CityCribs, a New York-based online service for apartment rentals and sales, has expanded into the Boston market.
Real estate agents and homeowners in Boston have another online site where they can advertise a property they are trying to sell or rent.
CityCribs, a New York-based online service for apartment rentals and sales, has expanded into the Boston market. Homeowners, landlords and real estate agents can post their listings for free on the Web site. Started in 2004, CityCribs (www.citycribs.com) has recently expanded to Miami, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco.
The service’s expansion comes at a time when buyers and renters are flocking to the Internet in their quest for a new home. The most recent profile of homebuyers and sellers done by the National Association of Realtors revealed that more than 75 percent of buyers used the Internet during their home search, up from just 2 percent of buyers in 1995.
And nearly a quarter of buyers said they first learned about the home they purchased from the Internet, according to the NAR survey.
Recognizing that consumers are increasingly relying on the Internet for information, real estate agents and brokers are spending more to boost their online advertising and presence.
The number of Realtors with Web sites has increased 129 percent over the past five years, and the Internet ranks third in generating leads for agents and brokers, according to another NAR survey.
The recently released survey also revealed that 16 percent of agents and 28 percent of brokers spend more than $1,000 annually on their Web sites.
Gea Elika, founder of CityCribs, said many site users are people from Boston who are relocating to New York. But Elika said that some users who had moved to New York were seeking to relocate to Boston, so expanding the service to Boston made sense.
“It’s a great market for us,” he said.
So far, 2 percent of the site’s traffic has been from the Boston area, according to Elika.
Elika, who plans to travel to Boston to promote the service, expects traffic to grow as more Boston-area agents and property owners post listings.
As of last week, only a handful of Boston homes were listed on the site.
‘Another Outlet’
Michael D. Lyons, an agent with Prudential Prime Properties in Boston, registered with the site and posted an ad for a townhouse he’s marketing. Lyons said he read about CityCribs online and decided to give it a try.
“I just looked at it as another outlet to get exposure for our property,” said Lyons, who sent an e-mail to other agents at his company to inform them about the existence of CityCribs.
But some local real estate brokers contacted last week were skeptical about whether such sites can be effective marketing vehicles.
Most local real estate brokers and agents advertise listings on company or personal Web sites in addition to placing them in a multiple listing service, or MLS. Once a property enters the MLS it automatically appears on Realtor.com, the official NAR Web site, which draws over 5.5 million unique visitors each month, according to Media Metrix.
Dave Stenberg, who manages the Boston office of Hammond GMAC Residential, said there are so many Web sites and print resources that consumers can go to for information that it can be overwhelming.
“There are so many different places that you can go to try to promote your property,” he said.
Stenberg said most agents at Hammond rely on the company Web site, which offers access to all the properties listed in two multiple listing services – MLS Property Information Network and LINK – as well as Realtor.com and boston.com for online exposure.
Lawrence H. Fisch, president of Boston’s Preferred Properties, said he constantly gets offers from various Web site operators and lead-generating services to advertise listings for a fee. He said he has not heard of any service offering consumers and agents the opportunity to post listings for free, except for craigslist.
“I would be surprised if they are as successful as craigslist,” said Fisch, who has placed some of his company’s listings on craigslist.
Unlike other listing services that feature a variety of services and products – such as craigslist – CityCribs is “dedicated” to housing, explained Elika. The site doesn’t feature other types of advertising.
“That enables people who advertise with us to get maximum exposure,” said Elika, who noted that CityCribs’ core demographic is users between the ages of 21 and 35. “We don’t try to draw revenue from other multiple services.”
Submitted listings can include up to five photographs and one floor plan. Home searchers can use the site without registering. The service also offers e-mail alerts and a map search to home seekers.
Only property owners and agents in New York must pay for placing listings on the site.
Another way the site generates revenue is by allowing Realtors and other users to “bid” against each other for premium placement of their listings on the site. A top bidder, for example, can have a listing featured on the home page.
The listings, which come directly from the property owner or Realtor, will be distributed to third-party search engines, such as Google Base and Oodle, for “maximum exposure,” according to CityCribs.
