Movin’ on up: 42Floors helps tenants find the perfect office space

42Floors is breaking into the commercial real estate world, helping new tenants find office spaces in an otherwise broker-run industry.

“This process is really broken,” said 42Floors co-founder Jason Freedman. “We have the determination and the talent … we’re going to go out and build a big company.”

The company, which presented at Y Combinator’s Demo Day Tuesday, wants to be the missing link between office-less companies and company-less office spaces. Similar to Airbnb, 42Floors has a professional photographer take photos of the office spaces to be used in listings on its website.

The website is fairly easy to maneuver. When you first arrive, a map will show you a number of available units — marked by dropped pins on the various locations. A scrolling bar on the side gives you a listing of all the available units with the cost per square foot and more.

Check out an interview we recently had with Freedman about 42Floors.

You can narrow down the selections with specific criteria, and once you’ve found a place you’re interested in, you can contact the broker. Yes, brokers are not made irrelevant with 42Floors. Instead, the site takes some of the responsibility off the broker’s hands and allows potential customers to choose the places they’d like to see. The trade-off is losing the expertise that comes with an industry expert giving you a city-wide tour.

42Floors does not yet deal in bigger, commercial buys, such as full office-complexes, but hopes to move in that direction soon. It also has plans to cover what’s in the office.

“If you’ve ever searched for an office, one you find it your problems have just begun…we want to help sell desks, chairs, interior designers.”

42Floors takes a 20 percent commission on its sales and targets $24,000 in revenue per purchase. The team is starting with the 80 percent of the spaces that are priced at under $5,000 a square foot. SV Angel is a current investor.

42Floors is one of 39 companies presenting at Y Combinator’s Demo Day Spring 2012 event. Check out other cool companies making their debut here.