System and method for facilitating renting and purchasing relationships

• US 20010037280A1
• Filed: 03/08/2001
• Published: 11/01/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Viva Group Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Viva Group Incorporated
• Inventors: Hunter, Allan O., Ingraham, Scott S.
• Application Number:
  US09/802,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20010037280A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/16 Real estate

Abstract

A system and method for facilitating renting and purchasing relationships. The method includes receiving at least one property profile from at least one responsible party. At least one transaction request from each of a plurality of responsible parties is received. The transaction requests are matched with the property profiles. The transaction requests are provided to the responsible parties of those properties that match the transaction request. In one embodiment, an offer received from at least one of the responsible parties is provided to at least one of the requesting parties. The method may be executed on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of property profiles from at least one responsible party;

receiving at least one transaction request from at least one requesting party;

matching the at least one transaction request with the property profiles; and

providing the at least one transaction request to the responsible parties of a subset of the plurality of property profiles that match the transaction request.

2. The method of

claim 1

wherein providing the transaction request is achieved anonymously such that an identity of the requesting party is hidden from the responsible party.

3. The method of

claim 1

wherein the responsible party comprises at least one of a property owner, a property manager, and a leasing manager.

4. The method of

claim 1

wherein the at least one requesting party is at least one of a prospective renter and a prospective buyer.

5. The method of

claim 1

further comprising:

providing an offer received from at least one of the responsible parties to at least one of the requesting parties.

6. The method of

claim 5

wherein the offer is a rental offer.

7. The method of

claim 5

wherein the offer is a sale offer.

8. The method of

claim 5

wherein providing the offer comprises:

providing a ranking based on a plurality of criteria.

9. The method of

claim 1

further comprising:

providing an acceptance received from one of the requesting parties to one of the responsible parties.

10. The method of

claim 1

further comprising:

providing a property visit request received from one of the requesting parties to one of the responsible parties; and

providing a property visit confirmation from one of the responsible parties to one of the requesting parties.

11. The method of

claim 1

further comprising:

providing an anonymous message received from one of the requesting parties to one of the responsible parties.

12. The method of

claim 1

further comprising:

receiving a lease execution notification from at least one of the responsible parties.

13. The method of

claim 1

further comprising:

receiving a sale execution notification from at least one of the responsible parties.

14. The method of

claim 1

further comprising:

billing the responsible party a success fee.

15. The method of

claim 1

further comprising:

receiving a request for a promotional reward from at least one of the requesting parties.

16. The method of

claim 1

further comprising:

issuing a promotional reward to at least one of the requesting parties.

17. The method of

claim 1

wherein receiving at least one transaction request comprises:

providing a sequence of maps to prompt the requesting party to select at least one desired geographical location.

18. The method of

claim 1

wherein receiving at least one property profile comprises:

receiving at least one unit information.

19. The method of

claim 1

wherein receiving at least one property profile comprises:

receiving a billing information.

20. A machine readable medium having stored thereon instructions which when executed by a processor cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving at least one property profile from at least one responsible party;

receiving at least one transaction request from each of a plurality of requesting parties;

matching the transaction requests with the property profiles; and

providing the transaction request to the responsible parties of those properties that match the transaction request.

21. The machine readable medium of

claim 20

wherein providing the transaction request is achieved anonymously such that an identity of the requesting party is hidden from the responsible party.

22. The machine readable medium of

claim 20

having stored thereon further instructions which when executed by the processor cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

providing an offer received from at least one of the responsible parties to at least one of the requesting parties.

23. The machine readable medium of

claim 22

wherein providing the offer comprises:

providing a ranking based on a plurality of criteria.

24. The machine readable medium of

claim 20

having stored thereon further instructions which when executed by the processor cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

providing an acceptance received from one of the requesting parties to one of the responsible parties.

25. The machine readable medium of

claim 20

having stored thereon further instructions which when executed by the processor cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

providing a property inspection request received from one of the requesting parties to one of the responsible parties; and

providing a property inspection confirmation from one of the responsible parties to one of the requesting parties.

26. The machine readable medium of

claim 20

having stored thereon further instructions which when executed by the processor cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

providing an anonymous message received from one of the requesting parties to one of the responsible parties.

27. The machine readable medium of

claim 20

having stored thereon further instructions which when executed by the processor cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving a lease execution notification from at least one of the responsible parties.

28. The machine readable medium of

claim 20

having stored thereon further instructions which when executed by the processor cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving a sale execution notification from at least one of the responsible parties.

29. The machine readable medium of

claim 20

having stored thereon further instructions which when executed by the processor cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

providing at least one of the responsible parties a success fee billed confirmation message.

30. The machine readable medium of

claim 20

having stored thereon further instructions which when executed by the processor cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request for a promotional reward from at least one of the requesting parties.

31. The machine readable medium of

claim 20

wherein receiving at least one transaction request comprises:

providing a sequence of maps to prompt the requesting party to select at least one desired geographical location of real property.

32. The machine readable medium of

claim 20

wherein receiving at least one property profile comprises:

receiving at least one unit information.

33. The machine readable medium of

claim 20

wherein receiving at least one property profile comprises:

receiving a billing information.

34. A computer connected to a network comprising:

a bus;

a storage device coupled to the bus; and

a processor coupled to the bus, the processor to execute software to cause the computer to perform operations comprising;

(i) receiving at least one property profile from at least one responsible party,

(ii) receiving at least one transaction request from each of a plurality of requesting parties,

(iii) matching the transaction requests with the property profiles,

(iv) providing the transaction request to the responsible parties of those properties that match the transaction request, and

(v) providing an offer received from at least one of the responsible parties to at least one of the requesting parties.

35. The computer of

claim 34

wherein the matching is performed by a matching engine.

36. The computer of

claim 35

wherein the matching engine is comprised of a plurality of software instructions.

37. The computer of

claim 34

wherein the processor further comprises software that includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

(vi) providing an acceptance received from one of the requesting parties to one of the responsible parties.

38. The computer of

claim 34

wherein the processor further comprises software that includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

(vi) providing a property inspection request received from one of the requesting parties to one of the responsible parties; and

(vii) providing a property inspection confirmation from one of the responsible parties to one of the requesting parties.

39. The computer of

claim 34

wherein the processor further comprises software that includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

(vi) providing an anonymous message received from one of the requesting parties to one of the responsible parties.

40. The computer of

claim 34

wherein the processor further comprises software that includes instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

(vi) receiving a lease execution notification from at least one of the responsible parties

41. The computer of

claim 34

wherein the processor further comprises software that includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

(vi) receiving a sale notification from at least one of the responsible parties

42. The computer of

claim 34

wherein the processor further comprises software that includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

(vi) providing at least one of the responsible parties a success fee billed confirmation message.

43. The computer of

claim 34

wherein the processor further comprises software includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

(vi) receiving a request for a promotional reward from at least one of the requesting parties.

44. The computer of

claim 34

wherein receiving at least one transaction request comprises:

providing a sequence of maps to prompt the renter to select at least one desired geographical location.

45. The computer of

claim 34

wherein receiving at least one property profile comprises:

receiving at least one unit information.

46. The computer of

claim 34

wherein receiving at least one property profile comprises:

receiving a billing information.

47. The computer of

claim 34

wherein:

the network is the Internet; and

the software enables communications with each of the responsible parties and each of the requesting parties via the Internet.