Apartment Locator Definiton

"Finding an apartment can be a time-consuming and boring ordeal. If you use the old fashioned techniques of looking for for an apartment, such as searching through the newspaper classified advertisement or relying on word of mouth, you may feel as if you're caught up following endless leads that result in nothing but dead ends. Therefore, to make your hunting easier, you should take advantage of the help provided by an apartment finder locator.

The High Tech Online Apartment Locator Services

One kind of apartment rentals locator that you might use involves the use of technology. With the Internet growing more and more every day, increasing numbers of landlords are turning toward this technology to get them in touch with potential tenants. As such, numerous apartments finder business websites have been launched.

When you visit an apartment locator website, you will be asked to fill out a blank online form. This form won’t ask for personal information such as your social security number and many won’t even ask you for your name. Rather, the form will ask you to provide information regarding the type of apartment you are looking for.

Depending on the apartments rent website, you might immediately get results that display all of the available listings that meet your criteria. Others might ask for your email address so the information can be sent to you while others will ask for your phone number so a representative can contact you.

Obviously, those looking for a phone number or an email address are trying to find a way to get in touch with you and to add you to a client list. If you don’t want this to happen, you should avoid these home apartment locator websites. Just be aware that this may severely reduce the number of apartment options available to you.

An Experts Personable Apartment Locator

If you are not much of a technology buff or if you simply prefer to work with a human being rather than a blank online form, you can look into getting the help of a human guide apartment locator. Generally, you can go to a broker or a real estate agent to get help finding an apartment.

Since a realtor deals with property every day, he or she will have a good idea of the current apartment listings. In addition, a real estate agent should be able to guide you with helpful information about the neighborhood and should be able to answer any questions that you may have. This valuable insight can make it easier for you to find the apartment you are looking for.

Whether you go with a high tech apartment locator or a human apartment locator, don’t give out any of your personal financial information. This is particularly true when looking for an apartment online because it isn’t difficult for a scam artist to put up a fake website in order to acquire personal information from innocent people looking for an apartment. Remember, the purpose of using an apartment locator is simply to put you in touch with landlords offering apartments that fit your needs. Leave all other aspects of the deal between you and the landlord, unless the landlord uses a leasing agent to find and finalize deals.

Although finding an apartment is not necessarily as serious as trying to buy a house, you still want to find a place where you will be happy. Take the time to look around and to use an apartment locator and you will be sure to be thrilled with the final results.

Starting Your Own Apartment Locator Internet Home-based Business Idea

Moving to a new city is never easy. Everyone needs a place to live, but not everybody has the time to look. This is a problem that is being solved by many businesses in major cities across the world. Many savvy individuals are launching their own apartment finder Web sites and are turning quite a profit from doing so. Your main source of income will be referral fees from rental offices of apartments, condominiums, and other real estate structures.

You could also charge a fee for sublets, apartment sharing, and private rental listings. Requests are sent via e-mail from those seeking an apartment to you, the site administrator, with a description of the desired apartment location, size, necessities, and so on, that the individual is looking for. You then take the request and find the best possible apartment area to suit the person’s needs. Once you have found a match, you set up a time for your client to view the apartment. You collect a referral fee if the client signs a lease.

Another way to run this type of business would be to set up a searchable database. Those with apartments or houses to rent or sublet would pay a fee to add their listing. People looking for an apartment would search based on specific criteria such as location, maximum rent, number of bedrooms, etc.

This small business idea is great for someone with a thorough grasp of the available living space in the local area and basic Web publishing skills. You should be a clear communicator via e-mail and phone with your clients and the owners of rental buildings so they take you seriously.

Costs associated with starting this business range from $1,000 to $5,000. Initially you will have to pay to design and develop your Web site along with all costs associated with this (e.g., hosting service). If you want to develop the database, there will be additional costs involved—the amount will be determined by the level of sophistication, the number of fields, and the number of searchable fields. Additional costs associated with opening this business include online advertising costs and any offline promotion that you may implement.

Typically this apartment house finder business can be run by one individual to start and will increase depending on the volume of referrals. Although people from other countries may use this service if they are moving to the country, city, or state that you represent, this business generally has national and regional potential.

Although you want to receive as many referrals as possible, it is important not to let the apartments that you represent take advantage of your site as a free advertising opportunity. To avoid this problem, don’t list the specific names or addresses of the apartment complexes that you represent. You can provide pictures, and general location information. If you give the specific address of the suggested match, your client may go directly to the apartment without even using your service. Of course, if you run this Web site as a database, this will not be an issue as you will be paid up front for all listings.

Collection of referral fees is an important issue. Ensure that you have contracts in place with the apartment owners and safeguard procedures that help you to keep your incoming fees organized. Your Websites has to be constantly updated and maintained. When an apartment is rented through you, make sure to show this on your site. When an apartment is no longer available, remove it immediately from your site.

Online small business marketing techniques, develop links from as many Web sites and meta-indexes as possible that target your geographic audiences. Purchase banner ads on geographically targeted Web sites (e.g., if you represent apartments in New York, purchase a banner ad on a Web site about living in New York). Participate in sponsored listings with the search engines by bidding on appropriate keyword phrases. List your site in the classified ad section of nearby online newspapers. Participate in real estate or geographically specific mailing lists with a cleverly designed signature file.

You should consider partnering with businesses that could benefit from your referrals. For example, local moving companies or furniture rental businesses could benefit from your referrals, since you target the same market. This could prove to be quite profitable for your business. An alternative to this would be selling advertising to these businesses on your site.
Online examples http://www.apartmentsearch.com/, a great US base apartment locator service.
http://www.aokapartmentlocators.com , a dynamite apartment location service in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area.