RenterResume

Jul 21, 2014

RenterResume is a platform to screen tenants The service, free for landlords, launched to the public this week. RenterResume is a platform to screen tenants RenterResume's tenant application is available for desktop and mobile platforms. (Photo courtesy RenterResume) When Joshua Hines went to rent an apartment, his screening process once consisted of writing his name and Social Security number on a cocktail napkin. “I’ll give the landlord an application and apply, but then I wouldn’t hear back for two weeks, three weeks at a time, which was really frustrating because I had to move in a month,” Hines said. When Realtor Ashley Wilson advertised her own West Virginia property for rent, she found herself making the long haul only to meet with renters who weren’t qualified. The two met through soon-merging entrepreneur matchmaking service CoFoundersLab  and came up with what they feel is a better way. RenterResume opened to the public this week. It’s a screening platform , currently free for landlords with a fee for applicants, that standardizes and simplifies the process. “We started talking to landlords,” said Hines, CEO of the Owings Mills startup. “I really found out that the bottleneck in the process was they were really overwhelmed and they didn’t know how to qualify the renter.” With RenterResume, a landlord creates a listing with a few lines about their property and what they are looking for from applicants then gives that URL to prospective tenants. The applicants give their name, Social Security number and other standard information. The number is not shared with the landlord. The landlord then gets an email saying they have an applicant. “RenterResume’s cloud-based smart tenant screening product has allowed my staff to streamline the entire leasing process,” Joseph Rieling, president of Nomadic Real Estate, said in a release. “Overall, it has it has helped us operate more efficiently and dedicate time to other crucial aspects of the business.” Hines said the website already has nearly 40 properties onboard with the service, which currently offers a 60-day free trial for landlords, though that will drop to 30 days later on, he said. Hines said he sees RenterResume as more than a landlord aid. “There’s a big future for predictive analytics and using data intelligently,” he said. “We’re not just tenant screening. In the future we’ll be predictive screening and tenant analytics for landlords.” Related -30- Tyler Waldman is lead reporter for Technical.ly Baltimore. A Towson University graduate and former local editor for Patch.com, Tyler has also written and photographed for publications including the Baltimore Brew, Howard County Times and Towson Times. He lives in Charles Village.