Find your perfect rental — for a season or for a year

Placemate matches tenants to their perfect rental home, specializing in long-term housing for locals. If you’re currently looking for housing, fill out a renter profile and Placemate will send you homes that match your search criteria when they become available. Once you’ve submitted a renter profile below, you’ll receive insight on homes before they go live on our listings page. Fill out a renter profile today!

Our Process

Create a renter profile

Creating a renter profile with Placemate is fast, free, and easy. Enter your household size, budget, and employment information to be matched with potential homes.

Receive rental listings before they go live on our website

When a new home becomes available, Placemate sends listings to renters in our database whose renter profile criteria match the parameters of the home. You’ll receive the listing 24 hours before we post it on our website.

Get matched with a homeowner and see the home

As interested renters reach out, we send qualified applicants to the homeowner. Then the homeowner selects applicants they would like to show the home to.

Fill out an application

Placemate sends applications to renters who the homeowner is interested in moving forward with. We do a comprehensive tenant screening and the homeowner makes the final selection for their tenant.

Sign a Lease

Once the homeowner is ready to finalize the lease with their renter, Placemate coordinates the lease signing and move-in details with both parties.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why am I not getting sent listings?

If you’re not receiving listings, it might be because the listings we have do not match the exact criteria you filled out on your profile (ex: the rent is higher than your stated budget or the home has space for only one car but your household has two adults). Please note that we go off of your criteria exactly, and will not assume you are willing to flex from that unless you’ve told us otherwise. We will also not send you listings assuming that the homeowner will be willing to flex their criteria either (ex: we will not reach out to you if the homeowner has stated no pets but your profile shows that you have one well-behaved dog). You can always update your renter profile by emailing us directly. Soon you’ll be able to edit your renter profile yourself from our website – stay tuned! You can read about how we prioritize tenants and who we send listings to first in FAQ question one.

Why am I not being selected for properties?

Placemate represents each candidate fairly, with unbiased information to the homeowner and ensures that homeowners follow the Fair Housing Act. However, homeowners make the decision about who they show the house to and who they select for their tenant. There is a huge discrepancy in supply and demand — we have far more renters looking for housing than we have homes available. We understand that it can be frustrating to not be selected for showings, or after the showing, to not be selected as the tenant. Please know that we are doing our best to find housing for as many local renters as we can.

Is there an application fee and when do I have to pay it?

There is no fee to complete a renter profile or rental application. The only fee you pay is for a $38 background check during the final stages of the process, immediately preceding lease signing. Note that if you complete your background check and do not move forward with a lease at that property for any reason, the background check is transferable to other properties in our system within 30 days. You can also download the background check and use it for other purposes.

How is rent determined?

Placemate works with homeowners, informing them of the median budget for renters in our system in hopes of making their homes affordable for locally employed renters. However, the homeowner ultimately gets to decide on the final rent price for their home. Placemate does not take a cut of monthly rent or add in fees that make homeowners set higher prices on their homes

Why are there so many furnished and non-long-term rentals?

Just like the setting of the rent price, Placemate shares with homeowners the percent of renters in our system that are looking for an unfurnished home and a long-term lease, yet the homeowner makes the final decision about furnishings and lease length. Placemate conveys to homeowners the need for long-term rentals, yet some homeowners wish to use their home for a season or in-between rentals. Especially if a homeowner is converting their home to a rental for the first time, they may prefer a shorter lease to start out and may not be open to unfurnishing the home. Additionally, while we know that unfurnished homes are more attractive to long-term renters and we love long-term renters, there is also a need for seasonal (or even long-term) furnished homes. At Placemate, we would rather see a home utilized for a short time if the alternative is that it’s left completely empty. We are hopeful that some of our short-term rentals will turn into long-term rentals in the future as homeowners build trust and understand the positive impact their rental home has on the community.