Speed renting entrepreneur Greg Eidsness (left), Jessica Glesby and Dylan Bokvist (middle) and Kerry Jupe and Erika Briva (right) try their luck at Speed Renting on June 9 at Kitsilano’s New Bohemian restaurant.

Credit: Jessica Barrett

ON THE COVER: Speed Renting

In the back of Kitsilano’s New Bohemian restaurant, where a couple dozen twenty- and thirty-somethings — each wearing a colour-coded Post-it note — threaten to overflow a makeshift corral of lounge tables and couches, Jessica Glesby appears to be holding court.

As the group circulates, exchanging pleasantries and munching on complimentary appetizers, Glesby’s orange badge attracts a lot of attention from those whose own are dayglow green. Eventually, she pulls out a laptop and a small crowd forms, hanging on her every word as she describes, in scintillating detail, the goods on offer: Hardwood floors; in-suite laundry; a balcony; close proximity to the beach; and two bedrooms, one of which could be theirs for $850 a month.

Welcome to speed renting, the newest way to find shared accommodation in Vancouver’s perpetually stretched rental market.

Based on its amorous counterpart, speed dating, speed renting aims to connect room-seekers with room-havers — an efficient, no-brainer alternative to finding roommates through potentially nefarious internet encounters, says Greg Eidsness, the 27-year-old entrepreneur responsible for tonight’s event.

As Eidsness oversees the mingling from his improvised office on the bistro’s lacquered bar, he’s quick to admit the idea isn’t his own. “It wasn’t my genius, but it’s the first that I’m aware of in North America,” he says, explaining the concept originated in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2006, and has since spread to several Kiwi cities, as well as Melbourne, Australia, and London, England. Eidsness caught wind of speed renting when it showed up in a “quirky business ideas” newsletter to which he subscribes.

As novel as the idea seemed, though, he wasn’t immediately sure it would be right for Vancouver. “But as I started asking people, I started to get a good vibe — a ‘Yeah, I would come out to that’ — which is kind of good test,” he says. “And I asked my sister, because she’s a student and she tends to be looking for somebody every four months.”

After doing extensive research, Eidsness and business partner Jason Carroll struck a plan: They would charge a $12 cover to connect renters with one another in a comfortable social setting; ply them with free food and encourage them to imbibe; and, at the end of the night, collect a list of potential roommates from their guests. A day or two later, they would e-mail participants the contact information of people who reciprocated. Those who didn’t find a match could come to the next event for free.

A posting on Craigslist led 25 people to their first event, held in Kitsilano in May. It was enough to make Eidsness and Carroll think the project had legs. “Even with that kind of minimal level of advertising, enough people came out that we thought there might be something to this,” says Eidsness, who has since taken to spreading the word on Facebook, Twitter, and his website, SpeedRenting.ca.

At least one person actually scored an apartment that first night. “We had somebody that came to the event, and they left and went directly to the person’s apartment and they ended up renting it,” Eidsness recalls, adding he’s now trying to track other successful transactions via e-mail. The second Kits event, in June, saw even more people turn up — a mix of students and young professionals — fueling hope that speed renting could expand to other neighbourhoods and become a profitable endeavour.

“Right now, if we do one event just like this, it’s not a viable business,” says Eidsness. “We need to have multiple events in different locations... So, our goal is to introduce new events every month throughout the city.” Another Kitsilano event is planned for July, as is an evening in Yaletown, and Eidsness hopes to soon add the West End and Mount Pleasant to his list of areas served.

The promise of a safe, public place to interview prospective flatmates seems to have struck a chord with renters like the above-mentioned Glesby. While her two-bedroom in Kits attracted plenty of interest on the Internet (not to mention a relative commotion at speed renting), the 25-year-old artist says she’s leery of the amount of personal information she’s had to put out in her posts. “You’re really putting yourself out there to any kind of criminal activity.”

Plus, when it comes down to finding a roommate, it’s much easier to do it in person, says Glesby, “...because I can get a feel for you. It’s a vibe thing, and I trust my instincts.”

Then there are renters like 32-year-old accountant Steve Hawkshaw, who thought his curious proposal probably wouldn’t translate well online. “Basically, the idea is I have a 650-square-foot single bedroom, and it’s a bit pricier than I thought I could hold onto,” he says. “So, I thought this would be a bit unique: maybe find someone who would be down with taking the bedroom and then I would take the pantry. My offer is probably pretty sketchy, so it’s a lot easier to just get out there in person; it’s just easier to meet people that are potentially interested.”

Judging by the turnout, there’s no shortage of interest among renters, but a scan around the room shows an absence of landlords or property owners, a group Eidsness acknowledges has been difficult to reach. “I think it’s the rental market in Vancouver that does that, because landlords seem to have so much power in terms of picking and choosing who they want,” he says.

It could also be that, from a landlord’s perspective, speed renting is an oxymoron, says Carly Ludwar of the Rental Owners and Managers Society of B.C., which represents 2,200 property owners around the province. “The tricky part with using something like speed renting is that finding a suitable tenancy applicant isn’t speedy at all,” she told WE in a phone interview. “They need to do their credit check, they need to do a reference check... or whatever other research they do. It’s never done quickly.”

But speed renting could appeal to landlords who like to factor in a personal response when renting out suites, says Ludwar, who suggests her clients go beyond simply running the numbers when selecting tenants. “I hope they at least go with their gut a little bit,” she says.

As for Eidsness, he resonates with many of the hopefuls here tonight who have been caught off-guard more than once by rental arrangements made online. Foremost in his mind: the time he showed up for a work exchange in Hong Kong to find he would be sharing a minuscule apartment with a Sri Lankan family. It wasn’t a disaster, but it’s the kind of scenario he’s hoping speed renting can help people avoid in Vancouver. “I lasted four months in that situation,” he says, “but it reinforced in me the kind of luck-of-the-draw attitude we take to what’s actually a really important situation: finding a place to live.”