Quiet, but busy!

We realize it’s been a while (over 4 months) since our last post, but it doesn’t mean we’ve been dying a slow death. On the contrary, we’ve been keeping busy with various backend upgrades and improvements that will get us ready for some more cool features coming this year. Also during that time, we’ve seen a steady increase in listings (a lot of no-fee listings), traffic, and agencies posting to our site. Here’s the latest list of New York brokerages that have been posting to us:

A-List Properties	Abacus Properties	Anchor Associates Group
Bapple Inc.	Benjamin James Real Estate	Best Apartments Inc.
Bond New York	Caliber Associates	Charles Rutenberg LLC
Citi-Habitats	CitySites New York	First Residential Brokerage New York
GMAC Real Estate Metropolitan Properties	Gregory James & Associates	Hecht Group
Hyperion Realty Group	Ideal Properties Group	InFocus Realty
Key New York	Knickerbocker Village New York	Manhattan Connection
Manhattan Management Group	Nest Seekers International	New York City Apartments
Pari Passu Realty Corp.	Rapid Realty	Skyline Group
Urban Sanctuary

Chatting it up

Brokers: We’ve now added the ability for you to embed an instant chat application into each of your rental listings! This will allow prospective renters to instantly (and anonymously) talk to you.

To get your chat application set up, just sign up for a free chat account at either Google Talk (you’ll need a Google account first) or Meebo. Currently, we recommend Meebo as their setup process is a little easier.

After you’ve created your “Google Chatback Badge” or “Meebo Widget”, you’ll be supplied some code which you should cut-and-paste into our system (in the field labeled “Chat Code” under “Accounts” -> “Alerts & Settings”). The last thing to do is download the Google Talk or Meebo Chat client, sign into your account, and you’re all ready to go! For those of you with iPhones, Meebo also has an iPhone-optimized version for you to use when you’re out of the office.

Below is a screenshot that has the Meebo widget embedded (to the right of the listing description):

Got an iPhone?

We now have a special iPhone/iPod optimized version of our site so all you apartment hunters can keep your search going wherever and whenever you like.

We’ve simplified the interface, leaving just a search form, result screen, and an individual listing view that includes a map and photos. You can even call the contact directly from the page by clicking on the phone number. If you need to save a listing that interests you, just bookmark it!

Our sincerest apologies to those non-iPhone/iPod users out there, but we are working on another version for you that should be released soon!

Update: Check out our fancy iPhone page on Apple’s website!

Brokers: Saving time with auto-complete

If you’re a broker who posts to our system, we’ve got a new addition that will save you time and increase the accuracy of your listings. Our new auto-complete feature will suggest street names as you begin typing the address for your listings. There’s no longer a need to remember how to spell “Samuel Dickstein Plaza” or type out “Canarsie Veterans Circle”. Just start with the first few letters and let our system do the rest!

Featured Listings

Are you a broker looking for a little extra visibility? We’ve launched our new Featured Listings section on our homepage. You can purchase up to two available slots to showcase your best units and get your name out in front of thousands of renters.

Reserve your spot before they sell out!