Category: Announcements

RentConfident’s Top Content of 2018

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It's that time of year again when bloggers engage in a bit of navel gazing. We jumped on the year-end bandwagon last year and we're going to do it again this year. You know the drill. We're going to list the 10 most popular posts in this blog from the past 12 months based on traffic, and then we're going to throw in a few which we really enjoyed in-house but the rest of the world slept on.

To all of you who have supported us through the year by reading our articles, sharing them, subscribing to our newsletter or, of course, by buying an apartment safety report, thank you! We hope this retrospective is a fun walk down memory lane for you. Let us know your favorites in the comments!

Your Favorites

We track our stats using Matomo, which is similar to Google Analytics but it lives entirely on our own servers. We do this because we don't like sharing our own data with Google and we figure you don't either. The articles in this list were the ones we published last year that saw the most traffic. They are not the absolute top performers, as those are all from previous years. (If you're curious, our top two articles are "How to Rat out a Bad Landlord in the City of Chicago" and "Is Your Grill Legal?", which doesn't surprise us at all.) Continue reading RentConfident’s Top Content of 2018

Published by

Kay Cleaves

No Article Today, Back Soon!

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Friday the 13th has struck with a vengeance here at RentConfident. We're dealing with some pretty major technical issues and are down to just our phones and  a decade old 9-inch netbook.

We should be able to have an article for you on Monday, so please bear with us until then. Thanks for your patience!

Published by

Kay Cleaves

Introducing the Fingerprint Report and Pay-what-you-can Pricing

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Tomorrow (March 1, 2016) we will be launching a new report format, a new price structure and a new look for our website. Unlike many other web-based startups, we do not job out our code to third party web designers. I build our site entirely in house - no collaboration, no support. Today I wanted to share with you a bit about what the new report is and how it developed.

The Concept

When we opened last year we had two report formats - the Signature Report at $65 and the simpler Initial Report at $35. As there is no other company out there doing exactly what we do, setting the price for the Reports was something of a guessing game. However, I knew that the going rate for tenant background checks was in the $25-75 range and used that as a reference point as those costs have traditionally been covered by tenants without much problem.

Given the tight budgets that many renters have to work with and the rising rents in the Chicago area, we were surprised to see that the more expensive Signature Reports were selling a lot better than the cheaper Initial Reports. When I thought it through the reasons for this became apparent. Continue reading Introducing the Fingerprint Report and Pay-what-you-can Pricing

Published by

Kay Cleaves

The RentConfident Roadmap for 2016: “Pay What You Can” and More!

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Happy new year! 2015 was probably the most risky and rewarding year of my life so far. As we enter a new calendar year RentConfident is still only 10 months old. We've been open for business for just 7 months. Even so, this time of year is when we focus on long term planning. I wanted to share with you some of the exciting things that we'll be doing to reach more renters and shake up the apartment hunting process over the next year.

A new product that puts you in control.

Those of you who subscribe to our mailing list will already know that this is coming. Starting in March 2016, we will be adding a quick, single-address report to our product line. In contrast to our current reports, which are intended for renters who are very close to the end of their apartment hunts, the new report will be designed for renters who are just starting their search.

More importantly, it will be offered with a "pay what you can" price tag. Continue reading The RentConfident Roadmap for 2016: “Pay What You Can” and More!

Published by

Kay Cleaves

Reclaiming Reality

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There was going to be another "top 10" list here today. It's all written up and ready to go. But things change and priorities shift. We need to have a little talk.

Bad Things happened on last Friday. They happened last Thursday, Wednesday and Tuesday, too. If they didn't happen in real life, they happened in the TV shows you watched, or in the things that your friends and favorite celebrities posted to Facebook, Twitter and the like.

Bad Things and Big Things will continue to happen. They will be packaged up to be entertaining or newsworthy based on marketing formulas and the opinions of focus groups. You will see passionate people living at extremes. You will hear of people who go too far in indulging their faith, their jobs, their kids, or their possessions. Continue reading Reclaiming Reality

Published by

Kay Cleaves