New ApartmentFinder.com Survey Reveals Apartment Shoppers' Search Behavior and Lease Decision-Making Influencers

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Aug 13, 2014, 09:30 ET

ATLANTA, Aug. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- When it comes to the biggest influence in selecting their next apartment home, renters are swayed most by cost (63 percent) when their lease is expiring. This finding is one of the insights from research released today by Apartment Finder that explores how apartment hunters shop and what entices them to sign the lease.

Other key findings from this national online survey of over 5,000 apartment seekers across the U.S. include:

Online peer ratings and reviews matter: Nearly all (96 percent) respondents said that online reviews influence their decision when choosing an apartment.
The final decision rests on the bottom line. Price/budget largely drives renters' final apartment choice. Location (24 percent) came in a distant second, followed by neighborhood crime statistics (7.3 percent), school system (3 percent), and community amenities (2.6 percent).
Renters are on the move. The top 3 reasons that apartment shoppers are looking for a new home are: their current lease is expiring (42 percent); job relocation/new job (22 percent); and moving out of parents' home (18 percent).
Apartment shoppers increasingly prefer to search on the move: While using their personal computer is still the leading method for searching for their next apartment home, nearly half (49 percent) of apartment hunters prefer to use their mobile device.
Mobile users not only browse, but take action: With calling (45 percent) and emailing (42 percent) ranking as the top two ways to contact an apartment community to learn more, a mobile device makes it easy and convenient to do so. In fact, nearly half (49 percent) of respondents used their mobile device to call the apartment community directly from the listing.

"Our commitment to helping multi-family companies and apartment communities successfully market their properties is the driving force behind our ongoing research on how and why consumers shop for apartments," says Marcia Bollinger, President of Apartment Finder. "Our latest study offers compelling insights for anyone in the business of leasing apartments. The findings reinforce the importance of leveraging leading-edge online and mobile tools to reach apartment shoppers when they are actively engaged in their search process."

Apartment Finder offers a suite of marketing tools that include a recently enhanced, mobile-enabled website, ApartmentFinder.com; free integrated iPhone, Android and Tizen applications; a widget offering access to renter peer reviews on its apartment listings; and much more. These digital options help connect advertisers with apartment seekers with greater speed and convenience than ever before.

Apartment Finder has helped apartment hunters find their ideal new apartment home since 1981. With continued innovations to ApartmentFinder.com, Apartment Finder is recognized as the leading apartment rental resource among consumers and the industry. Recent honors include being named an Official Honoree in the Real Estate category of the 18^th Annual Webby Awards, the #1 Apartment Search Source by SatisFacts Index, the Best Internet Listing Service by the 2013 Multi-Housing News Technology Choice Awards, and a Silver W³ Award for Excellence on the Web.

About Apartment Finder
Apartment Finder is the anchor of the multi-family division of Network Communications, Inc. (NCI), a leading local media company providing lead generation, advertising and Internet marketing services to the luxury and multi-family segments of the housing industry. NCI's leading brands are Apartment Finder, DigitalSherpa, Unique Homes, New England Home and Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles. NCI's strategy focuses on providing high-quality and measurable marketing solutions to local clients by leveraging its proprietary prospect-focused distribution, social media and online franchises, and content management infrastructure.

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SOURCE Apartment Finder