The main directions for IT startups in real estate sales
The real estate market is going through hard times now - the purchasing power of the population is falling, stagnation is going on. Companies are increasingly thinking about attracting startups. One of these companies, operating in both the primary and secondary markets, asked me what technological startups can help them. 
To get a complete answer, I had to study and summarize several hundred startups and IT solutions used in the real estate markets of Europe, the USA and Russia. The first part of the answer regarding sales processes, I give below.
Note: In order not to list endless projects and services, I summarized them in 4 main areas. For each direction I will indicate the level of development of the used IT technologies (according to Gartner ) and the prevalence of IT solutions. In the section “Recommendations” I offer my vision of the prospects for creating an independent startup in this area.
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The easiest ways to increase sales is to expand the territorial limits for buyers and reduce the minimum amount of input. Purchase in parts is applied mainly to objects with highly liquid space: business centers and rental housing, for example, student campuses.
Examples of startups and projects:
Technologies and solutions used:
The BlockChain technology in 2017 survived the peak of HYIP and is in the Trough of Disillusionment phase.
Promising market, c already existing (worldwide) technological solutions. Unfortunately, the practice of use is still small. Legislation on the registration of property rights is hindering widespread use.
Start-ups are advised to closely monitor legislative initiatives and explore the possibility of legally applying blockchain. As soon as such an opportunity is confirmed by law, the demand for such projects will be enormous.
Today the company in the field of real estate must have a website adapted for smartphones, and perhaps even its own mobile application. Otherwise, in a world where two thirds of users access the Internet from their phones ( 69.3% of the world as a whole ), they simply cannot survive.
Dry descriptions and photo objects are not enough. Advertising sites, business cards, carrying a minimum of factual information and staged designer photos surely lose the competition. The standard is to provide online detailed information about the offer and its uniqueness, such as:
In addition to detailed information, reports can also be provided, for example:
These analytical reports can be sent to both the buyer and the seller, allowing the latter to ensure a quick sale by making a discount from the market.
The secondary market, in terms of working with information, has features. Several of the reviewed startups have grown on one single service - providing 100% reliable information on the object (relevance, accuracy and legality of placement).
Most of the negative customer reviews are written about these discrepancies.
Examples of startups and projects:
Technologies and solutions used:
BigData, Virtual Reality, Integration Solutions are mature technologies, often having even several fundamentally different ways of implementation (for example, deploy Data Integration Tools themselves or use Integration Platform as a Service, iPaaS). The problem in such abundance will not be the search for suitable solutions, but the choice between them.
The US market already has several strong players in this area, it is impossible to compete with them. Nevertheless, it is possible to launch startups that solve one or several of these tasks on large public data and further sell them to strategic players.
It was not possible to find full-featured solutions on the local markets of Europe, the level of found projects is low.
There are several large players in Russia, the solutions are more mature than in Europe, but they do not reach the level of US visionaries.
A good opportunity for a startup will be to test models that are successfully used in the United States in Russia and Europe.
In the process of acquiring real estate, the client does not want to regularly check mail for new offers, call the phone number indicated on the booklet, invite contractors to evaluate the upcoming repairs. The optimal one-window omnichannel service with integration with third-party, including public services. So, when purchasing in one application / site, the following documents must be available: title documents, specialized forms for the sale and purchase, expert assessment of the state, assessment of the necessary expenses, the amount of expenses for utility payments, etc.
Examples of startups and projects:
Technologies and solutions used:
Solutions of Omnichannel CRM, Integration Solutions, Electronic Document Management apply a sufficient amount of time that has more than a decade of history.
The area is fully provided by Enterprise solutions, for startups it seems not attractive, except, perhaps, solutions in the field of virtual reality.
Since in the USA and Europe sales are made through agents, many startups are focused on automating their activities. Effectively built work allows you to reduce the commission for transactions and win mainly the selection criteria - the price of the service.
At the same time, there is nothing innovative in such solutions; it is about creating mobile applications and bundling them with back-end (WEB or ERP) provided to users in the cloud (Cloud).
Automation subject operations:
In Russia, the above solutions can be used to manage your own employees.
The second possible use case is the sharing of agency services for a wide range of people while maintaining full control over their actions.
Examples of startups and projects:
Technologies and solutions used:
SaaS CRM, Cloud Solution, Integration Solutions are used for a long time, have a wide distribution and a rich history of development.
The area is fully provided by Enterprise solutions, is not attractive for startups.
In Russia, in real estate, investing in startups in the following areas seems to be the most attractive:
To get a complete answer, I had to study and summarize several hundred startups and IT solutions used in the real estate markets of Europe, the USA and Russia. The first part of the answer regarding sales processes, I give below.
Note: In order not to list endless projects and services, I summarized them in 4 main areas. For each direction I will indicate the level of development of the used IT technologies (according to Gartner ) and the prevalence of IT solutions. In the section “Recommendations” I offer my vision of the prospects for creating an independent startup in this area.
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1. Co-financing
The easiest ways to increase sales is to expand the territorial limits for buyers and reduce the minimum amount of input. Purchase in parts is applied mainly to objects with highly liquid space: business centers and rental housing, for example, student campuses.
Examples of startups and projects:
- blockimmo - the acquisition and joint ownership of real estate in Liechtenstein, confirmed by applicable law.
- Crowdvilla - investment in villas for rent in Malaysia.
- ATLANT - joint investment in real estate through cryptocurrency mechanisms.
Technologies and solutions used:
The BlockChain technology in 2017 survived the peak of HYIP and is in the Trough of Disillusionment phase.
Recommendations
Promising market, c already existing (worldwide) technological solutions. Unfortunately, the practice of use is still small. Legislation on the registration of property rights is hindering widespread use.
Start-ups are advised to closely monitor legislative initiatives and explore the possibility of legally applying blockchain. As soon as such an opportunity is confirmed by law, the demand for such projects will be enormous.
2. Information availability
Today the company in the field of real estate must have a website adapted for smartphones, and perhaps even its own mobile application. Otherwise, in a world where two thirds of users access the Internet from their phones ( 69.3% of the world as a whole ), they simply cannot survive.
Dry descriptions and photo objects are not enough. Advertising sites, business cards, carrying a minimum of factual information and staged designer photos surely lose the competition. The standard is to provide online detailed information about the offer and its uniqueness, such as:
- crime rate in the housing area,
- availability of a number of educational institutions, links to them and their ratings,
- nearby stores
- parking availability and accessibility,
- walking places and playgrounds,
- integration with street view services (street view),
- visualization of objects (if objects have not yet been built) and panoramic photos (if objects already exist).
In addition to detailed information, reports can also be provided, for example:
- dynamics of real estate prices (in relation to the area of ​​housing and land),
- rental price trends,
- impersonal data on the latest transactions
- dependence of prices on amenities - land area (for houses with land),
- deferred demand / availability of applications.
These analytical reports can be sent to both the buyer and the seller, allowing the latter to ensure a quick sale by making a discount from the market.
The secondary market, in terms of working with information, has features. Several of the reviewed startups have grown on one single service - providing 100% reliable information on the object (relevance, accuracy and legality of placement).
Most of the negative customer reviews are written about these discrepancies.
Examples of startups and projects:
- Trulia is a Zillow-owned project with the most structured and complete description of residential properties.
- HomeSnap is a website and a mobile application that provides, in addition to photos, the history of the object, an assessment of its attractiveness, a description of the location, as well as information about the infrastructure around it.
- Openlistings is a platform that allows the seller to independently represent the object and thus avoid double commissions and also represents the analyst on the local real estate market.
- Transported VR - use panoramic 3D shooting and VR to showcase objects.
Technologies and solutions used:
BigData, Virtual Reality, Integration Solutions are mature technologies, often having even several fundamentally different ways of implementation (for example, deploy Data Integration Tools themselves or use Integration Platform as a Service, iPaaS). The problem in such abundance will not be the search for suitable solutions, but the choice between them.
Recommendations
The US market already has several strong players in this area, it is impossible to compete with them. Nevertheless, it is possible to launch startups that solve one or several of these tasks on large public data and further sell them to strategic players.
It was not possible to find full-featured solutions on the local markets of Europe, the level of found projects is low.
There are several large players in Russia, the solutions are more mature than in Europe, but they do not reach the level of US visionaries.
A good opportunity for a startup will be to test models that are successfully used in the United States in Russia and Europe.
3. Communication and customer service
In the process of acquiring real estate, the client does not want to regularly check mail for new offers, call the phone number indicated on the booklet, invite contractors to evaluate the upcoming repairs. The optimal one-window omnichannel service with integration with third-party, including public services. So, when purchasing in one application / site, the following documents must be available: title documents, specialized forms for the sale and purchase, expert assessment of the state, assessment of the necessary expenses, the amount of expenses for utility payments, etc.
Examples of startups and projects:
- Zumper select - provides the selection of housing under the stated budget, taking into account all the needs of the client. Provides full service for the client (long-term rent in the USA is made quite difficult and requires the collection and processing of a large number of documents).
- Riley is a very small service that automates a single function - managing communications with customers via SMS.
- Eye spy 360 - allows you to independently remove the panorama of the room and can be integrated into third-party applications for a quick preliminary demonstration of the object.
Technologies and solutions used:
Solutions of Omnichannel CRM, Integration Solutions, Electronic Document Management apply a sufficient amount of time that has more than a decade of history.
Recommendations
The area is fully provided by Enterprise solutions, for startups it seems not attractive, except, perhaps, solutions in the field of virtual reality.
4. Effective process management
Since in the USA and Europe sales are made through agents, many startups are focused on automating their activities. Effectively built work allows you to reduce the commission for transactions and win mainly the selection criteria - the price of the service.
At the same time, there is nothing innovative in such solutions; it is about creating mobile applications and bundling them with back-end (WEB or ERP) provided to users in the cloud (Cloud).
Automation subject operations:
- various kinds of planning (meetings with the client, demonstrations of objects, etc.),
- automatic generation of commercial offers and other mandatory documentation,
- agent reporting
- communications agent broker (developer, seller).
In Russia, the above solutions can be used to manage your own employees.
The second possible use case is the sharing of agency services for a wide range of people while maintaining full control over their actions.
Examples of startups and projects:
- Premier Agent is a full-featured solution for automating agents from one of the market leaders - Zillow.
- WiseAgent is a full-cycle solution that has been improving its services for over 15 years.
Technologies and solutions used:
SaaS CRM, Cloud Solution, Integration Solutions are used for a long time, have a wide distribution and a rich history of development.
Recommendations
The area is fully provided by Enterprise solutions, is not attractive for startups.
findings
In Russia, in real estate, investing in startups in the following areas seems to be the most attractive:
- Projects in the field of big data processing (see list in p. 2) and presenting them to clients both in integrated form and in the form of in-depth reports (easily monetized service).
- Co-financing through the blockchain and cryptocurrency - we are on the verge of a leap when the real estate market grows due to the availability of “folding” mechanisms that erase the boundaries of cities and states.
- Virtual Reality Projects
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/443794/
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