Anna Katherine Scanlon was having sushi in Marina Del Rey when she acquired an pressing textual content from her best buddy.

“Just saw another place that was awful.”

Scanlon’s best buddy, who was shifting back to L.A. from Texas, had been apartment searching for over a month and her shifting deadline was creeping up.

In between bites of salmon nigiri, Scanlon started scrolling through apartment listings on her cellphone and got here across a Twenties studio apartment in Los Feliz that she knew her best buddy would swoon over.

“I sent it to her and was like ‘This is fabulous,’” she says. “I’m going to tour it immediately.”

Scanlon, an L.A.-based filmmaker who also works at a nonprofit, hopped into her car to see the rental, which had Art Deco tile, stunning natural mild, tons of storage and a beautiful view of Griffith Observatory — a “rare find” for $1,900 in the sought-after neighborhood, Scanlon says. She despatched a detailed video tour to her best buddy, who utilized immediately and signed the lease a few days later.

On the drive home, Scanlon, 33, had a mild bulb second: “What I love doing is something most people find totally overwhelming and exhausting,” she says. She may flip her knack for apartment searching into one thing more.

So after discovering residences for a number of other associates (not to point out a dreamy 1927 storybook apartment in Echo Park for herself) and building a following on TikTookay by posting apartment tours, Scanlon launched an apartment scouting business, LA Apartment Scout. She helps her busy purchasers discover historic, characterful houses in L.A. within their price range.

She’s half of a rising group of apartment scouts — not licensed real estate brokers, but savvy entrepreneurs who tour residences, share videos on social media and, in some circumstances, work one-on-one with purchasers to discover a place that suits their particular aesthetic and price range.

Unlike brokers — licensed professionals who act as intermediaries between landlords and tenants, generally used in the apartment-hunting course of in locations like New York City, Boston and Austin, Texas, scouts operate outdoors the formal housing system. They aren’t linked to property house owners and they don’t deal with purposes or negotiations. Instead, they act as digital lookouts who hunt for coveted classic residences that are in any other case laborious to discover without experience.

The demand for apartment scouts highlights the pressures of L.A.’s aggressive rental market, where emptiness is scarce and rental charges are among the best in the nation. According to Apartments.com, average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in L.A. was $2,182 as of May, which is 33% larger than the national average rent price of $1,642.

“To some extent, it reflects a dysfunctional housing market,” said Richard Kent Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. “It’s very hard for people to search and find what they’re looking for at the price they’re looking for, unlike many markets where it’s pretty straightforward.”

Apartment-scouting providers have a tendency to be particularly interesting to youthful Angelenos who really feel priced out of homeownership, but still need areas that mirror their personalities and tastes, quite than the more and more common commonplace trendy unit.

“There are tons of people who want to live in a home that reflects the character of the city, the beauty, glamour and drama, that is creatively inspiring or just cozy, unique, has character— not gray laminate floors,” Scanlon says.

Those looking for a scout may also be residing out of city or just too busy to endlessly search rental itemizing websites, Craigslist, Reddit and Facebook Marketplace, and then tour properties. One of Scanlon’s purchasers turned to her for help because they had been ending their PhD while preparing for a new job at NASA.

Scanlon’s personalised providers start with a session call to perceive the shopper’s wants, then she curates a listing of residences, tours those they love and gives videos of the space and the encircling space. Scanlon says she works equally to a local knowledgeable information and relocation assistant. Since the apartment scout market is newer in Los Angeles, discovering charges up entrance will be troublesome (Scanlon didn’t want to disclose her charges).

Indya Stewart, 24, of Hollywood is another L.A. apartment scout. In late April, the inside designer shared an eight-second TikTookay with the phrases “hidden talent: finding chateau style apartments in L.A. for prices that feel illegal” and told people to contact her if they need help discovering a place of their own.

“Omg pls put me on,” one individual commented with an emoji crying face.

“Moving in the fall and I neeeeeed u,” another individual said.

“Hmmm yes moving to LA in a month and can only live in a fairy castle sos,” commented another.

After receiving a flood of messages from people, she determined that instead of responding to each individual individually, she would share her apartment picks on her inside design web site. The listing is free and is separated by area.

Unlike Scanlon, Stewart doesn’t tour residences for people, quite she gives a curated listing of classic residences for people to browse on their own.

“I spend so much of my free time looking for these places because I genuinely love the process,” says Stewart, who lives in a Twenties-style townhouse in Hollywood. “Sharing them just feels natural.”

Miesha Gantz of East Hollywood pivoted from dance to real esate.

(From Miesha Gantz)

While many apartment scouts do the work as an impartial facet gig, some like Miesha Gantz of East Hollywood are starting to cross over into the formal real estate industry.

After stepping away from her skilled dance profession due to a huge pay cut, Gantz set out to discover a more reasonably priced apartment. Her standards was particular: A Twenties or Thirties Spanish-style studio with oversize home windows, tons of natural mild, a hearth, hardwood flooring and character-rich tile work.

She started posting videos of her apartment-hunting journey on TikTookay and before long people had been asking her for help. Soon after, Gantz, who has a background in real estate, launched a membership-based web site called the Hollywood Waitlist, where she posts listings of charming, classic studios and one-bedroom residences primarily based in Hollywood. She updates the web site weekly with houses that are principally under $2,500 per month. People can access the web site for $6 for one week and $12 for one month.

As her social media and web site gained traction, Gantz acquired linked with the Rental Girl, a boutique real estate brokerage based in L.A. and determined to reinstate her real estate license. She lately began working for the company’s concierge group, serving to purchasers in a method that’s comparable to her earlier work as an apartment scout. However, the main distinction is that she will be able to now work straight with purchasers throughout your complete software course of and help them secure the home.

Although discovering the rental market is extraordinarily aggressive in L.A., these apartment scouts often foster a sense of group online. In TikTookay feedback, it’s common for people to offer suggestions from their own apartment-hunting experiences, sharing whether or not road parking is definitely possible in a explicit neighborhood, if a building has a pest issue or if a itemizing agent was impolite to them.

“When people know better, they do better,” says Gantz, who is also a filmmaker.

It’s value noting that scams do exist in the world of leases, so exercise warning when utilizing social media. As demand for apartment scouts grows, Scanlon says she hopes others become involved, tackling different niches and neighborhoods.

“I don’t feel protective of it at all,” she says. “I’d love to see more people doing this.”