After kicking off their beta program in April, the team behind iBoard Living has been hard at work honing their services for a public launch slated for July. iBoard Living describes itself as the country’s first rental property platform that consolidates services for tenants, real estate managers, and service providers. Looking beyond their home province of Biliran, Eastern Visayas, the group has developed a roadmap that will see them expanding into other highly urbanized cities in the Philippines, before servicing communities abroad.
According to Founder Zaira Marie Verunque—fondly referred to as Zey by her colleagues—the idea for iBoard Living came when her team, all residents of Biliran, realized how difficult it was moving to and living in other cities. In 2020, the group came together to create a user-friendly digital platform that provided end-to-end-to-end services to renters, property owners, and handymen. Their mission: to improve the experience of managing real estate properties in the Philippines.
iBoard has a three-pronged system that’s easy enough to navigate. There’s iRent, which caters to prospecting tenants, iManage for property owners, and iServe for home service providers.
Through iRent, renters can easily find a place, pay rent, book home services, contact their landlords, and store digital documents. Meanwhile, iManage allows property owners to list their properties, close deals, accept online payments, provide support to their tenants, and receive reports that will provide them insights on how best to maximize their occupancy rates. Lastly, iServe enables home service providers, whether freelancers or formal businesses offering services like cleaning or repairs, to receive bookings and advertise their services on the platform.
It’s a disruptive approach, similar to that of US and Davao-based proptech startup Poplar Homes, which caters largely to a market of “mom and pop” investors that have historically been do-it-yourself landlords. According to Poplar, 67% of their customers previously self-managed their properties. Now, they benefit from a full suite of support services ranging from leasing and maintenance to legal issues and accounting.
“iBoard operates in both the B2B and B2C landscapes,” said Ylla de Ocampo, who leads public relations for iBoard Living. “We offer an end-to-end solution through our two marketplaces and an enterprise software embedded altogether. Our common model across markets is a lifetime freemium model.” This means the platform is free-to-use for renters, from whom iBoard Living receives a percentage commission on transactions. For property owners and home service providers using the B2B platform, premium paid services are available on a subscription model. “We are very optimistic with the value our service is offering,” de Ocampo said. “Our forecasted number of active users by the end of 2025 is 36,000.”
“With our three main services, we aim to provide a complete supply chain solution in the lodging industry,” de Ocampo says. “We are introducing a new form of lifestyle in the lodging industry where technology matches with the rental way of living.”
Currently, iBoard Living is available to early access users based in the startup’s home turf in Biliran. By July 2022, the team hopes to launch their platform to the public. Over the next two years, they’ll be working towards expanding to other highly urbanized cities in the Philippines. By 2026, they aim to launch operations abroad, beginning with Filipino property owners based in places like the United Arab Emirates. “We want OFWs to consider real estate in the Philippines as not just an investment, but as a source of income which will help them achieve financial independence, retire early, and go home to their families,” de Ocampo said.