profit subsidiary of C.A.R., announced on Tuesday that Rental Beast will be integrated with www.car.org through a single-sign-on feature, giving C.A.R. members access to rental lead generation tools such as add/edit and search to boost exposure for rental properties, syndicate rental listings, and generate and qualify rental leads, REBS and Rental Beast said in a press release.
The integration will also include rental application processing and tenant screening services, rental client nurturing tools, and processes to help identify and convert would-be renters into homebuyers, they added.
Rental Beast also offers an online statistics and reports dashboard, a robust education curriculum through Rental Beast University, and its platform integrates with most property management software platforms, the company told Inman via email.
The Rental Beast partnership will help “future-proof” Realtors’ businesses as for-sale inventory continues to be scarce and impacts home affordability, according to C.A.R.
“Rentals are a complex and increasingly important segment of the California housing market, and C.A.R. and REBS are sensitive to market conditions,” said REBS Chairman Jared Martin in a statement.
“REBS’ partnership with Rental Beast will help Realtors to successfully incorporate rental transactions into their business with integrity and competency.”
The integration’s go-live date is currently planned for late April or May.
The deal also includes a new C.A.R. consumer rental website that will be launched along with the partnership, according to Rental Beast.
Ishay Grinberg | Rental Beast
“C.A.R. is helping its members to successfully monetize California’s robust rental market, while leading the development of California’s most comprehensive fulfillment-grade rental marketplace,” said Ishay Grinberg, founder and CEO of Rental Beast, in a statement.
“Californians will finally have a source of truth for available rentals in their market, affording each of the state’s local multiple listing services the option to directly integrate with Rental Beast, becoming centers of excellence for rentals as they are today for buying and selling.”
Rental Beast regularly partners with multiple listing services to provide MLS subscribers with access to its database of more than 10 million off-MLS rental listings. Its deal with REBS will allow that database to grow and complement listings found in Rental Beast’s partner MLSs in California, the company said.
“Because REBS is supporting Rental Beast efforts to build the database of rentals throughout the state of California, any participating California MLS will have the opportunity to plug into the Rental Beast platform for a much lower cost and faster access,” Grinberg told Inman via email.
“Agents can directly access the platform through CAR.org if an MLS is not yet opted-in as a participant.”
The deal will also offer C.A.R. members discounted access to Rental Beast’s premium platform. Pricing for that platform has not been decided yet, according to C.A.R.
According to the trade group, in addition to the features included in the basic service, the premium service includes:
- A custom premium user-branded rental listing website
- Lead generation and filtering tools
- Real estate rental coaching services provided by Rental Beast’s team of coaches
- Full access to Rental Beast’s off-MLS rental listings
- Listing, property marketing and relationship management tools
- Customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing tools to convert leads
- An activity log center and tool for managing communications with clients
- A dedicated named support representative
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional comments from Rental Beast and C.A.R.
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