ClikHome helps renters find the perfect place to live

The tedious act of apartment hunting can break even the strongest-willed people. But for Junjie Shi and Nick Kljaic, searching for places to live inspired them to develop a website that streamlines what was once frustrating into an easier, more personalized process. Shi and and Kljaic met while working as finance professionals on Wall Street…

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Nick Kljaic and Junjie Shi. Photo courtesy of Nick Klijaic and Junjie Shi.

The tedious act of apartment hunting can break even the strongest-willed people.

But for Junjie Shi and Nick Kljaic, searching for places to live inspired them to develop a website that streamlines what was once frustrating into an easier, more personalized process.

Shi and and Kljaic met while working as finance professionals on Wall Street in New York City and bonded over the stressful task of finding a decent place to live in the country’s largest city. They soon realized their work expertise could be utilized in the rental industry to transform the way people search for apartments.

“We decided to take action,” Shi said.

With that, ClikHome was born. Shi and Kljaic came up with the initial idea in 2013 and developed the site in their free time. They eventually quit their full-time jobs to focus solely on the site. In August 2014, ClikHome was officially incorporated into the Iowa Startup Accelerator, which matches tech startups with mentors, funding and development expertise to take them from concept to launch in 90 days. The two relocated to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to further develop ClikHome.

“It started evolving and gaining interest, and we quit our jobs and the rest is history,” said Kljaic.

How ClikHome works

ClikHome employs a specialized algorithm to help users find the perfect place to live all over the US. Once on the site, users fill out basic information, including city, number of desired bedrooms and bathrooms, and price range. They then answer 10 questions concerning lifestyle and personal interests, such as how often they dine out and what hobbies they enjoy.

“If you don’t know anything about the neighborhood, but you know yourself, just answer the questions, and we’ll help you,” said Kljaic.

The results are quickly generated and tailored to each user. ClikHome’s matching engine ranks the apartment results according to how well they fit the responses to the lifestyle questions. Users can immediately contact the renting party to schedule a viewing.

For example, if a user answers that they go out to eat more often than they cook at home, the apartments at the top of the search results will be close to restaurants. If a user answers that they love the outdoors, top results will include apartments close to parks or recreation areas.

From NYC to Iowa

Though Kljaic, originally from Croatia, and Shi, who is from China, are accustomed to traveling, they said moving from New York City to the heart of the Midwest was an adjustment.

“It was a bit of a transition, but we’re focused 100 percent,” said Kljaic. “But we’re still not used to the weather.”

Another issue is time zones, specifically making sure that ClikHome accommodates each user’s local time while using the site.

“One day very soon we want to replace apartments.com”

They also welcome suggestions from clients on how to make the site more user friendly and use that input for site improvements. They created two prior versions of ClikHome before settling on its current form.

“There’s a lot of challenges every day, but that’s good. It keeps us sharp,” said Kljaic.

Hitting the 100,000-plus mark

ClikHome’s official launch took place at the end of February, and it currently boasts 150,00 listings all over the US. Users report finding apartments at least 50 percent quicker than when they used competing rental sites.

Shi and Kljaic have received excellent feedback about how effective and unique ClikHome is from typical apartment-finding websites.

“It’s very positive because it’s a completely different process than they’re used to,” said Kljaic.

They want user experience to be the primary focus of ClikHome.

“The product that we have, we’re very happy with and the people who use it are very happy with it,” said Kljaic.

What’s next?

Shi and Kljaic have big plans for ClikHome. In addition to serving individual renters, they hope to be the primary site that mid-size to large businesses use to help employees find places to live when relocating for work. They are currently in talks with several companies to develop this.

They hope to set a new standard in the rental process and become everyone’s go-to apartment-hunting resource.

“Maybe one day very soon we want to replace apartments.com,” said Shi.

Sarah Smith is a contributor for Silicon Prairie News and a freelance writer based out of Omaha, Neb.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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