Home Based Business Apartment Locator

Whether you are moving to a new city or looking for an apartment in another area of the city you live in, a home based business apartment locator can help you.

The home based business opportunity of an apartment locator is to provide personal assistance to individuals by matching their apartment requirements with the available apartments in their city.

Apartment locators help to place renters in areas where apartments are hard-to-find and help those with special needs.

The apartment locator service is free to the client. Your income is derived from referral fees paid to you by the owners and managers of the apartments.

This home based business can be operated online. You provide a form in which the client lists their preferences. You match their needs to the listings in your database. When you find a match you set up a time for the client to view the apartment at their convenience and that of the apartment manager. If your client signs a lease, you collect a referral fee.

To add to your income, you can provide personal concierge services. If a client is moving to your city from another area or visiting from another country, they may need assistance in setting up their new living space.

Your home based buiness service need not just be marketed to individuals. You can market your service to corporations. When prospective recruits, from another city and/or state, turn into a new employee, businesses usually have to take an employee from their regular job to assist them. A number of corporations are outsourcing these services. Apartment locators do not charge a fee, are experts, knowledgeable about their city, and usually have relationships with vendors that offer ancillary services, such as moving and furniture rental.

To make sure your clients acknowledge your service, do not list specific names or addresses of the apartments you represent in your home based business. Your client may go directly to the property without using your service.

Partner with businesses that could benefit from your referrals since your target market is the same. Or, you can sell advertising to these businesses on your site.

You can operate this as a one-person home based business. If your volume increases, you may want to consider hiring additional staff.

An important aspect of this business is your Web site. If you show listings online, you have to make sure that if one is no longer available, it is removed as soon as possible.

If you keep your listings in a database and provide e-mail, fax copies or snail mail listings, you want these to be accurate.

The worst thing that can happen: a client finds the perfect place to live and it is not available. Word-of-mouth referrals can be important to your home based business.

What does it take for this business?

For this home based business, you need to have knowledge of the available rental units in your local area. You need to be an effective communicator. You will need to establish relationships with property owners and property managers in your area.

You should have good Web publishing skills. Your database, if online, will need to be updated when a property is no longer available. If your database is offline, you will need to be familiar with its use so that you can easily maintain it.

If your home based business is offering a personalized service, you may want to create a special presentation of offerings to your clients that contain all of the listings that meet their criteria. Included would be floor plans, information about the community, directions and maps to the community, amenities, and so on. You will need to be familiar with a word processing program such as Microsoft Word and other tools.

What do I need to operate this business?

You should set up a separate space for your home based business office.

Organization is key. You will be juggling clients and their services. Your clients will be dependent on your ability to locate what they need to perform their service request in a timely manner. If you provide services to people visiting your area, they may rely on you to know about interesting signts in your area.

The start-up cost for the home based apartment locator business depends on whether you have any of the equipment or supplies needed. After you have decided what services you plan to offer, you need to determine what equipment and software you will need to operate your home based business.

Basic equipment and supplies include:

• Computer
• Printer
• Database software
• Fax machine
• Business telephone
• Web site
• Word processing software

You review resources for this home based business here.

What services do I provide?

An apartment locator may provide the following services:

• Matching prospective renters to available apartments based on their needs
• Pre-qualifying prospective renters by using criteria of property manager or owner
• Free service to prospective renters
• Personal concierge services
• Errand services
• Personal services

What are my potential earnings?

$35,000 to $45,000 annually

How much do I charge for my services?

The usual referral fee for apartment locators is 50 percent of the first month's rent. If you add personal concierge services, you can charge by the hour for one-time services. If you make personal concierge services an ongoing part of your business, you may want to consider offering monthly contracts for a fixed number of hours per month.

How do I bill for my services?

You should have a contract with the owner or manager of the properties you represent. Your clients should understand that when they complete a guest card, application form or lease, they should write in your name as having referred them. After the client moves in, you should receive payment. You may need to follow-up with your client.

For personal concierge services you will want to present your client with an itemized bill for the service performed. For contract services, you will want to present your client with an itemized bill monthly.

How do I market my business?

Offline

• List your home based business services in the Yellow Pages.
• Issue a press release to your local and community newspapers.
• Purchase classified ads in your local and community newspapers.
• Network in business organizations in your community.
• Call an apartment owners and managers in your local community and leave your business card and brochures.
• Put your business card on bulletin boards at local grocery stores.

Online

• Create an informative Web site and list your home based business services.
• List your Web site in online directories.
• Issue an online press release.
• Link your Web site to related businesses.
• Link your Web site to local Web sites in your city.
• Purchase banner ads on Web sites in your city.
• Place classified ads in online newspapers that serve your city.
• List your Web site in directories that serve the travel industry.
• Publish client testimonials on your Web site.

If you are an out-going person and can make contact with vendors and apartment building managers and owners in your local community, this could be a successful home based business for you. Review the resources for this home based business here.