Lovely Makes Apartment Hunting A Little More…Lovely

Apartment search app Lovely is gaining quite a following in an already crowded market.  With over 125,000 downloads since the launch of its iOS app in November, Lovely is differentiating itself with a sole focus on rentals, up-to-the second listings, and an interface that is quite frankly, lovely.

Lovely, available on iOS or on the Web, processes over 1.5 million listings a month from over 50 sources, including Craigslist.  But while a number of other apps, including Zillow and Trulia, are offering similar data, Lovely makes the process easier by using interactive, color-coded search results that are plotted on a map.

“We want to present this data in a way that’s not overwhelming,” said Elizabeth Pietrzak, Communications & Marketing Lead.  “Because the whole rental process is stressful enough, in and of itself, we wanted to make sure that how we present this data, renters can look at it and immediately know exactly what’s available and where.”

After users select their rental search criteria (including if they have a cat or dog), available apartment rentals are populated on a map via color-coded, numbered circles that users can easily navigate.  An orange circle means the apartment has been added in the last 24 hours, while a blue circle means the apartment listing is older than 24 hours.  If the user “favorites” a listing, the circle turns yellow and if a user looks at any listing, the circle turns dark grey.

Lovely, which has over a half a million users per month, pulls data from many of the same sources that larger competitors Zillow and Trulia do, but Lovely is focusing primarily on apartment rentals which it says is giving it an edge.

“Because we’re staying laser focused on the rental space, we want to do that one thing really well, and we think that will help us be very successful in the rental space,” Pietrzak said.

Aside from being able to set alerts and sync data to the Web platform, Lovely populates new listings on the map without the user having to refresh their browser or relaunch the app.  This feature gives prospective renters an edge, especially in competitive rental markets like New York and San Francisco where time is of the essence.

The app also allows users to instantly email or call the landlord with one tap, another advantage to snagging an apartment before the rest.

Lovely app is being updated in a week or so with some new features including the ability for renters to edit their Renter Card as well as share listings on-the-go.  A renter card enables prospective renters to input basic data including their yearly salary and credit score so landlords can get a quick profile of the prospect before they actually meet.