In the November 6th edition of the Rochester Business Journal, Newdigs.com, Ben, and Daniel were featured in article entitled "Partners building apartment search service", by Mary Stone. It's a great read and a good look at where we are in the process of launching our business.
Below, you'll find links to a PDF of the RBJ
article and to the article on the RBJ site itself. (Note: a free
registration is required). Enjoy!
NewDigs.com, a Rochester based company, is a rental property transaction platform that combines a revolutionary map-based search interface with online marketing tools, advanced rental market reporting , and integrated property management functionality. NewDigs seeks to work directly with the members of IREM's Chapter 58 for the remainder of 2009 to develop an all-in-one solution for both marketing and managing rental properties, which will debut in early 2010. From September 2009 until its official 2010 release, newDigs will be operating in what is referred to in the internet industry as a Beta version, a working preview that can be used to list rental property and generate leads.
Rather than build another ILS (Internet Listing Service) like Rent.com or Apartments.com, newdigs.com aims to build one central listing platform for all rental property. To that end, they offer free listings for any building under 25 units. Listings for larger properties will eventually bear a small charge, which newDigs says will be substantially less than any of the nationally recognized competitors. CEO, Ben Munson says, "We plan to charge a $95 per month fee for properties of over 25 units, beginning in 2010. The services that a customer will receive for this fee will go beyond anything they have ever experienced from a listing website, and will include not only a beautiful mediarich listing on our website's map, but unprecedented reporting and lead management functionality. We are offering members of IREM the rare opportunity to be involved in the software development process. The goal is to dramatically reduce cost per lease acquisition while increasing the ability to report on market data." Munson also stated that the listings will be free for everyone, larger properties included, until 2010 while the company continues to develop some of the site's key functionality.
As a friend of IREM, newDigs has offered to do the legwork in populating each of Chapter 58's members' properties. The company requests that photos, floor-plans, and unit info are sent to listings@newdigs.com as soon as possible. Listings will be populated by newdigs.com and will remain free for the duration of 2009.
Ben Munson wants to make your next apartment search a whole lot easier. The energetic 29-year-old is preparing to launch a Web site, newdigs.com. It not only lets landlords and renters post and search listings for free, but it also maps out all the apartments and allows you to set up to 100 selection criteria for your search. He came up with the idea when Craigslist started allowing landlords in Rochester to list apartments for free.
"Currently the only real tools for effectively searching Rochester's beautiful rental housing inventory are to drive the streets looking for signs, or shuffle through thousands of headlines in the Craigslist rental section," Munson said.
Munson and his co-founder, Daniel Mooney, have been working on plans for a better option for the past three years. Munson, a Penfield native, is highly motivated to launch a successful company in Rochester.
"I'm excited to finally love where I live, and I'm eager to get my business off the ground and enjoy my family and friends. I think there's also a lot we could do with a successful company like newdigs.com in Rochester. This city has so much going for it; I'd love to play a part in its sustainable redevelopment," Munson said.
You can check out the first version of newdigs.com on June 1. Munson is eagerly awaiting your feedback.
Newdigs.com is a map-based apartment search website that offers Rochester renters the easiest, most comprehensive search for rental property online, or in print. We do this by providing free listings to any property of less than 25 units, and charging a nominal monthly fee to all properties over 25 units. Property listing information is saved in the user's account, and can be used to automate future listings. Renters will have the ability to search all the available rental property in the area by over 100 characteristics, and have all the matching units populated on a Google map.
No digging through listings or driving streets is necessary. We will also enable very accurate market rent reporting, so you can easily determine fair market rent. Going forward we will integrate services like electronic rent payment, and a digital rental application.
When we go live on June 1 users will start with a basic search for an area, price range and apartment size. There is also an advanced search that allows users to search by over 100 features including specific accessibility needs, kitchen specs, parking and laundry information, DSS or Section 8 and a bunch more. Rochester young professionals can search newdigs.com and be presented with a Google map populated with just the 2 bedroom apartments within 2 miles of their new job, between $800 - $1,000/month that allows their cat and has off street parking, and the balcony they always wanted. We want to save renters from driving to apartments they don't really want, and save landlords from doing unnecessary showings.
Our map-based listing navigation resolves the first in, first out problem caused by Craigslist. Properties over 25 units find it too cumbersome to list with Craigslist, and would gladly pay us 10% of what a full page ad in the Renters Guide costs for a huge source of measurable renter leads. Any listing for a property of 25+ units will be just $95/mo. All listings are for rent only. Owners of properties with less than 25 units can list for free. There is no cost to renters.
We have participated in the local Rochester Business Plan Competition, participated in Monroe County's The Entrepreneur Network, and gained admission into RIT's Venture Creations small business incubator. The Rochester startup market is a very supportive environment to launch in, and it has very much been a group effort. We have also had some great partnerships and advisors help get us to this point. Our strategic partnership to manage all listings for The Housing Council of Rochester will secure us enough listing volume to make us the number one source for all affordable housing listings in the area.
I grew up with a mother who was a Realtor, and a dad who was a computer guy. I've read about real estate investing since I was 16 and went to RIT to get an undergrad degree in Finance. I moved back to Rochester in 2005 to invest in rental property, got my real estate license and became a rental agent. Prior to returning to Rochester, my last job was as a business intelligence consultant where I would make live data-driven reporting 'dashboards' for corporate clients. newDigs.com is my first serious foray into entrepreneurship, but I have dabbled with other business ideas for a decade.
I had been working as an apartment rental agent here in Rochester when Craigslist went live in our market. I was shocked at the instant success of something so poorly designed for the search of property. I started kicking the idea around of building a free marketplace around an interface designed specifically for property search, and it lead me to my co-founder Daniel Mooney. We've spent the past three years maturing the concept into a scalable business model. It's critical that this be tailored to user needs, so we'll be releasing a beta (pre-final) version of the site for Rochester renters and property managers to use and provide design feedback on June 1.
Most immediately, to plan a wedding and a company launch during the same year. Beyond that, life looks a lot simpler. I want to contribute to Rochester's startup economy, turn newdigs.com into a national brand, and invest outside the box.
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