THUNDER BAY – When Richard Togman followed his partner to Thunder Bay, he said he had a heck of a time finding a place to live.
The entrepreneur said he’d spend an hour or more each night poring through Kijiji accommodation ads, while struggling with limited visuals of the property and, in a number of cases, a gross exaggeration of its actual quality.
It was a lot of work, Togman said.
So he decided to do something about it, so others wouldn’t have to suffer the same fate.
It led to the creation of Rent Panda, a website that connects landlords and tenants, providing pictures of each unit and the ability to do a 360-degree walk-through of the property before signing on the dotted line.
The made-in-Thunder Bay solution also removes much of the inconsistencies of current apartment and rental-unit shopping.
“It’s really unique and groundbreaking in terms of both the technology we use and the services we provide,” said Togman, who is listed as the company’s founder and Panda boss.
“Right now, if you’re looking for a house, you’re using something like Kijiji or maybe a Facebook page. None of those are actually set up for rental housing. They’re basically a blank piece of paper, where you can kind of throw up what you want, with no quality control or aesthetic value. It’s just a poor-quality service.”
Enter Rent Panda.
“We’ve made something that’s designed for renters and for landlords. We’ve talked to hundreds of tenants, dozens of landlords and built something for them,” Togman said.
The interface was made as simple as possible and added up to 12 difference search criteria to help potential tenants locate as close a match to what they’re looking for as possible.
For example, someone might seek out a pet-friendly apartment in Current River or a home with a garage in Westfort. Searches can also be defined by rental price, for those with strict budget limits.
Togman said in a city where more than 30 per cent of its residents are living in rental accommodations, it’s important.
“That one of the things, when we were talking with tenants, that they really wanted to know,” he said. “If you have a pet, it doesn’t help you to visit 15 different units and then find out at the interview that the landlord really isn’t too keen on cats,” said Togman, one of five companies selected to take part in the third installment of the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre’s Co-Starter program, which provides seed money and mentorship to accelerate small business entrepreneurship.
The service is free to tenants and basic service is offered at no charge to landlords. Charging for extras, like the videos and page prominence, are how Togman plans to make his money.
For now the site will focus on Thunder Bay, but if it proves successful, Togman said he’d consider introducing it in larger centres.
