RateMyStudentRental gives voices to tenants, landlords

Rental housing for college students is one of those things that are habitually hard to keep track of. What homes are coming onto the market, the quality of units, landlords and tenants are all things that are difficult to quantify because of the high turnover of the market. RateMyStudentRental solves that by creating a Yelp-like database  of student housing that allows users to see what's available at schools like the University of Michigan and Kettering University. "All of the properties always stay listed on the site," says Steve Schwartz, co-founder of RateMyStudentRental. "They accumulate reviews from the students who live there." They also allow landlords to give reviews of their tenants. Schwartz says the idea is to make sure the site isn't dragged down by one-sided reviews. It accomplishes that with the average user giving three out of four stars in a review. The Ann Arbor-based company that calls the Tech Brewery home makes money from selling premium services to landlords and universities that are looking to have greater control of their off-campus housing. The website's services are always free to students, and that's not an accident. "Students are in enough debt as it is," Schwartz says. Source: Steve Schwartz, co-founder of RateMyStudentRental Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.