When I was in graduate school in the U.S., I remember it being a pain having to always sign a 1 year lease. I only wanted 8 months so that I could take off during the summers. Too bad Flip wasn’t around back then.
Flip is a startup that I just discovered, which is positioning itself as the “easiest way to sublet or get out of your lease.” It’s all about reconciling the conflict between lease and life, which don’t always match up.
The platform is free to listers. So you don’t get charged to post a lease or to flip a lease. Renters get charged a service fee equal to 5% of one month’s rent.
It’s interesting to think about the surge in short-term rentals and platforms such as Flip that are effectively helping to reduce lease terms by way of streamlining the “flipping” process.
Are millennials ushering in a new era of mobility and transience?
One feature that I think is neat and that I would like to point out is “Bounties.” The platform allows listers to attach a bounty ($) to any listing. Users are then able to grab a unique URL that can be shared around online. If someone takes over a lease via one of your links, you get paid the bounty. Smart.
In case you’re curious – I certainly was – here’s a ranking of all 50 U.S. states according to how friendly they are to subletters. It also summarizes how to legally sublet. On the friendly side is New York and on the less friendly side is Wyoming.