Cribspot, an up and coming student housing startup company, is aiming to change the MSU housing market for the better. The company brings together thousands of rentals on one map, so students don’t have to wander aimlessly through neighborhoods and websites to find a place to live.
“Basically, it’s a one-stop housing resource for student renters at MSU,” Cribspot content manager Kevin Gardner, an Indiana University Bloomington alumnus, said.
Gardner said the idea for Cribspot came from the founders’ own frustration with the rental process as college students.
“Like many students, we had to walk around campus looking for rental signs and calling up landlords to find out if their places were still available,” Gardner said.
He said this was not an efficient way to search, and they had no real way to compare their options.
“We built the site we would have loved to use as college students,” Gardner said.
Gardner said Cribspot is unique in the number of rentals they list, with over 1,000 rental options near the MSU campus. Students can find anything from mom-and-pop houses to high-rise apartment complexes. He said Cribspot also has a local flavor students won’t find anywhere else.
“We’ve developed an East Lansing neighborhood guide to provide context to your search, built with the help of MSU students and local photographers,” Gardner said.
He said Cribspot employees hope that MSU students will get a better sense of the housing options available to them, so they can better compare the alternatives and make an informed decision. They want to make the market more transparent so renters have a good idea of the average rent in the area and the quality they can expect.
“Housing is a big expense for college students, and it’s a decision you live with all year,” Gardner said. “We want students to get the most out of their time in rental housing.”
Gardner said Cribspot is now working to expand to college towns across the country, as well as tackle problems such as rental applications, signing leases, moving and even paying utilities.
“We just don’t think today’s college students should have to manage the rental process the same way their parents — even their grandparents — did,” Gardner said. “We’re working to bring college housing online and up to date.”
