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20 SAY YOU SAW IT IN SUBURBAN July 20, 2021 – August 23, 2021 By Dom DiFurio THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS DALLAS — In the grips of a historic pandemic, Dallas-based apartment locating service Smart City leaned in, welcoming hundreds of new employees and expanding into nearly half a dozen new markets in other states. Led by 33-year-old founder and CEO Cassie Brown, the company has a simple mission: Connect renters with an apartment space where they can be themselves. Smart City negotiates with apartment properties to lease out empty units in bulk, oftentimes locking in lower rates for renters. “I think everyone really wants to be able to look on the internet and have all the perfect answers, but when they realize how overwhelming it is, sometimes they just want somebody who does,” Brown said. The company, which started with just a few workers in 2013, expects to see more than $40 million in revenue this year and will operate in at least 10 cities. The Dallas rental market is hot, leading the country in net apartments leased in the first quarter, and landlords leased a record number of apartment units in the second quarter. “We literally find an apartment every 15 minutes,” Brown said. “When properties run specials, they call us first. When they’re doing six weeks free, eight weeks free, they let us know first. When they drop prices on units, they let us know first.” Smart City was one of the first apartment locating companies to successfully leverage viral social media marketing in the rental space in the mid- 2010s. Today there are 16 agents behind Smart City’s Instagram accounts. They field hundreds of requests for apartment locating services in different cities each day. “Social media is usually where they find us. (Renters) contact us by web form, text message or DM … and then we try to get them with an agent within 15 minutes,” Brown said. Meeting the company’s goal of a 15-minute response time has gotten harder with the demand the company has seen this year, Brown said. MAINE How a Dallas apartment locator went from Instagram account to $40 million business PHOTO | TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE The Smart City company has a simple mission: connect renters with an apartment space where they can be themselves. And that’s despite its recent expansion. Smart City went on a hiring spree at the onset of the pandemic, bringing on around 420 contractors and full-time workers over the past 12 months. “We can’t hire fast enough,” Brown said. Brown began the company in earnest in 2013 when she relocated from Austin to Dallas with her wife. She got her real estate license, hoping to sell million-dollar mansions, before realizing that she didn’t know any millionaires, she said. “I was like, ‘All right, what do my broke college friends need?’” Brown said. “They all need apartments.” So she started apartment locating, first making referrals for friends and family as she hunted for the most desirable properties. The business picked up a viral following online after Brown and her early business partners started sharing the apartments they found on Instagram. “Properties started calling me saying, ‘Hey, we want to be on your Instagram. We want to be featured,’” Brown said. “It turns out there’s a real need in the market for what we’re doing,” Brown said. “We’ve been able to save a lot of our clients a pretty decent amount of money just by the power of social media … and it helps the property. They need their vacancies to go down immediately.” The original Dallas Smart City Apartments Instagram page surpassed 100,000 followers in September, according to social media tracking site Social- Blade. It operates separate pages for each market it serves. And the headquarters office just south of Deep Ellum’s main drag is the home base for 80 full-time employees and a number of real estate agents who work directly with clients. In addition to Dallas, the company now has physical offices in Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, Denver and Atlanta, while workers in San Antonio, Nashville, Orlando and Chicago operate out of co-working spaces. “Always free for you,” the company advertises in the bio section of its Instagram page.
July 20, 2021 – August 23, 2021 WWW.SUBURBANREALESTATENEWS.COM • 978-532-5880 21 MAINE Roger Whitehouse Sally Arsenault Diane Paterson John Freeman Rick Nelson 152 River Road, Mexico, ME 04257 207-369-0100 www.riversiderealty.org Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it. Rumford - Residence Exceptional 2nd floor office complex with 8-9 rooms and 3-4 bathrooms totaling 3312 sf of office space. The unit has handicap accessibility with a chair escalator. High Traffic count being in the heart of down town shopping! #2136 MLS# 1478679 $125,118 Dixfield – Commercial Commercial building with 6075 sf of retail space (3375sf of the first floor) and (2700sf on the second floor with original tin ceilings)! a full basement garage for 2 vehicles! Ceiling height of 16 feet +- property sits on 3 lots totaling .33 acres with 245’ of road frontage right on busy Route 2 and Main street with exceptional high traffic count. This is an exceptional great solid building to start your business! #2131 MLS# 1476961 $168,240 NEW! NEW! Rumford - Residence Modified 1946 Cape with 9 room rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, partially finished basement, and detached 2 bay garage. .28 acre corner lot in desirable neighborhood neear a high school, recreational park, swimming hole and near grocery and convenient stores. #2148 MLS#1492727 $169,504.00 Dixfield – Commercial Great investment opportunity located in the center of town. This spacious building provides many opportunities with 2 large rental areas in the front of the building. There is a large storage area for each unit! One unit has a half bath and the other unit has 2 half baths. There is, also, a 2 bedroom, 1 full bath apartment in the back. The apartment needs extensive renovations. Each unit has its own heating system and oil tank. Call today for more information. #2151 MLS#1494117 $110,000 Mexico - Multi Unit GREAT STARTER FOR THE FIRST TIME INVESTOR. This 2 unit 1 and 2 bedroom units conveniently located in center of town close to restaurants and convenient stores. Positive cash flow! #2127 MLS#1473770 $59,999 Rumford - Multi Unit 1905 2 unit apartment building in the process of renovation to be used as a grow house! 4 rooms total! Tucked between two other buildings and conveniently located to downtown business district, library, restaurants and more. And minutes to Black Mountain of Maine and Sunday River Ski Resort. #2095 MLS#1450316 $39,919.00 LAND, LAND, LAND, LAND, LAND, LAND, LAND, LAND, Dixfield #2123 MLS#1472345 $25,000 2.45 Acres Rumford #2139 MLS# 14796 $27,366 4.25 Acres Mexico - Residential Quaint 1930’s 6 room cape with 2 full baths and 3 bedrooms a detached 1 car garage and well manicured yard on .09 acre in town near schools. Very neat and clean with thermal pane windows. Ready to move in. #2147 MLS#1488898 $155,4444 Dixfield #2124 MLS#1472347 $25,000 2.33 Acres Canton #2135 MLS#1478177 $125,000 T-W 69.7 Acres Mexico #2137 MLS#1479510 $40,000 Comm .34 Acres Bethel #2140 MLS#1480072 $189,000 33.578 Acres Rumford #1944 MLS#1147763 $15,500 .28 Acres Rumford #1964 MLS#1354252 $172,000 256 Acres Byron - Residential This 1972 mobile home has been well maintained and offers a 16X30 addition. It has a spacious kitchen, dining room, living room and master bedroom plus a laundry room, 2 bedrooms and a1 full bath. Sits on 1.25 acres with ITS/ATV trails, swimming, gold panning, hiking, etc ... nearby. This property is located in a great recreational area. Only minutes from the Rangeley Great Lakes region. #2097 MLS#145243 $80,000.00
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