So what if the real estate market is tanking? I think that’s much more interesting to read about than a break-even or everybody-gets-rich scenario, and some investors may feel the same way; Curbed.com, a blog that covers real estate, just received $1.5 million in funding.
Curbed isn’t a straightforward list of housing developments; it’s actually a rather entertaining group of stories in the tradition of Wonkette and Valleywag. You may realize why upon hearing that Curbed’s founder, Lockhart Steele, used to be the managing editor of Gawker Media. And Nick Denton, also of Gawker fame, has long given his financial support to the real estate site.
So Curbed shouldn’t be directly affected by a housing slowdown – an ad that suggests readers “Find the perfect NY pad on Trulia.com” would be something of a conflict of interest if it were in that business. However, if Trulia – or any other advertiser – is affected by a slowdown, it might put less money into Curbed as a result, and this makes the $1.5 million all the more important.
According to Dan Mitchell, Curbed will use the funding to hire new employees and expand into new cities. Since Curbed currently appears to serve just the New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco areas, that’s a wise move.
The Curbed Network also includes blogs by the name of Eater, Racked, and The Beach.
