Even before the concept of the "housing crisis" gained traction in Portuguese society, searching for accommodation among students had long been a source of concern. And although the current context remains heavily marked by difficulty in accessing the housing market, solutions like Inlife Housing offer alternatives aimed at making the process easier, which often resembles an (almost) impossible mission.
In today's episode of the "Business with Impact" podcast, by Rádio Renascença in partnership with CATÓLICA-LISBON, we got to know another innovative project aimed at simplifying real estate rental in a safe and transparent manner.
Pedro Gancho, founder, and CEO of Inlife, was attending the MSc in Business Administration, Strategy, and Entrepreneurship at CATÓLICA-LISBON when he became aware of the difficulty’s students, particularly international students, faced when trying to find accommodation during their studies. He created the "Housing Trip," a project that organized car trips to facilitate visits to homes on the market. However, quickly recognizing the challenges arising from the housing market itself, he sought to transform them into opportunities. Thus, Inlife Housing was born in 2015.
"With the creation of Inlife, I sought to change the way anyone could proceed with the medium to long-term rental of a house in a new city, focusing on digital to provide the simplest possible experience for the user, namely by facilitating the digital visit model and video calls between those looking for a room or house and those renting out a property," explains Pedro Gancho.
The simplification begins right away with the registration process and the use of the Inlife platform. Once registered, in just a few minutes, the user can publish free ads on the website for the spaces available for rent. Then, it is just a matter of responding to reservation requests as they come in. Visits can be in person or remotely via real-time video calls, saving time, and always with the assistance of an Inlife team member.
"Currently, our clients are not just students anymore; we have grown a lot, and today, those who seek us out are immigrants, expatriates, digital nomads, people moving to a new city. We have about 55% students, 45% other individuals or professionals," he says. Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Aveiro, Coimbra, and Évora are the Portuguese cities where Inlife operates, along with Madrid and Barcelona (in Spain) and Rome and Milan (in Italy), offering a selection of 20,000 accommodations including private rooms, residences, studios, and complete apartments. While tenants are required to stay for a minimum of one month, landlords must ensure that the house is furnished and in good habitable condition to host them.
To facilitate the decision-making process regarding different locations, the platform also provides all necessary information regarding the space and the neighbourhood it's situated in — both in terms of transportation and other points of interest such as supermarkets, pharmacies, or markets, among others.
Additionally, Inlife offers various features aimed at ensuring the safety of all users, whether tenants or landlords. For example, it retains the agreed-upon amount for the first rent for 24 hours so that the tenant can confirm that the living conditions of the space are as shown.
Regarding the company's objectives, Pedro Gancho prefers not to focus beyond a three-year horizon, as he believes it could lead to abstraction. He states that "in the coming years, we aim to automate or resolve some issues faced by property managers," where there are still many manual and poorly automated processes. "Inlife can help in this regard and thus expand its positioning or even create a new business segment," he emphasizes.