Chinese expats looking for safety, luxury apartments turn to Ehomie

An ‘Apartment Rentals’ sign outside of a mid-rise building in the Bowery neighborhood of New York, US. Ehomie now consults 500 to 1,500 customers monthly on buying real estate and plans to enter the communal living space, renting a collection of apartments and subletting the fully furnished rooms to short-term renters. — Bloomberg

After viewing 40 apartments online and touring 10 in person in the spring, Sicheng Wan finally decided on a US$3,000 (RM13,420)-a-month one-bedroom in a luxury building in Jersey City, New Jersey, a one-transfer commute from his graduate studies at Columbia. The rental platform the Chinese expatriate used: Ehomie.

By offering an all-in-one Internet service, Ehomie New York Inc is like a combination of StreetEasy, Zillow, and Facebook Marketplace for Chinese renters, using an embedded application in the social media app WeChat and a separate brokerage service on its website.