Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

Skylight is the Tinder of the Rental Search

  • October 7th 2014

by Lark Turner

Skylight is the Tinder of the Rental Search: Figure 1

The partner-like relationship between desperate New York City renters and the city’s real estate brokers is a long-running joke; it’s even been parodied on Sex and the City. Now a new app is making that line blurrier.

Skylight presents renters with apartments in their price range, and then users swipe left or right — in a Tinder-like fashion — to indicate whether they like an apartment or don’t. If they like it, they can immediately connect with a broker who can show them the apartment. Unlike Craigslist, the app promises to avoid duplicate listings. A similar app, Doorsteps Swipe, does the same thing.

The con, according to Brick Underground: The site verifies its listings by working with brokers that almost inevitably charge a fee to renters. It’s a slog to find no-fee brokers in the city, but possible.

And though the listings are real, they’re also the same ones you’re likely to see on other sites, including Craigslist, Brick Underground points out.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/skylight_app_is_the_tinder_of_the_housing_search/9062.

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Visit guides.urbanturf.com or start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse