Saturday, June 26, 2010

Successful launch of the iPad application

Our website packs many neat features and makes finding Apartments for Rent in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and other Canadian cities a much enhanced experience, but we really believe that the mobile device spread is the differentiating factor from other apartment rental listing services, since we have invested significant resources into developing our mobile platform. After all we are a mobile listing service provider.
The iPhone application has been successful for quite some time now, and the newest addition to our mobile platform Apartment Rentals on the iPad has been a great hit with our users. The number of downloads is quite high already due to our name recognition on the mobile device world and the satisfaction of our existing users with the iPhone application.

We are certainly committed to enhance the user experience on mobile devices even further, our vision is certainly making apartment hunting on the go a very simple experience.
Stay tuned for even more exciting products coming soon.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

RentCompass featured on YongeStreet Magazine

Yonge Street Magazine featured RentCompass covering the RentCompass iPad application.

"Last week, the company launched a native application for the iPad, a first for a Canadian real-estate search company. Earlier RentCompass launched the first rental application in the country for the iPhone.

"Our vision is that people should be able to find apartments or houses for rent on the go, whether they are driving or walking in a neighbourhood that they liked, or while commuting to work or school."
Follow the rest of the coverage on
Yonge Street Magazine

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Ontario announces rent increase guideline

Ontario's rent increase guideline for 2011 will be 0.7%, this will have quite the impact to Ontario's rental stock and tenants. "This guideline is wholly inadequate to allow for proper investment in repairs and maintenance of Ontario's aging rental stock" said David Horwood, Assistant Vice-President of the Effort Trust Company.

This comes at a time when the PST and GST are going to be harmonized in a couple of weeks. "Rental housing providers are going to experience a 7 percent increase in costs next year largely due to the impact of the HST" says Vince Brescia, President & CEO of the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario.

Source

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

RentCompass gets reviewed by BuzzBuzzHome

Thanks BuzzBuzzHome! While we don't find ourselves as competing with MLS, it is nice that they think we have solid stuff to compete with them :)

Quote:
"Currently, real estate tech companies are racing to get their sites optimized for the iPad and other touch devices. Mobile touch panels will most probably be the primary web interface of the near future.

And so, it seems RentCompass is positioning itself well to compete with Craigslist, Kijiji, Padmapper, and even the MLS."

Source: RentCompass Review on BuzzBuzzHome blog

Friday, June 18, 2010

CMHC Rental market report

According to the Rental Market Survey released by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), vacancy rates in Canada’s 35 major centres increased to 2.9% in 04-2010 from 2.7% in 04-2009.

"Rental construction and competition from the condominium market added upward pressure on vacancy rates and historically low mortgage rates attracted renter households towards homeownership over the last year," said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC.

The centres with the lowest vacancy rates were Quebec City at 0.4%, Regina at 0.8%, Winnipeg at 1%, and St. John’s at 1.1%. On the provincial level, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest vacancy rates at 1% and 1.1% respectively.

CMHC's Rental Market Survey also found that the rental apartment availability rate in Canada's 35 major centres was 5.4% 04-2010, up from 5.0% 04-2009. A rental unit is considered available if the unit is vacant (physically unoccupied and ready for immediate rental), or if the existing tenant has given or received notice to move and a new tenant has not signed a lease.

More details can be found on MarketWire

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Rent Compass iPad Press Release

For Immediate Release
TORONTO, June 17 - RentCompass launches Canada's first real estate search application for the Apple iPad. The application is designed specifically to utilize the iPad's high definition touch screen and location services. RentCompass for the iPad makes it possible to search for rental properties on the go without the need for a computer and enhance the user's experience using the device's GPS to search for available vacancies nearby. The iPad App complements the existing RentCompass iPhone App and www.RentCompass.com website. Both applications are available for download free of charge on Apple App Store. More details about the RentCompass iPad application can be found on Apartments for Rent on the iPad

About RentCompass:
RentCompass is the first Canadian rental search service provider on mobile devices using native applications. Landlords, real estate agents and property management companies across Canada can visit www.RentCompass.com to list unlimited number of rental properties.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

RentCompass for the iPad is ready for download

RentCompass for the iPad application has been approved on the app store and is ready for download. It delivers a customized experience specifically built for the revolutionary Apple iPad. Having a larger screen with magnificent colours, you can view photo albums of rentals in high definition and use the iPad multi-touch experience to navigate through the rentals with as little clicks as possible.
Here are some highlights about the application:
* Pan and zoom through Google maps to see more rentals.
* Tilt the iPad to landscape mode to see the rentals in a list as well as on the map.
* Use the iPad's GPS to see homes for rent near you or select a different city to start your search.
* Tap on a property to see more details, features of that property, or tap the address to see a map of that area.
* See property photos on the iPad's vibrant high def screen, swipe the screen to see more photos or tilt the iPad to landscape mode to view photos in full screen.
* Refine your search to filter by price, bedroom and bathroom count.
* Email landlords with a single touch.
* If you like a property, add it to your favorites. Review your list of favorites even when you don't have network connection.

We apologize for the delay but it seems Apple successful release of the iPad internationally caused extra delays this time for our release. In the meanwhile find Apartments for rent on our website or use the RentCompass iPhone app to find Apartments for rent on the go, which also works on the iPad (but not optimized for it)

Enjoy the RentCompass iPad experience

Friday, June 4, 2010

iPad release status update

For technical reasons, the RentCompass iPad application is still awaiting approval on the Apple AppStore. We are still awaiting the final approval from Apple which should happen any day now.

Stay tuned for the new and exciting RentCompass iPad application.
Looking for apartments and houses will never be the same.