Joining Webby nominees nytimes.com/realestate and nakedaparments.com in the New York market is urbanedgeny.com, which just launched on 14 April. The website’s focus is on simplicity: “It shouldn’t take a genius to find your perfect home,” the homepage declares.
urbanedgeny.com is only allowing listings from landlords, bypassing brokers. It is not charging for these listings or for house hunter access. The new website explains that it makes money from “value-added” marketing services for property owners and managers.“We syndicate owner listings around the web. We build websites, we create and install signage, create and place Internet ads, and a whole lot more,” urbanedgeny.com says, before emphasising that its users are not obliged to buy these services.
urbanedgeny.com is also making use of Twitter to promote its listings. Each day at 4pm, users receive a Twitter feed of all the day’s new listings matching their desired neighbourhood and home type.
“This site gives the power back to the consumer. It allows free flow of information for a more efficient marketplace, saving owners and consumers lots of money,” said Ilana Schwartz, vice president of new business development for urbanedgeny.com.
While urbanedgeny.com is entering a market that already includes a number of established players, it says “hundreds of major landlords” are already using it to list their properties.
