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 Thursday launch marks the company’s next step toward growth, as it expands its presence 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 Chicago-based company from founder Noah Schatz and part-owner Andrew Porter in 2024. Odzic declined to share the purchase price, citing an agreement signed with the previous owners that prevents him from disclosing that information.
While the company is known for its large ads that plaster CTA buses and trains, Domu itself is small. The staff 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. For SEO support, it employs a worker based in Toronto.
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, allowing renters to browse listings more quickly and efficiently.
Odzic said about 16% of their current 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 — where renters can search by price and property amenities — but users’ ability to message landlords on the app and website is new for Domu.
“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 will still need to post listings through the website. Domu’s current listings are mostly within city limits.
Odzic, who called himself a “luddite,” said in addition to the app, he
