Introducing Leasetool

Posted on Thursday, December 18th (3626 days ago)

After spending a decade building websites and applications for others, I decided it was finally time to really focus on building a great product for myself. But what to build?

I’ve worked with a ton of Real Estate companies that serve seashore communities over the years and they all had one thing in common. They hated the rental system they were using.

They all voiced the same complaints:

     
  • Difficult to use: The systems were clunky and it was a huge task to train new people to use them
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  • Features - or lack of them: The systems either did nearly nothing, or were completely bloated with features the offices never used.
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  • Cost: In some cases this was astronomical

Sure, there are a million different rental management software systems out there. Any of them COULD be re-tooled to serve the needs of a seashore real estate office. The reality however, is that only a small handful of systems out there are truly designed for this niche market.

Spot a need, serve a need.

I was once one of these seashore real estate agent doing these types of rentals. I have an innate understanding of what these people are trying to do.

I even built a tiny little rental system back in 2000 or so that a couple offices were using but it was built using really dated technology and it definitely wasn’t scalable. Due to this I never did much with it. Oddly enough though, I’ve had these same offices using it happily for a good 10 years.

This is where I decided to start.

I rebuilt the functionality of the old system, but with 10 years experience, better tools and technologies. And I built it to scale this time.

The result of this is Leasetool.

Leasetool Logo

The continued development of this product is the source for tons of writing as I learn how to really run a web product.  I’ve built what I think is an incredible product, but there’s a TON of work ahead.

I’m already close to 200 revisions committed. I’ve got a couple offices using it. I’m adding features weekly if not more often.

Lots more to come on this topic.

About Joseph R. B. Taylor

Joseph R. B. Taylor is a humble designer/developer who makes stuff for screens of all shapes and sizes. He is currently the lead UI/UX Architect at MScience, LLC, where he works to create simple experiences on top of large rich datasets for their customers and clients.