Real estate listings were once the exclusive domain of individual brokers; every detail was stored on index cards in a coveted Rolodex file. By the time I entered the business in the mid-2000s, this was obviously no longer the case—we had online data, originally from proprietary intranet sites, owned by the various firms that held our licenses, and, later, via the Internet.
For tenants and buyers, residential listings that once populated the Sunday sections of our newspapers were soon available online, and the category grew exponentially. Today, apartment hunters are able to occupy themselves for hours with websites such as Trulia, Zillow, and StreetEasy, which feature pages upon pages of listings. However, StreetEasy is by far the market leader in New York City. Within two years of its 2008 launch, it took over market share in the city like no other search engine had. Perfectly scaled for the idiosyncratic New York City market, with its proliferation of co-ops, condos, and townhouses, it was consumer-friendly and relevant. The platform offered a number of filters to simplify the apartment search and, more importantly, it seemed as if every available listing was on the site. In fact, StreetEasy, had so many listings that it actually became problematic.
StreetEasy’s problems began shortly after 2013 when the company was acquired by the Seattle-based Zillow, which also acquired Trulia in 2014. Both Zillow and Trulia list homes and apartments all over the United States, but New York City is one-of-a-kind when it comes to finding a residence. Since its launch in 2008, StreetEasy has always focused exclusively on the New York City market. By contrast, Zillow’s search options are germane to multiple listing services which don’t exist in New York. Within Zillow’s search engine, the condo and co-op options are combined even though they are completely separate entities in New York City. As for Trulia, it’s clear from the homepage that the site is geared toward single family home sales instead of city apartment rentals.
Thus, about a year after the Zillow acquisition, StreetEasy began to have a problem with dishonest apartment listings. Instead of only accepting exclusive listings, as was the case when the site launched, StreetEasy opened the door to semi-exclusives and open listings as the website became increasingly popular. In some cases, completely false features and amenities were being advertised.
Recently, I went on StreetEasy to check on my Gramercy studio listings and to see what other apartments were available in the neighborhood. There were nearly 20 other listings for Gramercy studios, whereas in the past there would have been no more than 10. Something was amiss, as some listings clearly were not real.
In June 2017, Susan Daimler, the site’s general manager, announced that brokers would now pay a fee of $3 per day for each rental listing they advertised on StreetEasy. This was done in the hopes of eradicating some of the bogus listings. Such a strategy had previously been used by Craigslist when they were inundated with complaints about phony apartments. After Craigslist began to charge New York City rental brokers $10 for each listing, the quality of the site significantly improved. Brokers saw better business and potential renters saw fewer dishonest listings.
However, many brokers were unsurprisingly frustrated by StreetEasy’s new rule and when the $3 fee was put into place on July 18, the number of rentals dropped 55 percent from 30,967 to 13,978 within 24 hours, according to data reported by The Real Deal.
As a small business owner who handles all of the expenses of running my company, my overhead costs have actually decreased somewhat since the institution of the $3 fee. With fewer listings on the site to compete with, there is less of a need to pay an additional fee to feature ads. The only concern would be if the listing fee were to increase. However, as long as it stays at $3, it will likely benefit many brokers.
I believe the new listing fee will improve the quality of StreetEasy provided that the website’s leadership continues to remove bogus listings. Brokers working at companies that don’t cover the new listing costs for their agents or those who have used StreetEasy to bait and switch are not likely to be happy about this charge. However, brokers whose primary business is landlord representation will probably find that the additional fee will work to their advantage.
For prospective tenants, fewer listings and more accountability will improve faith in StreetEasy and re-establish its place as the preeminent search engine for New York tenants.
Adam Frisch
Sierra Residential
875 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 1808
New York, NY 10001
afrisch@sierranyc.com
www.sierraresidential.com
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