So what’s in a business model…especially one that is different than what you might expect?  Why would a renter ever pay — up front no less — just to get access to a list of apartments without even a guarantee of a spot?

Perhaps it was caustic insight into the supply/demand imbalance that the largest, most fragmented rental market was rife with. Perhaps it was just good timing and a fresh idea. Perhaps a good mix of stick-to-it-ed-ness & some elbow grease. But here we are, WestsideRentals.com, setting the market for an entire region of renters.

The lesson learned, on our part at least, is that by focusing on the supply-side of the equation that the demand is not far to follow. More specifically, we’ve got all the rentals in one place and people want to find the right spot. No other site or service has thrown the manpower at getting that all together and then leveraged technology to make it useful. Even other sites where you can list for free do not have crack call team stroking relationships with landlords. The mom & pop duplex where the rent has stayed the same for 25 years doesn’t always get mass marketed, it’s our job to go and get it. Or the storied Santa Monica guest house, for that matter.

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So it shouldn’t have worked. The barriers to entry were surely too steep. Nevertheless, here we are and we’re here to stay. We have almost 19,000 current rental vacancies in one place so if the laws of economics stay in place, we trust that our flip-flopped business model will be just fine…

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