Has anyone tried rechirp?

Never heard of it. What's the idea?

It seems kind of like priceline but for real estate.

so cool! is this new? very user-friendly and different approach. def will try when my lease is up next mnth. thx uesbandit for sharing!

Is this just an anonymous bid submission tool? Am I missing something?

At first I'm underwhelmed, but then I'm impressed.

According to their FAQ its similar to a bid but not binding.

"It seems kind of like priceline but for real estate."

I thought on priceline you named a price and ANY hotel of "X" quality could hit your bid. Here it looks like any other rental site without asking prices? And if these apartments are also "on the market" through other venues, what's the difference? You can bid on ANY property, can't you? Looks like it might just be a gimmick?

If I understand it correctly, the point is that by using that site you dont need to deal with the broker with regards to negotiating the price. You could theoretically toss out a bunch of low ball offers and see if you get any bites.

if it gets the lowballers off my BBerry, I'm all for it.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

Just tried it. In my opinion, pretty useless for two reasons. (1) most, if not all of the listings are clearly written by the same scam artists that flood craigslist, meaning they are probably fake, bait-and-switch, etc. (2) the listings give minimal info, so how exactly would you bid? Most don't even have floorplans.

I created an account so that I could see how it works. From what I can tell you get to enter in any price you want and then that price is sent to the broker. If the broker thinks the price is fair then they contact you.

So i spend a little more time on the site.To the point of a previous post, this site seems very simple and that it is just a anonymous bid submission tool. However, I think that such a tool can be useful, I like the idea of anonymity. The idea that i will only be bothered by a broker is if they want to negotiate at my starting bid.However, the site does need some improvement and additional features, but it might have some promise.

I definitely think the site has promise. Still needs some work, but I'll give it a solid review overall. Easy to use and pretty solid interface. I only wish I heard of this site before I moved in to my apt!

why cant you just email the broker and ask if the seller/landlord will take a certain price? Or is this just a new way of emailing a broker? Sounds like brokers will get tons of useless, non realistic chirps to me.

but that is just my two cents. innovate on!

so a user pays to chirp? I ask again, why not just email the agent and see if the owner/landlord will take X for the rental?

im not sure I get it? can someone explain the innovation to me?

urbandigs, here is my assessment. I think the idea is that an end user can essentially put out a bunch of bids without ever giving the broker his contact information. Personally, I think this is a great thing especially when it comes to lower end apartments. Most people hate dealing with brokers, so calling/emailing a bunch of them to ask if they will take a specific price is a disaster in the making. The main reason is that once the broker has your contact information they will be all over you like a rabid dog, and I think this is why people bitch about them (brokers) on this site so much. I have'nt yet submitted any chirps, but from reading the documentation it looks like rechirp credits you back if the broker accepts your chirp amount. This would mean that if the broker accepts, then contacts you, then tries to bait and switch (as someone else mentioned) you simply tell them to take a hike. I am considering submitting a chirp just to see how the whole process works, but I am pretty sure I am right.

urbandigs, because an agent like front_porch (ali. r) doesnt want to be bothered with bids that reflect reality...

Bidder beware and expect to "win" a crappy apartment.

let me know how it goes..I just dont get it I guess. But hey, the market will decide.

Sounds impractical. And obviously no one will be in contract definetively until they see a place and sign a contract, so it isn't like Priceline where you are obligated to take the hotel. (I've found priceline to be a worthless pain in the ass, offering same prices as expedia but with less transparency).

This anonymous bidding thing is overstated. Go puta "seeking housing" ad on c list and you will see that brokers send tons of bogus responses.