MyNewPlace Blog

Today, we are very excited to announce the availability of the MyNewPlace iPhone application, which combines the standard apartment search features of our site with the iPhone's functionality.

Not only does our application bring the power of our nationwide apartment search into the palm of your hand, but it actually has some features, which are making even our award-winning site jealous!

Want to download it now? Head over to the app store and get it for free.

Check out our video demo, or read on:

The Best Apartment Search on the Web Gets Better with Location Awareness

You already know and love our search, with options to narrow down results based on price range, number of beds and baths, and pet-policy. We packed them all in and added one more: search radius. Our app works with the iPhone's built-in GPS to find apartments nearby. It's kind of like adding a “you are here" beacon on our apartment maps, allowing you to search for nearby properties—you can even change the search radius to tell us how far away you want to look.

Get Directions from Your Current Location to Any Apartment

Finding apartments nearby is great, but it's only half the battle. That's why our app integrates with Google maps so you can get directions from your current location to any apartment in our database. Just tap the Google Maps button on any apartment listing (below). Want to find out the quickest way to check out a couple of apartments on a Saturday afternoon? Our app helps you do that. Living in Des Moines but moving to Denver? We'll tell you whether the movers should take I-70 or I-80.

Embed Your Own Notes & Photos Right on a Property's Listing

We figured that as long as you've got a camera at your disposal, you may as well use it. Our application allows you to take photos and make notes that you can save right onto a property's detailed listing screen. This way, after you've visited an apartment, you can remember the size of the bedrooms, and even the view from the living room window. All your photos and notes will be stored in the Notes & Photos section of that property, and we'll automatically save that property to your Favorites so you can easily track it down later. Just be sure to remember to take your iPhone out of your pocket before you do the mandatory hot-tub inspection.

Viewing Apartments – Map and List Screens

Make no mistake, the MyNewPlace iPhone app is not an abridged version of our website. Our search results screen has two versions that you can switch between, a list view and a map view, both of which provide links to the detailed listing screens for any displayed property. The screenshot below shows the List View, which you can switch to map view with the button on the right, or you can filter your search results with the button on the left.

Full Details on Every Apartment, Facebook Connect, and More

Our property detail screen links to the property's description (shown below). There are full details and amenities for every apartment, plus photo galleries you can swipe through. You can even see individual units and check their availability by calling or email the property directly from the application. We even included Facebook Connect, just like on our website, so you can share the apartments you're interested in on Facebook and get the opinions of your friends.

When designing our iPhone application, we wanted to take into account the fundamental differences between performing an apartment search on a computer versus using an iPhone. The iPhone is more than just a mobile browser and a downloaded application allows users to easily customize their experience by using the application in conjunction with the iPhone's other features.

The MyNewPlace iPhone app is free to download, and is available for both the iPhone and iPod Touch in Apple's App store beginning today. Visit the app store to get it now.

Today, we are very happy to announce that our mobile site is live! You can check it out by going to http://m.mynewplace.com and find more information on our press release, MyNewPlace Announces MyNewPlace for Mobile.

Our mobile website, a streamlined version of our innovative map-based apartment search, includes all the core functionality to allow renters to find all the information they need to perform an apartment search on the go.

The development of a mobile website puts MyNewPlace ahead of the curve on adapting to a more mobile world. According to an article from comSCore, Inc., the number of people who use their mobile devices to access news and information on the internet more than doubled in 2008 to 63.2 million people, which comprise approximately one third of the 192 million total internet users.

Not only does our mobile apartment search address this growing demand, it is particularly suited for apartment searches. Instead of devoting a day to research and then blocking off an entire weekend to look for a place to live, now renters can visit apartments at their own convenience.

Also, with an entire database of information on apartments nationwide, mobile users will never need to write down a phone number or address, and can even look up rent or amenity information as they drive by an apartment complex.

The MyNewPlace mobile site offers the same core functionality of its online site, allowing users to search for apartments by city, navigate through listings and see the details of any rental, including full descriptions, pictures and map.

Along with our other recent innovations, include integration with Facebook and Twitter, we continue to improve how renters find their next apartments.

Starting this week, MyNewPlace users will be able to post/Tweet apartments they are looking at to their Twitter profiles. We think that this feature is a great complement to our recently released Facebook Connect functionality, which is designed with a similar purpose in mind, to make it easier for renters to enlist the help of their friends and family during their apartment search.

Our site visitors have told us that instead of calling everyone they know seeking information on a certain apartment or neighborhood, it is much more efficient to post a note to their Facebook or Twitter profile and have their friends and family chime in with their feedback.

Posting to your Twitter profile is very easy; once you are on an apartment's detail page (shown below), simply click on the Twitter icon below the apartment's picture. This will bring you to your Twitter profile, where you simply click ‘update' to share with your followers on Twitter.

As most of the world knows by now, Twitter limits each message or Tweet to 140 characters whereas Facebook users can type much lengthier messages. Given the popularity of both, we wanted to provide our users with choice, and allow them to reach the audience that's most appropriate for them.

What do you think? Which site would you be more likely to post to?

Just last week we redesigned our Search Results Page (SRP) to improve your apartment search experience. Our SRP is the page on which you arrive after you search for apartments in a particular city.

Not only is it as easy on the eyes as your blog editor, but it has bigger pictures and text, which make it easier to skim over the details of each apartment and compare rents.

The goal of this new redesign is allow renters to compare the apartment “stats" that are most vital (rents, number of bedrooms and bathrooms) quickly and easily, while still being able to use the map feature to compare the locations of the apartments.

Don't forget about all the other features you can use on our SRP page, either. You can filter by amenities at the top of the page, (there are about 30 to choose from) as well as sort properties based on rent, zip code or property name. These features are circled below:

Notice also how you can further filter your results without leaving our SRP by changing the min or max on rent, the property type (apartments, condos or rental homes) number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms and your pet preferences.

Thus, you can customize our SRP page to show all the properties that fit your criteria in a given city and then use our map to see which ones will work best for you according to neighborhood, or access to public transport or commute.

What other features would you like to see on our SRP page? We plan on running more tests to make sure that we can make your apartment search as efficient as possible.

A new feature that was overshadowed by our recent implementation of Facebook Connect on MyNewPlace, is the “send to phone" option on our property pages. If you click on “send to phone" (pictured right below), you will receive a text message with the name of the apartment building, address, number of bedrooms, rent information and phone number.

We envision this to be useful for when you are about to run out the door for a day of visiting apartments, and want all the addresses and phone numbers in one convenient location that you probably won't forget between a magnet and the fridge.

Having the information on your phone is even more convenient when you are not planning on devoting an entire day to searching for your new apartment. Say you are looking at apartments on your way home from work during the week. You can go to MyNewPlace, find the apartment you are looking for and send yourself a text message with all the relevant details.

Perhaps you are trying to coordinate this apartment search with a friend of yours; you can just forward him or her the text you sent yourself or enter his or her phone number in the phone number field.

From my experience, this will also come in handy when you are out driving, biking, walking or, oh let's say riding a horse, around town, looking at apartments and you've forgotten the address or just can't find it.

This prompts a call to a friend that begins with, “Yo are you in front of a computer?" and ends with you saying, “Nice. Can you go to MyNewPlace.com, find The Ravinia Apartments and send the info to my phone? Thanks, man."

Photo courtesty of Mia Mabanta

Or, as in the photo above, where TV personality Steve Carrell, we speculate, is asking his reliable sidekick to utilize MyNewPlace's “send to phone" feature.

“Dwight, can you use MyNewPlace to send me a text with the address of that apartment that has the pool with the waterslide and apartment community theatre?"

“Michael, I will rent you a room on my beet farm. The rent is competitively priced at one hundred dollars per month. Obviously you will need to chop your own wood and you should also understand that the raccoons are not used to strangers."

Starting today, MyNewPlace users have a new resource to help them find apartments for rent–their friends and social graph. We know that finding and moving into a new place is an important event and we want to make it easy for you to get good advice from those you know and trust.

To that end, we are pleased to announce our implementation of Facebook Connect; we are excited to be the first apartment site to incorporate the social interactivity of Facebook.

So how is this going to change your apartment search on MyNewPlace? New users will have a choice of registering via their Facebook ID–often with just two mouse clicks. All users can now post properties that they're interested in to their Facebook profile page along with your note asking for feedback from your trusted network of friends and family.

Perhaps you would like to know if anyone has ever lived in a particular apartment complex and if they enjoyed it. Maybe you would like to know about the surrounding neighborhood, access to public transportation, or what to expect from the nightlife. Or, if you are looking for a roommate, posting to Facebook is an excellent way to see which friends or friends of friends are looking to share an apartment.

Above you can see how our friend Ann is planning a move to Miami beach. Great location, indeed. However, our friend Arthur (who looks suspiciously like my evil twin) knows that there are some great deals on Miami apartments right now and is recommending she consult with his friend Alex, a native of the area, for more information.

Where you live has a huge impact on your social life and happiness. Who better to help you find the perfect spot than the people you know and trust and communicate with everyday via Facebook? Check it out, and let us know what you think.

Recently, you may have noticed an additional tab on the top of our search results page called “Roommates." Now you can search for roommates at the same time you are looking for apartments and homes for rent.

Some people want to live with roommates and some people need to live with roommates. Whatever the case may be, we added this functionality in order to help you move into the apartment you want as efficiently as possible. Read the rest of this entry »

Included in our latest release was a shiny new design for our apartment guide. In the interest of helping renters with problems ranging from how to rent apartments with bad credit to how to stock your fridge when you first move in, we reorganized our categories and have made the apartment guide easier to navigate and read.

Our apartment guide is designed to be a resource for renters; lots of issues can pop up during the course of living in an apartment and we want to help you to be prepared.

Check out our revamped apartment guide home page or you can go directly to articles that interest you in these categories:

• Finding Your Apartment
• Keeping a Healthy Apartment
• Pet Friendly Apartments
• Renting vs Buying Issues
• Life with Roommates
• Ways to Save Money
• Green Apartment Living
• Moving Into Your New Apartment

Let us know if you have suggestions for articles or specific questions pertaining to apartments for rent or other issues involving apartment life.

This week, MyNewPlace has made some changes and rolled out some new features to help you find apartments for rent.

The MyNewPlace Apartment Guide will help you rent an apartment, and includes articles that cover topics such as how to organize your apartment search, tips for inspecting apartments and questions for landlords, and ways to cut your moving costs. We have also added articles that we have featured on our blog about renting an apartment with roommates, renters insurance, relocating and pet friendly cities.

Be sure to let us know of any issues you've had with apartments or roommates so that we can address them in future apartment guide articles, which we will add weekly.

We have found that a significant portion rental searches are for houses for rent. In response to this we have added a home rental page that is focus specifically on finding homes for rent. Families looking to have the benefits of a house, such as having a bit more privacy and elbow room, but are not in a position to buy, often find that rental homes suit them much better than apartments.

Renters looking for homes for rent can also select the property type icon at the top of the search menu to display only rental homes.

Finally, we've also added pages tailored for pet friendly apartments. Renting with pets can be difficult, and our pet friendly apartment page (as well as our article on renting with pets) should help pet owners find the apartments they need. To search for dog friendly apartments, cat friendly apartments, or rentals that allow both, simply select the icon at the top of our search menu and make the appropriate change.

We will continue to roll out new upgrades and resources to meet the needs of renters trying to find apartments and houses for rent. As always, give us feedback on how we can make your apartment search easier.

Over the weekend, the MyNewPlace team rolled out the latest upgrades to our search functionality. While a lot of the work was done under the hood, there are some important changes that will make your apartment search even easier.

Photo courtesy of New York Times

Ferrari has nothing on our engineers. Not to mention our much cooler and classier converted kitchen and ever expanding server room.

Performance: 0-60 in less than 3 seconds. We are constantly testing new ways to deliver the fastest and most relevant result set to our users. The most recent changes resulted in a 30% faster experience. Now you can spend less time waiting and more time finding the perfect apartment rental.

Aliases and Search Terms: One of the most interesting pieces of data that we analyze is our failed search terms. Each term is a unique glimpse of what our users want and what they are searching for. Now some of our most popular terms like NYC, SF, Clinton Township and Sherman Oaks will deliver the most up-to-date and relevant apartments.

Maps & More Maps: For those users that love maps and want to search specifically by location, try our interactive map. It makes searching in a neighborhood or city like Houston extremely easy. The default setting will display the normal “list and map," which shows 25 properties, whereas the interactive map can display up to 300 properties and allows you to zoom or adjust your search immediately.

Stayed tuned, there is more on the way. Please keep the feedback coming; be sure to leave cities or zip codes that we have missed in the comments.