Lovely launches online applications
Lovely is already a popular home rental search site, processing over 1.5 million rental listings every month, helping half a million renters nationwide to find their next homes each month, today announcing a move that could propel those numbers even more as they transition to a fully integrated marketplace wherein renters can find, and now secure their rentals.
In partnership with Experian, Apply with Lovely launches today, which the company calls “the easiest way for renters to submit an application,” and for a flat $20 application fee, once their identity is verified, their Experian credit repoert and Lovely Rental Application may be sent directly to verified property owners and managers with a single click, rather than filling out a new application for every property. The company is seeking to more quickly match renters with properties in a market where vacancy rates are low, and rental opportunities are tight.
“Apply with Lovely marks a major step forward for renters nationwide by providing them with tools to not only search for the home of their dreams, but to also secure that home quickly and easily. We understand the process of applying for an apartment can be just as painful as searching for one and it is our goal to extend the Lovely offering to eliminate that pain for renters,” said Blake Pierson, CEO of Lovely. “Our goal from the beginning has always been to be not just a complete search solution for home rentals but a fully integrated platform and marketplace – combining search, transparency, transaction management and more into a holistic marketplace – to disrupt the status quo that has persisted historically in the rental industry.”
We suspect that Lovely got the jump on Zillow with the common application, given that RentJuice launched their common rental application last year, and has since been acquired by Zillow for $40 million. While Lovely’s process appears to be more sophisticated through their partnership with Experian, could this spell the next wave of feature addition in rental sites?
Lovely also announcing a facelift
Lovely also announced today a new HTML5 web experience, built from the ground up and optimized for both web and tablet devices. This refreshed experience includes major improvements to core functionalities such as Lovely’s alerts tool and advanced search interface, and introduces Lovely Inbox in a new dashboard for renters with tools to facilitate each step of the rental process as they find and secure a new home.
Renters can now easily navigate between advanced search filters, alerts and Lovely Inbox where they can communicate directly with property owners and managers, track ongoing correspondence and view the status of all submitted applications.
“Ultimately, we want renters to find a great home and property owners and managers to find great tenants,” added Serena Keith, Product Lead at Lovely. “For the first time, both sides of the rental market have access to an end-to-end solution that makes renting an apartment fast, simple and stress-free.”
