Property management startup company, Doorstead, raises $12.5M

Remember when ride sharing seemed like a radical idea?  Now, Uber is as much verb as it is brand name. A couple of Uber vets do to property management, what Uber did in the taxi industry.

But the company does more than just manage rental properties, Doorstead also guarantees the monthly rent.
               
Jonathan Tsai used to spend nights and weekends helping his parents maintain the family's rental properties in northern California.

When that got to be too much, he signed up with Doorstead -- a high tech solution to property management.

 "Pretty much, I just sign up with Doorstead and collect rent, pretty much get money deposited into my bank," said property owner Jonatan Tsai.

Doorstead guarantees landlords monthly rent, even if the property is empty or if tenants can't pay.

"So we make sure the tenants we approve have really good income, credit, background check and reference check as well," said Doorstead co-founder Jenn Bronzo. 

Still, to guarantee the income, that takes some high tech savvy to get the property priced appropriately and get them rented quickly.

Using about 11 million data points from different properties that are substantially similar we can see what other properties clear at and how long it took for them to move off the market, to go from listing to signing," said Ryan Waliany with Doorstead. 

Doorstead rented one of Jonathan’s properties in just five days.

"For me, for doing rental property in my experience, it would have taken me three weekends just doing open houses and waiting there at the property all day and there goes my life," stated Jonathan. 

And his professional life as a software engineer manager improved thanks to Doorstead too. The company takes care of tenant complaints, maintenance, rent collection and eviction.

The two year old company manages about 300 properties in the San Francisco area.

This week, the startup raised $12.5 million and launched the service in LA and Orange counties.

Doorstead's charge of 8% of the rent is on par with traditional management companies. There is also a 50% commission of the first month's rent once a vacancy is filled.

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