Anyone ever looked at flipping the relationship? e.g., people looking for accommodation post their budget, basic details (no name or photo, just rough indication of job status, industry, pets, etc) and then owners would try to get the best tenants from those available?

great idea! :) you want to spin this off to a new startup? :)

All yours - go for it. I already have enough things to work on that I think are far better ideas!

That's interesting - the rental market here (western NY) has been the opposite, at least as of the last time I looked a few months ago.

I assume you mean high vacancy rates rather than low.