Okay, so if you managed to get through Friday’s super long and wordy post, this introduction is going to add onto that.
So I mentioned that all sorts of weird, almost serendipitous, events have been happening to me. (These would be all the “clicks” on that first climb on the roller coaster.)
Having speakers come into classrooms is, in my opinion, the best source of learning. The other week, Blair Brandt spoke to my leadership class. He started a company called The Next Step Realty.
It’s a brilliant concept, and one that I think a lot of us (especially seniors) would LOVE to use. Basically, if you’re graduating and moving to a new city to start a job (that’s the plan… right?), you sign up to get in contact with a broker who can help find you the perfect housing.
For example, if I move to…. um…. New York City, I can use the service to find an apartment!
Love it.
It’s in a bunch of cities where a lot of new graduates will most likely end up.
New York City, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, and even international cities.
So if you know you’re going to be moving to a new city and are freaking out about housing (seriously, I am already and I don’t even have a job!), then definitely check out the website.
I went up to Blair to talk to him about another sort of project I’m working on and we got to talking. Then we realized that we had another connection:
Blair’s in the middle…. but look who’s next to him! Kiel James Patrick!
Crazy, right?
The world is really small.
xoxo
Wait… who is next to him??
I heard about this company a while back.. one of my best friends who lives in New York is doing the PR for them.
i dont understand who you are talking about… who is next to him?!?!
@ the anons.. KJP a mens fashion/lifestyle icon known for his New England preppy bracelets.
Carly, I know you have met FEC, have you met KJP??
I know that site will come in handy for many! Interesting concetp!
Oh well, just wanted to let you know that I am hosting a Grpahic Image giveaway over on my blog:
http://justanotherpreppyshopaholic.blogspot.com/2011/10/graphic-image-giveaway.html
Stop on over and enter, good luck!
This is amazing for Seniors, unfortunately one of the cities I am looking into is not on the site!
I'll definitely be using this to find some housing in New York as well!
That a really great idea! I can imagine myself freaking out when the time comes, haha.
No offense, but this company provides pretty much no value to a college student whatsoever. All they do is take your name, forward it to a real-estate broker, and collect a fee for their referral. By going to Next Step, you're basically just adding a middleman to the process of finding an apartment. Might as well just contact a broker in the city you want to live directly instead of having next step do it for you.
@anonymous 8:43PM I actually use to intern at Next Step and your 100% inaccurate. Finding the right broker in a new city is half the battle and most college graduates end up having an unsatisfactory experience by directly contacting a broker without any type of pre-qualification. Next Step pre-screens and professionally certifies brokers who are proven to be particularly effective in helping recent graduates. The quality of brokers you work with through Next Step are far superior than having to work with 2-3 you find haphazardly on your own. Even if a friend recommends a broker, they may have gotten lucky that one time. Next Step ensures graduates work with ethical, trustworthy brokers who have time and time again exuded a certain level of excellence with rentals. Secondly, they custom match each client with a Next Step certified broker depending on which neighborhood you want to live in and what your schedule is. So when you find a place through next step, your broker specializes in the area you prefer, and clears their schedule for your arrival since they trust Next Step's pre-qualification of each graduate.This resembles the same technology as match.com, for instance, in terms of an effective match-making algorithm. Finally, Next Step makes a graduates first lease in the real world more affordable by pre-negotiating discounted, reduced rates on broker fees in places where clients have to pay them. Next Step clients in NYC this past year on average paid 20 – 50% less than a client who found a broker on their own because brokers can afford to give each client a discount when they are being sent a high volume of clients from Next Step. This is similar to Groupon or Living Social. You may have heard of them. And, brokerage firms are more than happy to compensate Next Step out of pocket for introducing them to awesome graduates with promising careers and huge potential, as they look to form long-term relationships with those prospects.
preach brotha, preach. Anonymous 8:43 must have drank too much hate-or-ade