New off campus housing website @ W&M launches
Thanks to an innovative bunch of business students at William and Mary I now have a place to send all the students who contact me looking for off campus housing .
Zilify, has launched and is ready to help W&M students find off campus housing.
Together the founders spent countless hours aimlessly driving around campus hoping to find properties with “For Rent” signs. Add to that multiple months Googling every key word about Williamsburg housing, and an entire year trying to convince people to give us their landlord’s name and phone number. After much frustration the Zilify founders decided create a website to simplify the process.
After endless brainstorming, Zilify was born as a new way for students to find all of the best local housing options, without the unnecessary headache. Every property posted on Zilify has gone through an extensive review process, and has been hand selected by their team as one of the best off-campus places to live.
Users can now create a Zilify account and browse nearby residences for rent. By entering a price range and a number of occupants, you can view properties with corresponding minimum prices.
In addition to price listings, Zilify provides students with pictures, owner specifications and a downloadable copy of the house’s lease.
The process is simple .
1. First you create a profile. That allows you to search all of the properties, but to see more details about properties and submit offers to landlords you do need to pay a one-time $5 membership fee.
2. Search for properties using filters such as distance from campus, laundry availability, and what sort of parking each property offers.
3. Once you find a property you and your roommates like, take a look at the lease and amenities it has to offer. Then enter your offer and the number of tenants you expect to live with. Don’t worry, you can make as many offers as you want, and the offers are non-binding.
4. Now the landlords will get back to you. Zilify will then pass along your contact information to the landlords. The landlord will then call or e-mail you to talk more about your offer. The platform is similar to eBay in that others can also submit bids to lease a property so keep an eye on the highest offer for the property if you want to insure you are selected as the tenant.
If you are a local Williamsburg landlord that wants to want to market your house on Zilify you can contact them here
The Zilify Team is composed of :
Hank Couture Co-CEO/Co-Founder .
A senior at the College of William & Mary, majoring in Finance and Economics with a concentration in Accounting. Last summer Hank was a summer analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York. He has also spent time working with Thinknear, a Los Angeles based technology start-up.
Todd Saunders Co-CEO/Co-Founder .
A senior at the College of William & Mary, Todd is a Marketing major with a concentration in Entrepreneurship. Todd spent the summer working in Regional Sales Management for AOL in New York. He also has experience in Business Operations for Triton Digital.
Chris Crisalli VP of Sales & Marketing
Another senior at the College of William & Mary, Chris is majoring in Marketing with a concentration in Entrepreneurship. As a diehard hockey fan, Chris worked in digital marketing last summer for the New Jersey Devils hockey team in Newark, NJ.
Noah Willard UI/UX Designer
Noah is a sophomore at the College of William & Mary, majoring in Government. When he is not working on Zilify, he spends his time as the Chief Product Officer of Photorankr, an online social marketplace for photography. Last summer he worked on PhotoRankr with the other co-founders in Nashville.