New apartment search tool
The above video is best viewed in full screen to get the full essence of what ApartmentList.com offers. As part of the “TechCrunch Disrupt” conference, the company came out as a disruptive force in the rental search category, aiming to combat complacency in the marketplace. Their claims of comprehensiveness are accurate, as they have more data sources than any startup we’ve seen in recent years- ForRent, ListHub, HotPads and so on.
The user interface is fun and easy to understand, the algorithm appears to be relatively sophisticated, resembling a more intuitive version of Coldwell Banker’s “Blue Search,” also based on the premise of recommendations based on lifestyle. ApartmentList one ups its competitors by integrating Facebook into their offering and making sharing simple, as well as integrating Yelp listings onto the map search to solve the (“is it near a grocery store?” conundrum).
ApartmentList.com is certainly worth the industry taking a hard look at- it is a dream to use and if a residential real estate search site functioned as seamlessly as this, consumers would flock to it. Most sites either master information or master novelty- ApartmentList does both. It will be interesting to see if (or rather when) one of the major industry players acquires the company not only for their product but for their talent.
