What does the future hold for finding apartments?

Call me crazy, but there is no way that the status quo for apartment searching is going to remain for very much longer. Having been in the "brokerage" business for 4+ years, I just can't imagine that this method will continue to work - and it doesn't in many other parts of the country outside of Boston. Will there always be a need for locator services? Yes. People from out of town, people with time constraints, and people willing to PAY for a service to take the headaches out of finding apartments will keep these businesses around. On the flip side, there are listing agents, many of whom aren't even being paid by their clients (landlords), and I don't see this being a sustainable business model for the future for a few simple reasons. Nor do I see the current online listing services continuing to thrive without having a more comprehensive search to compete with Craigslist.

1. Renters who are NOT willing to pay brokerage fees, simply because the landlord will not pay their agent, will become an overwhelming majority. This is a simple concept. Renters are smart and getting smarter thanks to technology. They find their own place online, they go and see it, there is no reason they should have to pay someone to middleman this transaction (unless they seek such a service from a locator).

The effects of this: Landlords will have a decision, post their listing on their own and do the dirty work or find someone to handle it for them and pay them for it. Does it have to be a month rent? No, but a commission model is likely to be more of a hands on approach than if the landlord seeks an online listing service. Which brings me to the second reason for breaking the status quo...

2. Online listing services need to be much more comprehensive. Rent.com has nothing but large management companies and nobody seems to be on the ground in each city collecting data and posting quality listings to be presented to prospective tenants! WestsideRentals.com and RentalBeast.com have an interesting approach where they charge renters for their work of compiling listings in the form of an upfront "search fee." Is this the best answer we can come up with? I sincerely hope not. It comes with it's own flaws and is dis-aligned with what the internet was created for - fast and free access to information. The hurdle of changing consumer behavior on a large scale (what was once free, is now being paid for) is too large, at least in my opinion.

myCityApartment.com may not be the answer in it's current business model, but rest assured, we are working diligently to come up with the answer to so many people's question, WHERE DO I LOOK FOR AN APARTMENT!?

Although I'm confident that we will come up with an answer, I would like to hear some perspectives from some renters out there. How do you see yourself finding apartments in the future? Anyone out there in the blogosphere, if you think you have a great idea, seriously get in contact with me. I'm more than happy to share mine with you and we can tackle this together. Email me at jay [at] mycityapartment.com