HotPads to the Rescue for Web Classifieds

A recent Washington Post article describes what we've all known to be true for some time; Online classified are a mess.

While newspapers are steadily losing their edge in the classified market, online classified are booming.  Traffic to classified websites has grown 23 percent in the last year, while in some markets newspaper classified have seen a 20 percent decline.

Unfortunately, where there used to be one or two major newspapers serving as the go-to place for classifieds in an area, there are now hundreds of websites in every category.  One industry expert, Greg Sterling with Sterling Market Intelligence, described the online classified community as "A confusing jumble of sites" and said "If you're a seller, that's a problem, and if you're a buyer, that's a problem."

Of course, HotPads looks to solve problems, not create new ones.  Unlike most websites featuring real estate classified, HotPads is proactive in working with apartments owners, property managers and other partners to ensure that as many communities as possible take advantage of the free listings.  This gives visitors to HotPads one-stop shopping for a comprehensive list of available places to live, and no need to check dozens of other sites.

For property managers, the HotPads listing distribution service means that by simply listing on HotPads, their communities will be shown on other classifieds sites like Yahoo Real Estate.  And the one of a kind map-based user interface makes HotPads a preferred destination for tenants, giving them more qualified leads.

Problem solved.  (For real estate classifieds at least.  You're on your own if you need a car or a job.)