Zillow Group is going to buy the rental platform Naked Apartments to enhance its presence in NYC. The Seattle-based company is reportedly paying $13 million in cash.
According to The Real Deal, This is going to be Zillow's second brand in NYC together with StreetEasy, which it acquired for $450 million in 2013, once they closed the deal in the next few weeks.
Naked Apartments connects nestseekers with landlords and brokers. Zillow will take advantage of its hyper-local rental database as a supplement to StreetEasy's sales focus. Buying Naked Apartments is "natural strategic fit" for both of the real estate groups, StreetEasy's general manager and vice president of Zillow Group, Susan Daimler said. She added that Zillow will keep both brands growing "under one roof."
Naked Apartments introduced "Viewings on Demand" in 2013. It is a feature that allows the renters to set an apartment viewing schedule by just tapping a button. The group calls itself city's largest rental-only platform. It lists available apartments with subway information, agent reviews and market data.
It was co-founded by CEO Joe Charat and CTO Jay Signorello in 2010 with 13,000 listings. After the acquisition, Charat will be the company's general manager and Signorello remains the CTO.
Zillow's acquisition "will give us the resources to innovate faster, to grow and expand our business," Charat said.
"Naked Apartments is a strong brand that is pushing the innovation boundaries to help renters find a home quickly and easily, which complements our mission at StreetEasy," said Daimler, according to Inman.
StreetEasy and Naked Apartments "complement each other really well and we're excited about the possible synergies between teams and platforms," Zillow said in an email.
Daimler said that growing both brands together will allow Zillow to combine their knowledge of unique NYC sales and rental markets to enhance their tools and information in the hands of consumers.
