Florida woman launches home matching platform to help others find perfect place to live

TAMPA - Carter Long started posting home tours on social media last year as a fun way to get involved in the community.

"Then it kind of blew up," Long said. "That gave me the idea to create this platform where you will get personalized home and apartment matches tailored to your lifestyle and budget."

Long, who has a background in real estate, launched the personalized home and apartment match platform last Thursday. It’s called Finding Floridians, the same name as her social media channels where she started the home tours.

"The idea is actually for it to be a little bit more of a personalized Zillow," she said.

You take a quiz that asks you several questions about your lifestyle and what you want in a home or apartment.

"Things like, what's the walkability you're looking for? How close to stores and restaurants do you want to be? Do you want to be near the bay or the coast, or are you wanting to be more inland near some lakes? And then commute… How far from the city are you looking to be," Long, who’s a native Floridian, said.

"There are about seven different lifestyle questions that are answered as well as amenities. So, there is a whole question about what amenities are you looking for," she said.

"Whatever you’re looking to accomplish, are you looking to buy or are you looking to rent, and from there you will get matched with the best neighborhood that's going to meet your lifestyle, and then the best properties that are within that neighborhood that will match with what you're physically looking for," Long said.

The match tool is free to use.

READ: US housing shortage grew to 4.5 million homes amid affordability crisis, data reveals

"It is a referral site, so, we partnered with some of our hand-picked local partners and that’s how we’re able to make it completely free to the user," Long said.

After you get your matches, Long reaches out to you and helps you with the next steps. You can also create an account to get all the listings available in the neighborhood and options for more listings as they become available.

Users can also get matched to properties similar to the ones Long features on the home tours. She says her goal is to help not just new Floridians, but native Floridians find their perfect match.

READ: Florida minimum wage workers must work 98 hours a week to afford housing: Study

"I love just being able to help people find the lifestyle that they want to live, and really, it sets them up to live their best life," Long said.

Over the next year, she said she plans to launch Finding Floridians across the state. Long is also planning to have apartment complexes and properties post their listings on her website, so when you get matched, you can immediately get connected with them.

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