Archive for August, 2007

A Tale of Two Neighbors - August 31st, 2007

A Tale of Two Neighbors - “Charlie the Consumer & Rachael the Renter”

Recently someone asked us who our typical customer is. As opposed to going into detailed demographic explanations about age and income, we believe that the typical participant in iRent2u is based on attitude and behavior. Anyone could make the smart choice to rent when it makes sense. The real question is, what type of person are you?

So we thought we would share with you a comparison between two different people - one who likes to rent things, and one who doesn’t. Then we will let you decide who you are more like.

Charlie the Consumer

Charlie the Consumer

Our first person is Charlie the Consumer. Charlie likes to buy things. In fact, he loves to buy stuff. It makes him feel good to get the latest technologies, that brand new car, or a new shirt. You should see him at the dollar store, because he goes crazy. Doesn’t matter what it is, Charlie has to buy it.

Of course most of us enjoy buying things, but Charlie is a true consumer. He believes all the commercials that tell him if he just buys that new (insert product here) he will get all the ladies. When he goes to the mall he only buys expensive stuff because “the name means quality.” Every time you see him he is carrying a bag from a different store. He has three iPods (his first was too big, the second too small, but his third one is jussst right). He has an RV, a boat, and spends his weekends at his cabin on the lake.

There is one more thing that Charlie has more of than most other people, debt. He has more credit cards than a pickpocket at Mardi Gras. He racks up $10,000 in revolving credit and doesn’t blink an eye. He has a second AND third mortgage, school loans from 10 years ago that are only half paid off, and enough money to last him one month if he loses his job. But Charlie is happy, at least until he sees the next thing he needs to buy.

Rachael the Renter

Rachael the RenterOur other person is Rachael the Renter. Rachael likes to rent stuff. She likes the freedom to use something, have fun with it, and then drop it off. While Charlie’s garage is so full stuff is spilling into the street, Rachael’s is perfectly clean and almost empty. She has a new car - that she leases, a beautiful home - which she rents month to month, and enough money to last her two years if she somehow lost her job.

Rachael hates owning things. She thinks possessions tie you down. The next time Rachael moves to a new house she will be able to move in one day with just one friend’s help. She likes to travel, and only takes one small bag with three days of clothes even if she is travelling for a month. She takes vacations at a lake house that she rents from time to time, has traveled across the US twice in an RV she rented, and has become an expert water skier behind a rented boat. In fact, Rachael has done everything that Charlie has done, it just cost her less money to do it.

So Who Are You?

So who do you want to be? Would you like to be Charlie who constantly has all the new gear but enough debt to scare a politician? Or would you like to be Rachael, the free soul who never ties herself down with possessions and has plenty of extra money?

Our opinion? Who cares!? Be either one of these people. They are both great. The truth is that both of them are our customers!

Of course Rachael is great. Whenever she needs something she comes to our site first. That way she can compare the different lenders in the area, see who has the best price and reputation, and get the best deal. She is always renting stuff from us, and for that we are truly grateful.

I bet you expected us to say you should never be like Charlie. We would never say that, Charlie is a great guy! He likes to have fun, tells lots of jokes, and springs for dinner when we go out. And who do you think Rachael rents all her stuff from?

Charlie is able to support his lust for possessions by renting out the things he is not using to Rachael. He only uses his RV once or twice a year, and has been able to cover some of the loan payments by lending it out. He likes renting to Rachael because she pays on time. Rachael always leaves his cabin clean after she uses is, and leaves the tank of gas full on his boat after a day on the lake.

Everyone’s Happy

Everyone’s Happy

There was one other side effect of our website for Rachael and Charlie. They were neighbors for three years but never met before they started using our site. Now that they have met they are great friends. Rachael likes to come over and watch movies on Charlie’s home theater, and Charlie likes to day-dream about all the cool stuff he would buy for Rachael’s sparsely decorated home. In fact, they like each other so much they are thinking about moving in together. Wow!

Our service works for everyone. Are you an extreme shopper? Be like Charlie and make some extra money by lending out your goods. Are you extremely frugal? Save some money by borrowing those things you only need every once in a while. Either way, iRent2u is the place to do it.

Are you looking for love? Well we can’t promise you that you will be as lucky as Rachael and Charlie, but what better way for the girl-next-door and the good-old-boy to meet?

iRent2u.com

iRent2u.com – the Online Rental Marketplace. Come here to find anything you are looking for; go away with extra money, cool things to rent, and maybe even love… =^)

Oh, and for the record, we don’t really think it is going to work out between Charlie and Rachael. Can you imagine their first fight about money? Yikes!

Popularity: 26% [?]

Welcome TreeHugger Readers! - August 27th, 2007

Welcome TreeHugger Readers!

Today I received a very nice surprise. The exact kind of surprise a new business owner and fervent blog writer loves to receive. Our company made it onto TreeHugger!

TreeHugger Logo

For anyone who has not seen the article, you can read it here.

I have been a long time reader of TreeHugger, and saw the post that Tamara had done on a similar site in Europe, Erento.com - but I was sure happy to see that we hadn’t fallen through the cracks in our efforts to bring this excellent opportunity to the United States.

For anyone who is curious to learn more about our service, click here to take our short survey. Make sure to leave your email address at the end and we will send you updates for when our site launches.

In the article, Tamara makes a very important point. I have quoted her here:

“Rental” has typically been synonymous with the less affluent that can’t afford to buy something outright, so instead pays an ongoing fee for the receipt of using it. But in a world of finite natural resources, waste and the legacy of post consumer goods becoming everyone’s issue, renting and not having the burden of owning and then dealing with the disposal or storage of goods is a compelling proposition.

We all feel that this is a very exciting time in the world. While we are confronted with so many important issues, we are also faced with incredible opportunities. We fully believe that together we can find solutions that will make sense for everyone, and make the world a better place to live.

It is really an honor to make it onto a blog that we respect so much. Again we would like to welcome all the new visitors we have from TreeHugger, and extend a special “Thank You” to Tamara for writing such a nice article about us.

Popularity: 13% [?]

iRent2u.com & Saving the World, or Bart Simpson?

On August 13th I posted some information about the new podcast I am doing, GreenTech.fM. It is a bi-weekly interview between myself and a Topanga green architect who not only shares a love for new technologies but also has some incredible innovations of his own. We have received a great response to the show since its launch. We hoped people would like the show, but little did we know that we were going to get hugged by people we had never met!

If you haven’t taken our survey yet, please go here now. Click Here to take it now!

Huggs for iRent2u

One of the ways in which we have gotten a great response is from a relatively new site called Hugg.com. Hugg is a website for people who are interested in green news. Green being a catchall phrase for things environmental in nature, likes issues related to global warming or pollution.

The way the Hugg site works is that people read the short articles, and then vote for the ones they support or agree with. When I posted a snippit of our press release onto the site to see if anyone cared, the response was incredible!

Of all the posts on the website, ours has the 7th highest votes. There have been a total of 29 different people who have “Hugged” our article, plus people have left great comments. Here is a picture of the site and our Huggs. Huggs - 29

So we are very excited about all the attention we have gotten for that. What seems a bit strange to me is that the whole time we have been fighting neck and neck with Bart Simpson. What do I mean?

Bart Simpson and His Prius?

If you take another look at the Hugg page, you will find that right above us is another post about Matt Groening driving a Prius. The article is very creatively title “Bart Simpson Drives a Prius”, and if you read the source you will see it details Matt Groening’s entire life, from the perspective of which car he owned. (yawn)

Here is a screen shot of that darned Bart Simpson article:

Matt Groening & his Prius

I know I am biased, but to me a new podcast that is focused on praising and publishing all the incredible new technologies that scientists and entrepreneurs are creating is more interesting than the fact that a famous cartoonist now drives a Prius. But I guess I can only leave that up to the readers at Hugg to decide. :wink:

Either way we are happy with our Huggs. This makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and so we wanted to say thank you.

Oh yeah, and if you wanted to help us beat out Bart Simpson, we wouldn’t mind.

Please go to this link here. http://www.hugg.com/node/529 Create an account, and click the little plus symbol underneath the Counter that shows how many Huggs we have recieved.

Thanks for your support!

Popularity: 9% [?]

More Strange Rentals - August 21st, 2007

More Strange Rentals…German Flag

This week we have gotten a lot of reports of strange rentals happening in Germany.

Apparently the Germans are leaders in this global revolution for rentals, but it is taking some strange twists and turns that you may not have expected. Of course we are here to tell you all about it. =^)

Want to tell us what you like to rent? Take our survey here…Sheep

The most recent story came from BusinessPundit.com, where they discovered the practice of renting farm animals for yard work is on the rise. Huh?

Yes, I am a bit confused myself. Feel free to read the article here. http://www.businesspundit.com/50226711/weird_business_ideas_rent_a_duck.php

Apparently people are renting animals like ducks and sheep to do such things as “mow” the lawn (eat the grass, for anyone who didn’t catch it). They even comment that they are happy with the fertilizer!? This seems strange to me as one of my most hated jobs when I was young was cleaning up the “fertilizer” that my dog left in the backyard. Not fun.

We have actually been hearing about strange rentals from Germany for a while now. They got a lot of press earlier this year for a website where people can rent protesters. http://www.psfk.com/2007/01/rentaprotester.html We think this could be a much more popular service in France, but perhaps they are so willing to protest there that they don’t need to offer to pay. =^) View the original story here. http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,460449,00.htmlGerman-is-hot

Of course every once in a while we all need a German to help us out. We all know they are hard workers, and know how to take a mean 6-week vacation. Well the next time you need a hand making Streusel or trying to sing Edelweiss, you can rent your own German here! http://www.rentagerman.de/

Der Spiegel, the big German publication, tells us about how German schools are renting visiting American students to help them understand us better. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,496731,00.html Apparently in some countries being American is not necessarily considered a good thing. I think it has something to do with some war, or pollution or something. Something about a big Bush? Yeah, I didn’t get it either, but I guess these German students were upset enough they needed some real Americans to come in and prove we aren’t all the great white devil they hear about.Radar Gun

Neighbors driving you crazy speeding around in the neighborhood? Well strap on your plastic citizen McGruff badge and give them a good scare with your rented radar gun! http://www.radargunrentals.com/ Unfortunately you can’t give out tickets yet, and could be arrested for impersonating an officer if you do it in your Halloween costume, but for only $150 a week it could all be worth it to see the look on your neighbors face as you pop out from behind his trash gun and show him he was going 40 in a 25.

Checking out ebay, we see that there is a real need for our rental service. Looks like all sorts of fun things are being offered. Unfortunately the bidding is closed on both of these auctions, but I bet if you ask real nice they will consider listing again.

You have your choice of two interesting eBay auctions. You can either rent-a-family, or you can rent-a-phone-friend.

Rent-a-family This lovely family from Atlanta is willing to offer the whole family, complete with cheafuer service, graphic design services, web design, posters, plus DJ services and even a minister for weddings. Thats quite a package!Rent a Phone Friend

Rent-a-phone-friend Maybe you need to talk to someone about the family you already have. Here is the answer to your needs. This young gentleman is offering his services as your new best friend, complete with four hours of phone conversation over the next month. Just what I wanted, a new best friend in Kalamazoo, Michigan! I may do it just so that I can say I have a friend there. People will think I am cool.

A couple not-so-strange rental ideas were presented in blogs this very morning! AutoBelles blog gave a great post about how to make money renting out sports cars. You can read it here.Let me just reiterate, that if anyone wants to rent me that Ferrari I have been talking about, feel free. I might even give you a ride around the block with me.

One last post was made this morning on http://nylusmilk.wordpress.com Regarding the opportunity to rent books instead of buying them. This makes great sense to us, unless you like to pile up all your books and use them to show off to your friends like I do.

Well thats it for our crazy rental roundup. Keep checking back for more crazy rental items, updates on our progress (things are really moving over here), and any other interesting thing that pops up.

iRent2u.com - the Online Rental Marketplace

Popularity: 18% [?]

Welcome to iRent2u.com! - August 15th, 2007

Welcome to iRent2u.com!

With our impending press release for my new podcast, GreenTech.fM, I am sure we are going to see some fresh visitors to this site. For all of you let me appease your curiosity by explaining what iRent2u is.

iRent2u - The Online Rental MarketplaceWhat is iRent2u.com?

iRent2u.com is “The Online Rental Marketplace”. A place that allows everyone to get more from what they already have. It is recycling on steroids. It is a concept long overdue.

In the most simple terms possible, iRent2u.com is a new website, set to launch this fall, which will allow everyone to rent and borrow their private belongings from their neighbors. Imagine if eBay did a site for rentals, this would be it.

This is revolutionary because everyone has valuable things they own that just sit around most of the time. If we can find a way to help people get more out of what they already own, the world will be a better place. People will save money by not buying things they don’t need. Others will make money by lending out things they already have.

More money + Less trash = Happy People & Happy World.

Read more about what we are doing here…

Why Are We Doing it? We want to make the world a better place. We want to use the internet for what it was created for, to change the world. We want to do our part to stop pollution & waste. And oh yeah, we also want to get back all that money we spent on our expensive educations. =^)

Roy, Nils & Tim - the iRent2u.com Team

So Much Potential

There really is incredible potential in making the world more efficient. If we can help out just a little bit, we can make a dramatic difference in many peoples lives. We offer some people a new way to make money, while offering others a way to reduce storage space. We help people get more from less, and others get things they could never before afford.

And the best part about it, is that we are having a blast doing it!

Tell us what you think in our quick survey here!

So enjoy the site!

Check out some screen shots on this page. http://irent2u.com/blog/how/

Get up close and personal with us, and see who has helped us out on this page. http://irent2u.com/blog/about/

Find out where & when we are launching on either of these pages

Read all my rantings about rentals and our company by just scrolling down the page.

Or shoot us an email and tell us what you think here http://irent2u.com/blog/contact/

Either way, we would like to welcome you to our site, invite you to sign up for our newsletter to be informed when we launch in your area (over in the blue box on the right), and have an all around great time.

Sincerely,

Tim McCormack
Co-Founder iRent2u.com

Popularity: 11% [?]

New “green” podcast series covers revolutionary companies changing the world using sustainable and clean technologies.

GreenTech.fM, a podcast series with entrepreneur & co-founder of iRent2u.com, Tim McCormack, and renowned green architect Robert Mechielsen, is now available online. So far 3 shows have been published (shows zero, one and two), with new shows to be announced every second Tuesday.

The series focuses on current and future environmentally friendly technologies that have the potential to correct and prevent issues created by pollution, overpopulation and energy dependency.

When asked why he was doing a podcast on green technologies, at the same time he was starting an ecommerce site for rentals, Tim McCormack said “We all have to pay attention to what is happening in the world. At iRent2u.com we believe strongly in creating systems that support positive environmental stewardship. Our business model at iRent2u is focused on helping people be more efficient, save money, and reduce waste; but we are far from the only company doing this. I wanted to help everyone become aware of all the incredible things entrepreneurs are doing to make the world a better, safer, & cleaner place.”

Robert MechielsenRobert Mechielsen, a “green” architect from Holland who now lives in Topanga, CA. had this to say. “This is so exciting. Every day we find new companies and technologies that are breaking all the rules. From the zero emission Tesla motor car, to the enormous growth in wind energy, and the incredible breakthroughs in construction that create homes with 80% to 90% less energy use, it is truly a revolution. As I have dedicated the last 25 years of my life towards building homes that are both beautiful and have low emissions, this is a topic that is very important to me. I love looking at all the new technologies, and can’t wait to start interviewing all the wonderful people who are making these breakthroughs.”

What is a podcast?

A podcast is like a radio show, except instead of turning on your radio, you go to a website and download it (for free). Many people then put these shows onto their iPods (hence the name “pod”cast) and listen to them when convenient. One nice feature of podcasts is that you can subscribe, using programs like iTunes (free from apple.com). Once you subscribe they download automatically to your computer, making it easy to stay current.

Tim McCormack“On this show we focus 100% on the heroic efforts of inventors, engineers and investors to create technologies that will counter Global Warming,” Tim also mentioned. ” Many green publications spend all their time trying to scare people. Of course informing people of the dangers is important, but this is not our focus. We start the show with the assumption that people know something needs to be done, and then go from there. We see such incredible potential, and are truly excited to share that with the world. It is a very different message.”

To this Robert added “the Green movement is no longer just for hippies and extremists. Finally green has gone mainstream. Millions of entrepreneurs, scientists, and investors all over the world now realize there is big money to be made in efficiency, cleanliness, and in sustainable economic systems. It is a very exciting time!”

The Shows:

The first 11 shows are conversational style between Tim and Robert, with Robert the expert on current green technologies and Tim asking the questions that anyone new to the field would ask. From show #11 on, there will be interviews with leading scientists, entrepreneurs, & investors regarding the current trends and advances.

The first show, show zero, gives an introduction of the hosts and the show. The following ten shows cover such topics as:

0001 – What are Green Technologies?
0002 – 20 Emerging Green Technologies (the Rapid 20 Show)
0003 – Sustainability, Issues and Progress
0004 – Solar Power, How Does it Work?
0005 – SCIP Construction, A Revolution in Building Technology
0006 – Toxicity in Everyday Living
0007 – Using Nature to Reduce Energy Consumption
0008 – Bio Mimicry, What is it & Why?
0009 – Ecotourism, How Sexy is Green?
0010 – Land Restoration & Preservation Techniques

Don’t get left behind. Find out what is happening in the Green revolution.

GreenTech.fM is committed to quality and studies every topic before publication. The site lists links to show notes and the topics discussed for verification and further research. GreenTech.fM is dedicated to bringing green technologies to the forefront of future development.

Listen for free at www.GreenTech.fM today!

Popularity: 27% [?]

Do You Need to Buy a Gift for the Person Who Has Everything?

You all know who I am talking about. Often it is some guy you know, or maybe someone you don’t know. How do you buy a gift for someone who has everything?

Recently we have had a lot of people contacting us about the option of giving rentals away as presents. Some of our readers have had great comments, and we thought it was worthy of a whole post.

Rentals can often be the perfect present, for many reasons. We will cover a few of them here.

Buying a present for someone can be tough. You are always trying to come up with something original and interesting, but how do you know they will like it? If they really wanted it then they would probably buy it for themselves, right?

Really you want to buy something for them that they cannot buy for themselves. The problem with this of course is that we aren’t made of money. If they cannot afford to buy it, how are you going to be able to?

The alternative to this is a rental. Think of something they would love, and get it for them for a day, or a weekend. There are many things people would love try. Here I will list a few great options.

Top 5 Rental Gifts for Guys:

  1. FerrariFerrari! - Ok, so I shot for the moon on the first one, but there is nothing wrong with dreaming big. I can’t think of a single guy who wouldn’t love to drive a Ferrari for a day. Even my 98 year old Grandfather would probably appreciate a crack at one. Sure they rent of over $1,000 a day, but he won’t mind - unless you just paid with his money. :razz:
  2. Vacation Rental for a week in the Virgin Islands - Ok, so I am still shooting for the moon. But no one can disagree that a week in the sun next to some of the most fabulous beaches in the world would be a dream present for most anyone.
  3. Boat/Yacht/Sailboat - Who doesn’t enjoy spending the day on a boat, having fun with their friends, getting some sun, drinking too much and then getting sea sick? Well maybe not the last bit there, but a boat rental can be a blast. Careful with the sailboat option. If they don’t know how to sail one, it will be a long unhappy experience, believe me. Still, days on the water can be some of the most memorable experiences you will have.
  4. PRockylane or Helicopter Ride - Noticing a theme here? Guys tend to like loud moving machines. Pushing the boundaries a bit by heading to the skies can be a real blast, and not something they are likely to already own 5 of in different colors (including paisley).
  5. Red Dawn/Rocky/the Godfather - A bit on the cheaper side, most any guy enjoys the chance to curl up with a nice mellow action movie full of explosions and blood. Don’t like to watch these movies? Pretend like you do for one night, let him enjoy it, and be happy you just got away with paying $1!

Top 5 Rental Gifts for the Ladies:

  1. Jewelry - A newer concept that has been sweeping the country, jewelry rentals are a hit! Apparently women like jewelry, even when it is too expensive to buy… how strange. :wink: Renting some of the crown jewels will not be possible, but it is doable to rent enough bling to make your lady feel like a princess for the evening.
  2. St CroixVacation Rental for a week in the Virgin Islands - Did I already say that one? This one definitely works for both genders.
  3. Hot Air Balloon Ride - You, your Lady, a bottle of champagne, and nothing but fresh air, bright sunlight, romance… and the funny guy working the hot air… This one always seems to be a hit, just make sure she isn’t deathly afraid of heights or it will be a long ride home (or a very lonely hot air balloon ride). :sad:
  4. Wine Tasting TripWine Tasting Trip - This one is a very safe bet. Rent a mini-van or small bus with a driver, gather up 10 to 30 of her best friends, eat a big breakfast, and head out for a day of sniffing, sipping and wining… Be careful what type of bus you rent though, some of them come with flashing lights and a pole in the back. People either end up dancing or with their heads spinning from the lights, and either one can turn a great trip into an embarrassing memory. Don’t live near some wineries? Get a van and take all the women shopping. Throw in a few stops for wine and you can get an almost frenzied effect similar to shark feeding frenzies.
  5. Beaches/Ya-Ya Sisterhood/the Wedding Planner - Just like men love their action movies, women appreciate a good substantive, heart warming, connect-with-your-mother type of movie. Not sure you can take all the jibber-jabber? Imagine in each scene they are about to duke it out in some jello. That should keep you occupied enough to ignore that your arm just went dead from all your happy cuddling.

So rentals can be a great alternative. They key is to figure out what they want, but can’t afford to have all the time. By doing this you can create your own “Shock-and-Awe” gift celebration.

Popularity: 28% [?]

What if… - August 6th, 2007

What if everyone could get more value from what they already have?

This is the question we asked ourselves last October when we began putting this company together.

How many things do you own that you don’t really need? In our survey many people told us they own multiple items that for most of the time just sit around collecting dust. Maybe its a stationary bike that you bought during a healthy kick, but now hardly use because you go jogging instead (or not). :wink:

Maybe its a tent, or a bookcase, a punching bag, some specialty tools for a one-time job, a pet carrier, a set of golf clubs, old books you have already read, your parents old furniture that is sitting in your garage… anything!

:arrow: Haven’t taken the survey yet? Go here now…

The fact is, we all own things that are valuable, but are providing zero value to us. What can you do?

The first option is to just sell them. Of course you will be lucky to get half of what they cost, and then you will not have them anymore. Most people don’t want to sell their golf clubs because they only use them three times a year.

We propose a simple alternative. List your items on our site, let your neighbors borrow them, and sit back and collect the money. Everyone wins!

Your neighbors get to borrow something instead of buying it - saving money - they win.

You get to lend your items that are sitting around - making money - you win.

Together we make the world more efficient - people are buying less and thus they are throwing away less trash - all of society wins!

Together we have more. That is what we believe at iRent2u.com, and this September we will prove it to you.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Is Renting a Rip-Off? - August 3rd, 2007

Is Renting a Rip-Off?

Yesterday a visitor to the blog made an interesting comment, and I thought I would create an entire post about it in case other people had similar concerns.

Erik said:

It’s a neat concept on renting stuff… although what I’ve seen of the business model thus far involving renting of items is that they just end up cheating “poor” people.

This is a valid concern that Erik has, as there are definitely some types of rentals that just plain do not make sense.

I think what Erik is referring to though are the “Rent-to-Own” models. These are probably the most common models where people get a bad deal. This doesn’t mean though that all rent-to-own is bad. It just happens that people can lose a lot of money on it, and it generally tends to be people with less money to lose. Let me explain why.Whirlpool ED2CHQXKQ from Rent-A-Center

Rent To Own Example

The rent-to-own model works like this. Let’s say you want to rent-to-own something for your house, like a new refrigerator. In fact, lets say you want to rent this refrigerator from Rent-A-Center. This is the Whirlpool ED2CHQXKQ.

Now you could buy this exact refrigerator from BestBuy here for $1,199. So now we know how much one costs. I called up Rent-A-Center to see how much they rent-to-own for. I was surprised to find that they charge over $138 a month for the same unit! This is quite expensive, but lets see how expensive this really is.

So if you rent this refrigerator for 81 weeks then you own it outright. Add all that up and you just spent almost $2,600 for a refrigerator that would have cost you $1,200 brand new. So this is very expensive, but why would this be worse for poor people? Isn’t it the same ripoff regardless of who rents it?

The Problem

The problem with a rent-to-own situation is this. If you rent the item for 12 months and then all of a sudden can’t keep up the payments, then you lose the item. But you also lose all the money you spent renting the item. This would be fine if you paid a normal rental amount, but with rent-to-own you are normally paying a much higher monthly rate. So you just lost a lot of money!

And don’t think these companies are shy in taking away the item. Miss a payment or two and you better believe they will be making a house call to reclaim their goods. So yes, this is worse for people who have less money, because they are more likely to rent it for a while and then lose all the money. When you consider that you can easily rent a refrigerator for $45 a month or less from a normal rental company, this can end up creating big losses.

Breakdown of Losses

12 Months Rent-A-Center = $1,656

12 Months Normal at $45 = $540

Money lost due to Rent-to-Own system = $1,116… Ouch!

Is This Evil?

So these systems exist. For some people who have really bad credit, this may be the only way to get a new refrigerator. So we aren’t saying that the system should be abolished, but it is definitely dangerous. Especially if you have bad credit, meaning you have a history of not making your payments on time.

Is All Renting Bad?

So how is that different from iRent2u.com? Our goal here is to make renting affordable for everyone. We want to make rentals as cheap as possible. You won’t find any confusing and tricky schemes here, just honest and simple rental plans for people who need things on a limited basis.

We fully recognize that some items are not made for renting. If you need a fridge for a long time, then you should probably buy it. But if you are living in an apartment for only three months during a summer internship, then it may make a lot of sense to rent it and save 5 or 6 hundred dollars.

To continue the same example, if you rented a refrigerator for $46 a month, over 3 months you would have paid less than $150. That is big savings over buying it brand new for $1,000. Then afterwards you don’t have to worry about selling it or moving it, because the company will take it back. Everyone wins!

Renting Can Be Great For Everyone!

So renting is not bad for “poor” people. Renting is a tool that is great in some circumstances, and can be a poor choice in others. The key is to pay attention to your costs and figure out when it makes sense to buy and when it is better to rent. Often times when you look at a real comparison you will find you are buying things that you should rent, and other times you are renting things you should buy.
Tim and Laura McCormack
A quick example: I recently bought a new tuxedo for $200. I could have rented it for $110, but the next time I needed it I would have to pay again and would have wasted money. Now I have a tuxedo for the rest of my life, or until I grow out of it. :wink: But if the rental had been around $50 I would have just rented it, because I don’t know if there will be four occasions in the next 5 years where I will need a tux.

Renting is great, but you have to do the math. Lucky for you we will build easy tools to help you do the math every time!

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