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New York State’s largest multiple listing service, OneKey MLS, has a new partner in the rental software space: Los Angeles-based RentSpree.
The software company has inked a partnership to provide its ApplyLink product, a single URL that attracts leads and launches aspiring tenants’ application experience, to the MLS’s more than 50,000 members, Inman has learned.
OneKey agents work throughout Long Island, New York City and the Hudson Valley region.
OneKey is only the latest MLS to recognize the benefits of better engaging the rental market, a central component to RentSpree’s mission. In a statement, RentSpree CEO Michael Lucarelli said he looks forward to delivering value to OneKey’s members and working with its leadership, including CEO Richard Haggerty.
“I’m beyond excited to partner and deliver value for both subscribers and consumers across the OneKey footprint,” Lucarelli said in a statement “We love to work with leaders like Richard who can easily recognize and address important needs in one of the hottest rental markets in the U.S.”
For his part, Haggerty said all aspects of the market are worth his members’ attention.
“Our partnership with RentSpree fits our organization’s vision to go beyond what is expected, to provide our subscribers with access to the tools they need to compete and stay relevant in a rapidly changing business landscape,“ Haggerty added. “We are deeply committed to supporting our subscribers in all critical areas of real estate.”
Rent.com’s July 2023 market report on national apartment price trends said that “despite steady growth throughout the first half of 2023, prices remain below last summer’s peak. The national median rent price is now $2,029, 1.17 percent less than in August 2022 when rents reached $2,053. By February 2023, rents had declined 5.66 percent from the previous high of $1,936. June’s price represents a 4.80 percent increase from February and the most expensive price registered since August 2022.“
RentSpree’s take is that agents should use the downtime to cultivate renters as leads — as well as benefit by working their way directly into the leasing sector by using its MLS-partner tools.
In April, the company rolled out RentSpree PRO, an all-in-one marketing suite for real estate agents.
The offering combines transaction and marketing tools, linking them into a single, simple package. It’s designed to assist agents who may be unfamiliar with the messaging and tactics common to landing renters as clients. Consumer-facing tools are available for renters as well.
The $19.99 monthly subscription also provides automated reference checks and e-signature capabilities to “alleviate the need for agents and landlords to perform manual tasks like sending lease agreements via print, scan, email or other tools outside of their current solution,“ according to the announcement.
RentSpree announced four MLSs signed on in a May 9 statement, including Rhode Island Association of Realtor’s Statewide MLS, Heartland MLS in Kansas, Idaho-based Intermountain MLS and REsides Inc. based in Hilton Head.
In addition to the above, since the MLS program launched in 2021, other partners include, Southwest Florida MLS, which has about 15,000 members, the New England Real Estate Network, with 11,340 members, the Monmouth Ocean Regional MLS, with more than 10,600 members, the CJMLS, with more than 8,500 members, and many others.
The company secured over $17 million in funding in August, 2022. It was founded in 2016.
