Real Estate + Technology
Out of curiosity, has anyone in this subreddit worked on or know anything about the tech side of RE (Software/applications, examples: fundrise, reonomy, better mortgage, etc.)? It seems like nearly every industry has had major disruptors come in and change the landscape of their industry via technology. However, in comparison, RE seems to be lagging behind. I'm just starting off my career in acquisitions but I've found myself wondering why certain processes/tasks aren't as easy as they could be. I've decided to learn to code (self taught + coding boot camp) to try and find solutions to many of these outdated processes/tasks. Has anyone else integrated tech and RE? And if so, have you been able to monetize on it? 
[{"id": "dlcey7m", "text": "/r/RealEstateTechnology\n\nWhat problems are you running into, exactly that you think could be solved with technology that doesn't already exist out of curiosity. ", "replies": [{"id": "dlexdv3", "text": "It's mostly been on the research side of things. I've realized that a lot of the RE data I use day-to-day (i.e. ownership info, specific site plans/drawings, market trends, absorption rates, rents, new/upcoming stock, etc.) is readily available online or a few phone calls away and should be consolidated under one platform. I do a lot of market research in secondary and tertiary markets and it takes me FOREVER to gather all of the market information we need (if I'm lucky enough to find it) and it takes me even longerto compile all of this information into a legible format when analyzing potential deals. ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dlck8hu", "text": "I work on the closing side of things and Resware, Qualia and Softpro come to mind.  A number of companies are trying to turn closings into digital affairs, although a lot of it has been handled by DocuSign and HelloSign.  Snapdocs does a lot in this space too.\n\nBetter Mortgage is a great example as well, though I wouldn't say they've been disruptive (yet?).  Redfin is also in the not-yet-disruptive camp.", "replies": [{"id": "dlg8rjb", "text": "Agreed, redfin looks like just another real estate website saturating the internet, I have yet to see any impressive, however, I do not have an account with them so I may be missing a lot.", "replies": [{"id": "dlhldcn", "text": "As a buyer, I view Redfin as best-in-class.  My realtor has two MLS portals and both are far inferior (one doesn't include a map, the other has limited info, neither include previous sales or estimated price).  It's most comparable to Trulia/Zillow, but still feels more seamless.  eg I can share things with my wife easily since we can connect our accounts.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dlcm2gn", "text": "There is a VC fund focusing an real estate technology that some pere companies have invested with.\n\nhttps://fifthwall.vc\n", "replies": [{"id": "dmitubg", "text": "They mainly invest in startups that are further along. ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dlcugpp", "text": "Commercial Real Estate is about 10 years behind residential but there are a ton of integrations. CoStar, Xcelligent, VTS, WeWork to name a few. In residential, Redfin is about to roll out flat-fee listings...this will piss off a lot of brokers. Zillow has done and will do the same(see DotLoop/InstantOffers). And WeWork is the largest tenant in Manhattan, and one of the largest in SF...they're massive and \"disruptive\" as hell. Real estate rightly earns its title as a Dinosaur Industry, but people are definitely making money in RE Tech.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dld3q09", "text": "I'm in mortgage banking and have been investing in Fundrise for a year or two. The plus side to it is small minimum investments for nonaccredited investors, which opens up a lot more capital for millions of every day people to invest in actual real estate instead of stocks and bonds. On the other hand, this company, as well as many other new crowd funding startups are really still just in their first few years of funding. With all the companies that hold onto properties for 10 or so years, it just takes a long time for these tech companies to take off. Since there could be hundreds of people investing in one property, it makes it really costly to audit. Also, it pools together all these people that are putting money into properties without having any experience in real estate. ", "replies": [{"id": "dlexhm1", "text": "How's your experience with Fundrise been? I love the crowdfunding concept. Making money is RE is not rocket science, its just that is has such high barriers to entry and not everyone has that kind of capital laying around.", "replies": [{"id": "dlgktwd", "text": "I like it because of convenience. They pick all the deals for you, but the portfolios still growing. I hear the companys had some legal problems the first year, but I'm getting around the returns theyd say I'd get. I got into it early, so best time to start investings probably sometime next year or two ", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "dlg8xo2", "text": "Yeah, I agree about the time to get a good tech startup going. To create a truly competitive platform takes $20mm just to get off the ground. You see publications mentioning small startups getting $12- $15mm in a seed round and they are still swimming up stream. It's a quantity and quality issue (50+ million commercial properties with constant changes in ownership and debt)  - one is easy to do, both take years and millions to perfect. ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dldcjqe", "text": "For sure man, how old are you? I ask that because it is the younger generation, like myself-Im 28, and we're looking at the veteran's and their systems and place and just thinking \"What the fuck is this mess?\" \n\nI, too, have been getting verrry deep into coding and learning Python for 8 months now. It has opened up worlds of opportunties for me.\n\nIn terms of tech platforms...Reonomy is solid, I subscribe to them and their owner LLC and address information is surprisingly like 99% accurate, in my experience, its like they are able to scrape the data right off of the county/government website. The down side is you have to google the LLC and or the address often times to verify. But it is a very useful tool nonetheless.\n\nReal Capital Analytics is a great, albeit expensive platform. It is less accurate, about 80% accurate in my experience, but has links to the owner websites often times. They also have a ton of information on debt, solid comparablea (exportable in excel) and decent market reports.\n\nCoStar is the behemoth. They gave us a presentation recently and I was beyonf impressed. They should be the best, they've been in this space for 25+ years. They have owner information with contact details included with address searches and a super useful automated \"underwriting report\" that comes with all property types (except for retail, they said it will be released in 6 mos or so) where you get a report that includes detail on the asset, comparables, market rents, vacancy and trends. Very cool but very expensive platform. $4200+ a month.", "replies": [{"id": "dlex6b2", "text": "Yeah, I'm a recent college grad (23) starting off in the Industry and I'm realizing that a lot of the RE data I use day-to-day (i.e. ownership info, specific site plans/drawings, market trends, absorption rates, rents, new/upcoming stock, etc.) should be consolidated under one umbrella or platform. I do a lot of market research in secondary and tertiary markets and it takes me FOREVER to gather all of the market information we need (if I'm lucky enough to find it) and then even, it takes me a long time to compile all of this information into a legible format. Reonomy has been the most efficient tools at solving this issue so far IMO but even then, I feel a platform like this could do so much more. \n\nYeah, I'm taking Python and CSS/HTML classes and am planning to dive in heavily within the next months/years. The more experience I get on both fronts the more solutions I'll be able to find. If you don't mind me asking, what part of the industry do you work in?", "replies": [{"id": "dlezo6j", "text": "I work on the consulting side for CMBS transactions. Our senior team are former CMBS servicers, so we sell our experience and access to our network to save our clients money and time. We do loan workouts and loan assumptions.\n\nI feel your pain on the research side. Going through cbre, jll, cushman Wakefield, transwestern etc to get relevant market information can literally take 3 hours to find, read and aggregate data to get things as simple as vacancy rates, rental rates and absorption. Frustratingly enough, the variance in the numbers is also usually significant. The pain multiplies with tertiary markets.\n\nI use RCA, Reonomy and a few other websites for owner info and I can usually find a pretty underground owner in about 20 mins. We should chat more in direct message to bounce ideas and share resources.", "replies": [{"id": "dlnucx7", "text": "Woah, that's really great experience. I'm looking to transition over to the CMBS side with one of the larger banks at some point. \n\nYeah finding good data for those smaller markets is a complete nightmare. Haven't hear of RCA, but I love Reonomy! Saves me a lot of time having to look up title ownership, LLC registered agents, phone numbers, etc.  Since learning python these last months have you been able to implement into your work at all? \n\nYeah I'll shoot you a DM with my contact information. ", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dlddjf7", "text": "NEXUS LEXUS BITCHES", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]