Having the opportunity to live off campus can be one of the most exciting steps of your college career. It can also be, unfortunately, the start of many head aches between finding a house, meeting the landlord, and ensuring all roommates are happy with the decision.
Fortunately, an innovative solution is in sight for college students in the Philadelphia Metro region. A website and mobile-app known as HouzeMe has been introduced to the real estate market with the ability to make finding and renting off-campus housing simple and specific for both, college students and landlords.
The Vision of HouzeMe
From the living room of their own off-campus home, Saint Joseph’s University alumni and co-founders of HouzeMe, Christopher DeLuca and Paul Manganella, drafted a plan to create a service that would address many of the issues they faced during their time as students living off-campus.
DeLuca, COO, and Manganella, CEO, choose to engage in their own entrepreneurial spirit and perform full-time roles to make HouzeMe a start up success. In order to make their conversation a vision, Sheehan Gallager joined the team as co-founder and CFO with 13 years of corporate experience. The HouzeMe team continues to grow with two interns and current Saint Joseph’s University students, Michael Caruso and Jon Bloodgood.
What Makes HouzeMe Different?
HouzeMe is a four-step process designed to create the ultimate rental experience specific for college students by connecting landlords directly to the process.
1. Students can search through property profiles uploaded by landlords, solely looking for college students as tenants.
2. By utilizing their Facebook account or specific HouzeMe account, students and landlords have direct communication to securely seal the deal.
3. The lease and security deposit can be signed and accessed directly over the HouzeMe platform.
4. Finally, this becomes a lifestyle resource over the duration of your lease agreement. HouzeMe can be utilized to set-up monthly rent payments directly to the landlord and as an aid to ensure all roommates are reminded to pay utilities each month.
To get started, it is as easy as visiting www.houzeme.com to start your off-campus housing rental experience. The app will become available in November. HouzeMe will be adding thousands of properties to the site over the next few months, so remember to check back when you start looking for a new place to rent.
HCxo