Charlotte-based Socialserve.com is a misnomer.

Despite its dot-com suffix, the web site is the brainchild of a nonprofit organization. This, however, isn't one of those wimpy nonprofits.

No, Non-Profit Industries Inc. wanted to be taken as seriously as any for-profit company by its partners, governments and - most of all - users. So it eschewed the dot-org suffix customary for nonprofits.

"Our people should be counted as important," said Van Gottel, the group's founder and former social worker.

The site helps low-income families and individuals find affordable housing in Mecklenburg and Gaston counties. It lists apartments and homes that charge up to 120 percent of what the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development deems fair market rates.

In Mecklenburg County, the fair market rate for a one-bedroom apartment is about $617, and a two-bedroom should be just under $700.

Currently, the site lists one-bedrooms with monthly rents between $275 and $700.

The site, which welcomes users with a quote from ancient Taoist thinker Lao Tzu, will soon expand to Union County, Kansas City, and St. Louis.

The group recently moved into a second-floor Elizabeth office, and it's aiming to be self-sufficient in two to three years. About 40 percent of its half-million-dollar budget now comes from government or corporate grants.

To pay its way, the group charges fees from local housing authorities and governments to list affordable housing and those who accept Section 8 vouchers. The service is free for both users and landlords.

Socialserve.com found its users are logging on from all over: uptown offices, public libraries or the YMCA, Gottel said. Thursday afternoons and Fridays before lunch are the most heavily trafficked times, and single moms are the biggest users.

No longer do they have to slog through the mounds of catalogues at the Housing Authority.

When surfing the site, users can sort the homes by rent, number of bedrooms, or how long they've been listed.

That last feature has pushed some landlords to spruce up dilapidated properties, after they've been listed for too long on the site without a nibble, Gottel said.

The site also shows users a crime map from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, listing all incidents or calls for service in the neighborhood.

Socialserve.com has grown significantly since Gottel first snagged a $25,000 grant from Fannie Mae to start the site, the notion for which came to him in a dream.

The group had been working for the past three years out of Gottel's one-room, 10-foot-by-12-foot office basement in the NoDa neighborhood in northern Charlotte.

The group now has six full-time and two part-time workers, along with two more contractors.