When I moved to Chicago for graduate school, I picked roommates off Craigslist and mailed a deposit check without having ever met them. When I moved to NYC a year ago, having visited once for a weekend, I booked an apartment via Airbnb for the first month to give myself time to find a good place and check out various neighborhoods.
Whether you're moving to a new town you're not familiar with, or just to a new apartment in the same neighborhood, finding the right place can be stressful and expensive. It's also a lot of repetitive work — filling out paper applications and checking listings sites every five minutes — then either forgetting where you saw that awesome affordable apartment or keeping a spreadsheet updated with links and addresses.
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Anthemos Georgiades, founder of Zumper, thinks your smartphone should make this process easier. That's why Zumper is playing dual roles and trying to improve the experience for landlords and renters alike — because getting a great deal on the right place is all about communication between the two parties.
Zumper launched its first smartphone app, Zumper Pro, last spring. The app allows a landlord or broker to take photos with a smartphone and immediately upload them to the site along with descriptions and location information.
Not only can landlords get their listings up more easily, but they can also send these listings to other rental sites as well.
But the biggest benefit for landlords didn't come until Zumper launched a version of the app for renters.
Zumper listings are available on Zumper's website as well as an iOS app, launched in August. But, based on user interactions with the web product, the company was able to improve the experience in the mobile app since it first launched.
First, they noticed that users were particular about what neighborhood they wanted to be in — they usually navigated directly to the map. Zumper created neighborhood guides so users can learn more details about each neighborhood they're looking to live in.
With the small screen space on the mobile screen, the Zumper team found it made more sense to show listings in a feed as well as on a map. Zumper allows users to select which neighborhoods they are interested in — and their price range. Users can then opt to get push alerts on their phone of new listings that fit their exact specs.
This feature drives value back to landlords. Georgiades says they've had landlords in multiple cities who uploaded a listing while standing in an apartment, and minutes later, they got a message from a renter who's interested in viewing the apartment — "Are you still there? I'm right down the street."
Right now, all listings on Zumper are original — the database doesn't pull listing from any other sources, so the units shown are trustworthy. I experimented with the app while looking for an apartment over the summer, and every landlord I messaged responded within a reasonable amount of time. Georgiades says the Android version is coming soon.
Would you try Zumper during your next apartment search?
Image: Zumper