Rental Beast, a rental listing platform with more than 6 million housing entries nationwide, has struck a deal to list rentals on Facebook Marketplace.
As part of the partnership, the Massachusetts-based company’s listings will now appear among Facebook Marketplace’s rental options. Each listing will come with a “contact” button that connects those in search of a rental to a licensed real estate agent.
“It saves a lot of time and exposes consumers and agents to what’s really out there,” Rental Beast founder Ishay Grinberg told Inman. “[What listings are out there] is really easy to answer on the sales side but nearly impossible to answer on the rental side.”
Launching Rental Beast in 2009 after a long career as a real estate agent, Grinberg says the company is essentially an MLS for rentals. Rental Beast functions as a software-as-a-service platform in which a database of listings connects renters, agents and brokers.
Courtesy of Rental Beast
Facebook Marketplace, which rolled out in 2016, has expanded over the past two years into a robust market for sale and rental properties in part by partnering with rental platforms like Apartment List and Zumper in 2017.
The latest partnership will help not only renters but also agents and brokerages looking for leads.
Since its launch nine years ago, Rental Beast has taken advantage of large rental markets by giving newer agents the chance to build a base of clients and generate commissions quickly through its platform.
“We provide our partners with access to all the inventory and technology and education they need,” Grinberg said. “Now that we are one of only three or four rental companies that supply rental data into the Facebook Marketplace, we are seeing a crazy amount of traffic from renters looking to view properties through our brokers and through our partner agents.”
With listings nationwide and offices in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Denver and Dallas, Rental Beast is planning to expand into at least five more states in the coming months, said Grinberg, who added that such a service is crucial at a time when sales inventory is low and more people are looking to rent.
“This is not a nice-to-have,” he said. “We need to be in this business.”
