Searching for an apartment in Chicago? Rental listing service Domu launched a mobile app to help renters in their hunt for a new apartment.
The app’s launch marks a step toward growth for the Chicago company as it expands in a competitive real estate listing market dominated by titans such as Zillow and Apartments.com.
“We are competing and holding our own,” Domu CEO Sead Odzic said. “We are definitely very local, and the goal is to get more local.”
Odzic, who has a real estate background, bought the company from founder Noah Schatz and part-owner Andrew Porter in 2024. Odzic wouldn’t disclose the purchase price, citing an agreement signed with the previous owners.
Domu — known for ads that plaster CTA buses and L trains — has a small staff that includes Odzic, an operations chief and an engineering chief focused on software development. The rest of the work is contracted out, mainly to workers around Chicago. It has an employee in Toronto who handles search-engine optimization support.
Since Domu’s founding in 2010, the company has operated as a listing website. With the app’s launch, Odzic hopes to make Domu more user-friendly, letting renters browse listings more quickly.
Odzic said about 60% of its users access the platform on their phones via Domu’s website.
The app, which has been in the works for nearly a year, will largely have the same features as the website — on which renters can search by price and property amenities. What’s new is that people can now message landlords on the app and website.
“We have been known for our great inventory, and now [we’re] going to be known for a great user experience after this hopefully,” Odzic said.
Property managers and owners still would need to post listings through the website. Domu’s current listings are mostly in Chicago.
Odzic said that, besides working on launching the app, he has focused on increasing Domu social media presence. He said he wants Chicagoans to better understand that Domu is a local company.
Since he took over Domu, Odzic said he has established more partnerships with management companies and that this has translated to more listings. In the winter of 2024, it had about 900 listings. For the same period this year, it had more than 2,000 listings, according to Odzic, who’s aiming to regularly as many as 6,000 listings.
The company makes money through fees landlords pay to list their properties. Odzic declined to discuss financial details.
Odzic is trying to position Domu to landlords as more affordable, local and easier to work with than national listing sites.
“We don’t provide the volume of leads the other companies do, but we provide quality leads,” Odzic said.
He said owners who rent a single unit might pay more on Domu than a site like Zillow, where you can list a property for free. Domu charges $45 a month, with bulk pricing available for multiple listings.
For mom-and-pop landlords, Domu offers free advice on how to make listings look attractive regarding photos, descriptions and price.
“We are the local guy, and we pick up the phone, and you talk to a human being,” Odzic said.
Another new feature — and revenue stream — is providing credit reports for landlords through TransUnion. Odzic said he wants to help mom-and-pop landlords more easily do credit checks on potential renters. The $50 credit-check fee is paid by applicants if a landlord who lists a property on Domu requests a credit check.
He said he plans to add more free resources for renters, including an interactive map of Chicago neighborhoods on which people will be able to compare rents in different locations, and he also wants to add more suburban listings.
“We have been very city-focused,” Odzic said. “The suburbs really don’t get the same amount of love. So part of one of my goals is to get more listings in the suburbs.”
Odzic said Domu’s app is the “first step to other things. We don’t plan on stopping here.”