Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack review their journey on “Real Estate Is Your Business”, notable guests, what the hosts have learned, and how the industry is transforming, in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.

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Law firm Goodwin Procter LLP launches PropTech practice to serve intersection of real estate and technology innovation…

Minta Kay (Chair of Goodwin’s Real Estate Industry group) and Salil Gandhi (partner in Goodwin’s Technology group) of Goodwin Procter LLP, join Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• What inspired the PropTech initiative at Goodwin Procter
• The firm’s huge global real estate bench, and huge technology bench
• How the firm has been getting a lot of calls, inquiries
• Woke up with convergence of practices, obvious place to go
• Tech – type of company, not an industry sector
• Also Fintech, Blockchain, do a lot in that space as well
• Real estate has been slow to adopt tech—that’s changing
• Need to pay attention, a cascade coming down around them
• Real estate becoming a service instead of just a hard asset
• The greatest potential for opportunity
• From first innovations on prop tech side on consumer listing sites, been seeing it on consumer side for awhile, bigger than a couple of entrepreneurs disrupting
• Investors are investing to remain abreast of latest innovations
• Keeping informed on opportunities to return investor returns, smarter buildings, manage portfolios
• How people are thinking about what a building is and how it is structured, and that it is driving business decisions and entrepreneurial innovation
• Why autonomous cars are important for real estate
• Why re-purposing of spaces and buildings is huge
• Going to raise a lot of new bureaucratic activity, permitting, zoning
• Collecting more data than ever before, so sourcing deals to pricing deals, design, maintenance
• From one transaction to an ongoing sharing of information
• Open-mindedness on real estate and regulatory that will allow innovation to occur
• Elasticity in the space is very important
• The need to house fleets of vehicles is coming, a shift is needed How smart contracts can shift advice business
• From ballet, chemical engineering and art history — to law
• PropTech is happening now in Asia too

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A nationwide realtor referral network…

Lisa Fettner, VP of Marketing for ReferralExchange (real estate agents can submit and receive clients from across the US), joins Thomas Kutzman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• How the role and job of agent has changed in last few years
• The need to be hyperlocal while being able to help people everywhere
• Why agents needs to be the subject matter expert to help them now and several years down the line, a client’s entire source for real estate
• Now it is all about the relationship
• How ReferralExchange is superior, algorythms, look at agents’ experiences
• Look at agents who want to participate and want to be engaged, while looking at their specific areas of expertise
• Handling personal info of referrals
• Handle tracking, follow up
• Most important factor when referring – protecting agent reputation
• The concentration of agents in the market, agents in pretty much every populated zip code
• Why ReferralExchange operations are in San Francisco and Sacremento
• One big challenge these days—agents don’t call leads or referrals back
• Minimizing bias, racial concerns based on photos
• Advice to be as personalized and customized for clients as possible, keeping clients in mind
• Fettner’s passion: Princess Project – give away prom dresses to teens who can’t afford them, promotes inner beauty, self confidence
• Don’t be afraid to have that conversation – it can lead to a relationship

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Health and wellness at the center of the real estate industry …

Ross Guttler, Vice President – Strategic Partnerships for Delos (transforming homes, offices, schools and other indoor environments by placing health and wellness at the center of design, construction, facilities and operations decisions), joins Thomas Kutzman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• How wellness is quite big now and where Delos comes in
• Approaching wellness and real estate from hard core science and medicine perspective
• What space is doing to our bodies
• Light quality and impact on standard of living
• How wearables will allow us to measure how space will impact our bodies, and react to what our bodies need
• Vetting materials
• Construction industries are waking up to “red list” materials
• Practices during construction to protect those building the pace as well
• At the crossroads being a real estate or a technology company
• Helping groups figure out things
• Help co-develop products and technologies
• “Darwin” – technology, the wellness brains for your home
• Physical and social environment is 70% of what affects health
• The best of North Carolina, and the origin of NASCAR
• Why space can make us better, smarter, healthier people

Guttler has spent 15 years in investment, development and advisory roles across multiple product sectors. At Delos, Ross manages strategic relationships among Fortune 100 clients as well as institutional investors, owners and landlords. Having joined Delos in the early stages, he has led the growth of several business lines. In addition, Ross serves in an advisory capacity to a NY-based startup focused on developing spectral sensors for the built environment.

Prior to joining Delos, Ross founded and managed the commercial division of ROI Properties, a brokerage and asset management firm that caters to distressed portfolios. He advised financial institutions, fiduciaries and receiverships on risk allocation and exit strategies for office, industrial and retail assets. Previously, he worked for the ViaWest Group, a commercial investment, development and services firm with a primary focus on value-add and opportunistic office, industrial and multi-family properties.

Ross is a former board member of the Urban Land Institute and has held leadership roles in numerous other industry and non-profit organizations. He received a B.S. in Economics from Duke University and an M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

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Restaurants as freelance work spaces…

Preston Pesek, Co-founder/CEO of Spacious (transforming unused space into a city-wide network of stylish, productive workspaces where you can meet, work, and get stuff done) joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• How the way people think about office space has changed
• Spacious as a heavyweight of co-working world
• The goal for the user experience of product to be as frictionless as possible
• The ability to walk in and check in without a reservation
• Seamless instant connection to the community, space, WiFi, etc.
• Is Spacious more co-working or coffee shop? (Somewhere in between)
• How Spacious was conceived
• Doing business with restaurant tenants, that was perfect place to enter the market as a start
• Value prop for a restaurant space – monthly check, marketing exposure, fill space with room full of people who will be hungry when service begins
• Frat culture of co-working vs. higher end vibe at Spacious spaces, attracting more sophisticated/stylish members
• Individual workers vs. enterprise play
• Fantastic upgrade from a coffee shop
• Establishing consumer brand as B-to-C first, then B-to-B, end user is who focused on from experience perspective
• Creating a nighttime network for after-5pm spaces
• Balancing supply and demand
• How Spacious can spin spaces up and down quickly, ability to be responsive to changes in marketplace without big spends
• Being able to manage how grow footprint in a balanced way
• Is Spacious a tech company or a real estate company?
• Internal company is a tech company
• Being a geek around cities of architecture

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PropTech, education reform in New York City, and motivating innovation…

Ryan Baxter, making NYC’s built environment more educational, Founder/Chairman of PASSNYC, Real Estate Liaison for MetaProp NYC, and Co-founder of PropTech Challenge, and former Vice President of REBNY, joins Tom Kutzman in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• Real estate tech/prop tech
• Baxter‘s unique path to prop tech, how he started in a trade association, Real Estate Board of NY
• His undying love for NYC, looking for way to work around that, loved lobbying as a concept
• The opportunity to make lots of impact
• How the Association is older than NYC, serves more than 17,000 members across real estate professions
• How Baxter started a regulatory effort on changing how ConEd treats power plants within buildings, taught him a lot about how NYC interacts with and treats tech
• Aaron Block, a founder of PropNYC,  knocked on door asking for help, saw them as distribution platform
• How his work allows outcome beyond pursuit of wealth
• Bing Co-Founder of Protech challenge, started last year grew to over 100 people from 47 companies,
• Moving from personally-participated to virtually to impact many more people, to spur innovation, increase diversity, and create opportunities around the world
• An augmented reality tool to overlay real time building information, helpful for engineers to know what a particular system’s flow of info in real time
• A lack of agility and responsiveness in real estate is going changing
• The need to understand that there are only five value propositions
• A limitless opportunity for the human imagination
• A $230 Trillion and growing opportunity worldwide
• Developers should lean into PropTech
• Why PropTech is years behind FinTech, yet broader than any other tech vertical we’ve seen
• Is PropTech only one part of it, and a low hanging fruit, and limiting lens?
• MetaProp
• Starting with community building approach as a new fund
• Why learning the language across the industry is crucial
• Promoting better educational access and equity using community organizing and coalition tactics
• Why the tip of PropTech spear should be public schools, and how they can design the future
• Enabling schools to be specialized, motivating participation and resource provision, and working toward continual desegregation
• The debate on why specialized schools have value
• The Empire State Building, Jay-Z, and a great restaurant

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Growing a team by utilizing a marketplace with highly vetted freelancers in a gig economy…

Nathan Hirsch, Founder and CEO of FreeeUp (FreeeUp is a marketplace offering pre-vetted freelance talent) joins Thomas Kutzman for a conversation about growing a business with the right talent. MouthMedia Network studios are powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• The gig economy, and accepting the fact that entrepreneurs are not equally good at every part of their business
• How FreeeUp provides access to great talent all over the world to help build business
• FreeeUp’s original start in ecommerce, then marketing, then real estate agencies (10-15% of their current client are in Real Estate)
• An example of a virtual assistant
• What’s driving the trend of freelancing
• The way FreeeUp provides a lot of vetting, only takes the top 1%, and when they let them in
• How FreeeUp started with $2k and grew to millions – only using freelancers from their own marketplace, and running a virtual company
• How they didn’t look at FreeeUp company as a software business initially – looked at it as people who matched people — but when they looked at it as software and kept improving it, the company turned a corner
• Why freelancing is part of the next wave of the business economy
• How FreeeUp has a good foothold — pain points tough to fix, and hard to copy when fixed – looking at any competition in the business—and the vetting process is challenging to get right
• Freelancers have multiple clients each with their own styles, agendas
• Spending extra time at beginning setting best expectations will help save countless hours of clarification
• Solid communication, feedback to freelancers is critical when employing them
• The biggest error: assuming everyone’s expectations are the same
• Diversifying is important different people for different functions
• What would you do with extra hours?
• An important business lesson, and how Hirsch’s entrepreneurial career began with — selling baby products out his dorm

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Blockchain explanation, applications, and possibilities…

Omid Malekan, author of “The Story of the Blockchain: A Beginner’s Guide to the Technology Nobody Understands“, blogger, and Explainer-in-Chief at Triple Smoke Stack (a publishing, consulting and educational firm that specializes in bringing the latest advancements in blockchain technology to traditional companies) joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• Malekan on Blockchain – technology that gives digital items physical properties
• Physical things can only exist in one place at one moment in time
• Because of crypto tokens big public blockchains epxploded in value
• More and more industries are looking at blockchain, including real estate
• There are many applications beyond crypto currency
• Before the Internet, restrictions of physical existence worked but blockchain reduces friction or restrictions
• Digital items are replicable
• Music is a great example of an application of blockchain that can be of value
• Blockchain exists on a spectrum, with varying degrees of how to apply it, and is by nature often decentralized
• A process to keep you honest
• A consensus mechanism
• Bitcoin is slow (only a few transaction per second)
• Losing a key/passowrd to access, the value is lost
• Real Estate doesn’t change hands without people knowing about it, likely a blockchain run by government for property in the future
• Using blcokchain to potentially democratize ownership and mortgages
• How REITs were like an early tokenization, good step in that direction
• While REITS are cumbersome and expensive, can take the REIT model and issue tokensi instead, a tradeable avatar
• A lot of creativity possible
• Like a co-op model, real estate distilled down to shares
• A home is an indivisible asset, tokenization can enable that, financing aspect – you go to one bank, one loan, future can offer breaking debt into pieces each with other people
• Fractional ownership, fractional debt
• Nomadic lifestyles enabled by fractional ownership shares in properties to live in places not regular residence, like a timeshare
• Creatively applied can improve on good parts, lose bad parts
• Airbnb a perfect example of Web 2.0 kind of business, someone builds platform, people use it, and most of value goes to owner of platform.
• Whether a value of Blockchain can be to mediate disputes
• How you can determine cryptocoin has value despite being digital
• Becoming The Explainer in Chief
• Model United Nations, learning to debate, valuable life lessons that it was a popularity contest, not all about substance, from moment you walk into the room relationships
• Artifical Intelligence replacing jobs

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marketplace for short form retail and pop-ups…

Joy Fan, Chief Creative Officer of Storefront (@storefront – the world’s leading online marketplace for renting short term retail space) joins Thomas Kutzman, Scott Pollack, and guest host Pavan Bahl in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• How Storefront “cracked the code” on short-term rentals
• Real estate brokers have open arms for pop ups, changed from 5 years ago
• How pop-ups and short-term rentals transformed from trend to strategy
• Perfect timing, how Storefront rode a wave for the last 6 years
• Demands of retail has changed
• Bringing digital into physical
• Providing pricing up front so anyone can see it and share it
• Servicing both landlords and tenants
• Why Storefront doesn’t own spaces, technology makes it easy for brands to search for space
• Now in Canada and US, just opened Dallas and Austin, plus already in LA, NYC, SF, Chicago, Miami
• Looking at events and experiential, but focus on storefronts
• A lot of long-term leases are coming up and vacancy rates have risen a lot in major metropolitan areas
• Low cost at a conference
• Retail on the rise in US, story-sharing
• Making the physical experience feeling sensory like the online presence, creating addiction
• The international opportunity – where there is retail and where there is storefront
• Fan’s opinion on a brand that’s getting it done
• The story of twins
• Incredible donuts

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Two startups sharing their company visions on providing a better rental experience…

Benjamin Pleat, CEO/Founder of Doorbell Communities (supercharging apartment living through curated event experiences) and Ashrit Kamireddi, CEO/Co-Founder, and Scott Bierbryer, COO/Co-Founder, of VeryApt (a trusted apartment review community for people who want to make sure their next apartment really feels like home) joins Thomas Kutzman on location at The Future of Real Estate Summit in Miami,FL. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• Conferences as a great opportunity to discover new ideas/innovators

Doorbell Communities

• Looking at the experience side of things, not changing real estate, don’t redesign spaces, how the use of space is a platform for community creation
• Leverage existing spaces from lobbies to community spaces
• Creating meaningful experiences to cerate sticky communities
• Work in best in class providers including local businesses, good to support local businesses and get them in building
• Skepticism that neighbors don’t want to interact in a place like NYC, content gets them out
• The business model, and expense structure
• The value of software and analytics
• Offering experiences from psychic mediums, pastrami tastings, coding classes, and more.
• Currently in Boston and downtown Wooster
• Challenges are in the real estate finance world, recurring fee treated as different kind of expense, and Class A vs. Class B
• Avoiding technical debt, and how software augments experience without inhibiting, and enables community building and personal interaction
• Affordable housing, offering the same experience or hurdle distribution and acceptance by community

VeryApt

• A data-driven concierge rental platform that makes finding the perfect apartment effortless
• Having very accurate data and content, making the ecosystem transparent
• Not just scraping listings, accurate [ricing/inventory, data from tenants talking about experiences in apartment
• Unique IP on recommendation engine, able to highlight buildings
• Concierge replaces much of the value of traditional agent
• Owning listings, not just scraping and taking data feed
• Trying to instill same culture and processing several markets
• Building out the brand, opportunities tangential to what they’re doing now ,rental insurance, figuring out moving
• Taking infrastructure and help solving problems beyond the immediate rental part

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Real estate technology disruption…

Vincent Pavanello and Robin Rivaton co-authors of the book “Make Real Estate Great Again”, focused on real estate technology disruption and is co-founders of the Real Estech community in Paris, France, join Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios in New York, powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• The show’s first guests from continental Europe, who are building a community in real estate tech
• Bridging the gap between offerings those who want to buy goods and services
• The community’s first days, three friends created website produced articles on startups
• The consumers are changing and companies have to pay attention to user experience
• The need to be merging pieces of a value chain and control quality, like automotive industry
• Making real estate great again
• Tech makes buildings fitted with people’s needs
• Urbanization, more people living in more cities than before
• Making a city denser to attract more people
• Density leads to productivity, wealth requires different types of people with different skills put together
• Next, thinking of how you move them all around efficiently
• The perfect city for all social classes
• The importance of creating buildings fit for real people now, while respecting history of city
• Cities that exist today vs. the kind of cities that can exist 100 years from now
• Considering climate change, population change, culture, economy, and when people will/would start migrating
• Direct access to the sea as a factor in city creation and growth
• When a city becomes toxic
• A classy snack inspired by a birthday
• Political influences can cause major shifts in people, Brexit as an example
• Trends seeing, action to fund entrepreneurs to make changes happen, several funds currently support this
• How they are building the first venture capital fund for real estate in continental   Europe, with $60M
• Hip areas of Paris people are moving to
• The importance of a larger presence of women in real estate tech

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why influential real estate companies offer an invite-only moving app from Updater to clients, delivering huge value during a stressful time…

Chris Avery, VP of Real Estate for Updater (Updater‘s moving app is the smartest and safest way to reserve a moving company, connect TV and internet, update accounts, forward mail, transfer utilities, etc.), joins Thomas Kutzman and guest host Marc Raco in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• How Updater is solving a logistical problem
• Relocation tech
• Buyers, sellers, renters, branded experience through real estate partners, brands, multi family companies, realtors
• Automate all moving and related tasks that are all part of a painful experience
• Forwarding mail, subscriptions, and utilities
• Fostering partnerships, teams of industry experts
• Doing new things vs. creating new experiences
• How Updater is paid for, and it doesn’t affect the consumer (free), and the broker or property management company pays for it, as an invite-only platform
• How the app catalogues everything that moves and event the condition of property
• Testing new ways to keep consumers engaged in platform even post move
• Providing moving offers with discounts, helpful info etc., coupons
• Giving the consumer a complete view of a market, not recommending specific purchases, created competition on the platform including ratings and scores
• Last year nearly 20% of all household moves were processed though Updater
• A lot of A/B testing and measuring consumer behavior
• How Updater works to get brokers on board
• Setting an expectation with the consumer that this is what they should expect of brokers, a kind of seal of approval
• Incredible donuts that are an Updater favorite
• How the process works for an agent, and how Updater only works with real estate brokerages that work with one of the tech partners they integrate with
• Agents/brokers as independent contractors, brokerages don’t require people to use it, running behind the scenes so agent can just decline it
• Once an agent signs up they don’t have to do anything
• Updater is seamless for the agent, easy deployment, training, and engagement process
• The ability to stay connected, keeping consumers engaged, bringing value, platform stays open for this reason
• When Updater decided to IPO on ASX, as the smallest tech company to IPO there, and ultimately one of the most successful to do so
• Building community with brokers, looking beyond being a mere mechanism to their success
• Early moving memories, playing The Oregon Trail on early computers, and Seattle

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Retail and its effect on real estate…

Rebecca Fitts, Principal Consultant for The Wild West of Retail (a consultancy focusing on non-traditional retail real estate strategies, brick and mortar customer experience and omni-channel solutions in the physical space) joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• Is ecommerce causing retauil apolcolypse, or revolution?
• The many changes going on in retail, surplus of retail real estate, need to find way out of that
• Figure out way that retailers can handle taking on overhead
• Digitally native brands opening up physical stores, customers want to have a touch/feel experience with brands
• How a physical store can help reduce amount of returns
• How there are no “pure plays” anymore
• Why physical retailers have harder time moving to ecommerce than ecommerce moving physical
• Westfield’s World  Trade Center Oculus mall, public/private partnership, commuter hub
• Downtown redeveloping itself post-9/11 in NYC, a great comeback
• Mixed use of property, the way cities are growing
• The changing relationship between tenants and landlord, the difficulty of physical spaces taking long term leases
• An interest in commuter hubs for brands
• The need for experiences to be dynamic and changing, and are some physical stores too static to adapt?
• Retail trying to think in a new and different way
• Advancements in technology allowing you to reconfigure the store more frequently and easily
• Virtual reality, augmented reality, and smart mirrors allowing great things to be done in the store to expand experiences
• How Fitts is outgoing and enjoying being in a field that bounces around and changes
• The kinds of neighborhoods that are attractive to retailers, being loyal to local merchants
• Some of Fitts’ favorite jewelry designers

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Real estate agent + client collaboration platform…

Naman Desai, Co-Founder at Quo (which simplifies real estate agent + client collaboration via a platform and mobile app) joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• A customer engagement tool that empowered brokers, allowing them to work closer with clients, increasing efficiency
• How the app allows agents and clients to search and share listings together in one place, as a neat and organized way to keep track of properties they view, with the ability to take notes and store photos, better streamlining the process to make better decisions more quickly
• Allowing the app to maintain a place as preferred place to engage and track real estate opportunities and clients
• How Quo gives brokers an app to put in their clients’ hands, positioning the broker as more tech-forward
• How Quo can help speed up process of scheduling a viewing, with automation, and reduces time lag
• More feedback opportunities for the client, providing a good data and analytics resource
• Building out algorithms to suggest properties actively
• Obvious use case in New York City, but why in Cleveland?
• Looking to integrate CSS, zero lag time
• Is the tool more vertical vs. suburban?
• Markets with a lot of buyer and seller activity
• How Quo started as a concierge service for renters looking for new apartments
• How the co-founders realized a lot of people had a similar knack for helping people in the real estate space to help with real estate process; and, as the company grew and looked to scale, it started doing focus groups and one was people helping with what worked for them — and the biggest was when they had a friend that helped them
• Agents wanted the communication platform, not the concierge service
• Pivoting to the communication tool
• Data in which people said what they wanted and so Quo followed it
• Not so stuck on idea that they wouldn’t listen, letting customers guide where they go
• Getting consensus on a change in company direction, and how the co-founders were married to solving a problem — not on the way to solve it
• The importance of continuing focus groups
• The pushback from brokers — overcoming friction in getting clients to download the app
• A must-have feature was a team collaboration piece
• Being comfortable with changes in business, such as pivoting in his previous business ClassPass
• Real estate as learned behavior vs. in the blood, etc?
• Taking risk in business and startups
• How finding one’s passion brings the opportunity to make more than anywhere else by doing what one thinks is right
• Fear of missing out

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Developing community with residential and office properties and gathering data by providing technology-enabled amenities for tenants…

Francesca Loftus, CEO of hOM (technology-enabled amenity provider that partners with residential and office properties to develop community by providing on-site fitness programming and unique events for tenants) joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• How Loftus became focused on amenities
• The company’s focus on amenities, especially in commercial buildings
• The cash outlay to adjust floors is a big step, so offering programming or events in a vacant space or available accessible spaces is a useful alternative
• The genesis of the idea, two of her cofounders are in fitness and real estate, her background in theater management,
• Some success because of the proximity of buildings to fitness studios
• Selling to amenities managers
• Most managers have tried other things, trying to be on trend with other buildings, then contact them to execute, cant do it themselves
• Despite offering a wide range, fitness is most requested and engaging, yoga leads that interest
• The hOM programs are unique and catch people’s attention
• Mini golf, bouncy houses, partnerships to execute and deliver in diversity
• Building community gives an edge for landlords
• Figuring out a model to provide benefits to fitness instructors, finding it was actually cost effective,
• Why Loftus was forced to be smarter how running business
• Utility players with the ability to get anecdotal data on the building, valuable team members but tough to find
• Looking at people with their whole selves i.e. developers and yoga teacher
• Listening for grit and experience (28 full time employees and 50 part time)
• Loftus is from Canada, ended up in New York, from a competitive girls prep school, full college ride in mathematics, wanted to go to NY for theater, ended up managing a theater at 17 years old, having a public facing “beard”, doing a lot of programming work
• Being curious about everything, having a dual role as performer and manager
• The kind of culture in the hOM office with meditation and breath-work, the company’s C3P0, rituals in the office
• Putting a voice to the tenants of buildings, creating incentive to communicate with them and close a gap of communication

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Short-term vacation rentals for groups…

Yin Lin, Founder/COE of Sage Vacations (a private real estate company with 10 vacation properties across the country, and partnering with institutions and investors to acquire, develop, and commercialize its property investments) and Founder of SheWorx (global collective of ambitious high-growth female entrepreneurs redefining leadership) joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• Lin discusses acquiring and commercializing residential property, undervalued property values
• Distributing them on short term rental sites
• Developing a short term rental portfolio.
• There is a demand for large spaces for groups who cannot get same experience in standard hotel rooms
• Looking at lesser known cities with high regional tourism, emerging cities
• The experience of a space needs to be great, and the people feel the sense of community
• Creating great experiences, and getting buy-in from the community for creating a network
• Creating more bespoke developments which cater to the needs of the audience
• How short term rentals have changed the vacation model, and the future of it depends largely on regulation
• Why professionalism of short-term rentals reduces risk all around
• How Lin got into the business
• Part of Lin’s inspiration in building her business and portfolio is wanting to help women build wealth through real estate
• What marathons have meant to Lin in understanding herself and her potential
• Running in 5 continents so far, and what about Ironman competitions

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Leasing long-term rentals and converting them into outstanding vacation homes which provide landlords higher income and eliminate vacancy risk with Vacayo…

Isabel Berney (COO/Co-Founder) and Truth Oladapo (CEO/Co-Founder) of Vacayo join Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• Helping people earn passive income and have upward mobility via real estate, and how landlords can short term rental their home
• Absorbing the risk for the landlord, making possible to monetize asset right away, guaranteeing a certain rent and lease, furnish and manage the rental
• Eliminating the need to be a landlord
• Most people don’t want to be a landlord, it is just a path to passive income
• Vacayo eliminates the need to be a landlord, by Vacayo being the tenant and the manager
• How Berney and Olapdapo didn’t realize this was a business that could be scaled until they were well into it, how it grew organically into an arbitrage model that was thought out, but the service aspect grew also organically, and how the model was suggested by a landlord when Olapado was hacking wires in a building
• Guaranteeing an income stream for the property that is generally higher than the market
• How Vacayo can furnish a space within 48 hours
• Being able to expand completely remotely, giving the supers the playbook, and how they can roll out and expand quickly into new markets
• Why data assists with determining the true value of a home including rental potential
• Startups are demanding and time consuming, ideal calling for a parent, complete flexibility over time, doing something you love that can be lucrative
• And–managing rentals on Mars?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Unbiased, data-driven ratings for every apartment building in New York City…

Yale Fox, CEO of Rentlogic (looks at a building’s history over time and rates it for quality and safety) joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• Creating a ratings system for apartment buildings
• List of standards built into an iPhone app
• Basic standards include heat, hot water, no mold or roaches
• Corporate relocations into quality housing gives better chance employees won’t end up in low quality housing which can affect work performance, and for international students, affect academic performance
• One of only few ways to differentiate the rental product when similar buildings and location
• Ratings available online, and signage
• Data certifications, increasing transparency
• The genesis of the company from fighting in court and taking advice from a judge
• Becoming a partner in a club and being a DJ, getting attention from a blog article
• Trends from how open data is evolving from real estate space
• How Rentlogic is a socially responsible product
• Canadian bands, Spotify, and music licensing rights
• And — the first talking dog is intentionally profane?

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Automating the processes around data acquisition, visualization, and analysis to provide near real time insights into the state of a project including progress monitoring and defect detection…

Raffi Holzer, CEO of Avvir (using LIDAR technology to help construction BIM experience) joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• Raffi Holzer on LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, measure ranges via a remote sensing method using light in the form of a pulsed laser) and BIM (essentially a 3D blueprint)
• How things change when construction begins, and without updating then the BIM becomes outdated
• How a model can get so far off during construction
• Making it more than a 3d rendering of a building.
• BIM was a digital twin of a building
• Preventing rework
• The importance of having a spouse on board in a startup
• Figuring out who user is, and building the right product for them
• Talking to people who will be using a product and learning what they need
• Major impact – BIM becoming a digital twin, becoming a centerpiece to manage a facility long term
• Data and visualization of a product
• Accurate building information model (instead of just spreadsheets)
• New buildings installing sensors for IoT, need a system to enable sensors to talk to one another
• Looking at climate control, safety
• How Avvir can catch mistakes quickly after done, making them more easily corrected, and an accurate model to be able to tie sensors together and make them viable
• Be able to do predictive analytics, make suggestions to avoid errors
• Avvir is hardware agnostic
• How the marketplace is less of a competitive one, more educational
• Inventory control, asset management and facility management
• How Holzer created Peeq – reversible sunglasses
• The goal of a political podcast

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Monitoring water use with Internet-connected sensors with Lotik…

Ryan Darby, VP of Business Development for Lotik, (a smart system of wireless sensors providing “point-of-use” water monitoring to track usage and detect leaks) joins Thomas Kutzman and guest host Marc Raco in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• Darby discusses how the water problem is a threefold one: cost from an operations standpoint, how the cost of water has gone up dramatically in last fifteen years, and that to control a utility like water, you need information and granular info. In New York City, there is only a single meter on the main from the utility and that’s all you know
• If one has a leak one doesn’t know where (or that) it is occurring initially
• Lotik is creating transparency, with no plumber or tools required
• Quick calibration at setup, scanning barcode, enter meta data, and connecting to a mobile app
• How the New York City water board uses most funds to maintain and upgrade the distribution systems, and this is similar across the country, and often a rate increase is because of population increase
• Lotik has a focus on multifamily and large commercial buildings
• In addition to the operating side of the equation, potential property damage can be avoided, which benefits both the tenant and building owner
• Turning plumbing fixtures into Internet connected devices, as part of Internet of Things
• Bringing fixtures to life, and connecting one’s toilet and sink to the Internet
• Conveying a message of social responsibility to battle privacy concerns
• Finding ways to aggregate data to make it a little less granular in respect for privacy
• Avoiding sabotaging of data
• Using accelerometers, learned what the signature of a toilet flushing or a shower turning on is
• Potential to interact with platforms on both sides (tenants and landlords)
• Looking at low flow movement in pipes, and thus early detection of leaks
• Utilization of a communication protocol called LoRA
• The genesis of the company based in water transparency, and how Samsung brought the cofounders into an accelerator program
• Getting the word out, working with groups like Samsung and Totem Brooklyn, driving demand with building owners
• A presence in mostly major urban areas on the Eastern seaboard, and the opportunity for the Bay Area and Seattle have high water costs, and where LoRA networks already exist
• How Darby’s life transformed with meditation

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Collaborative roommate and apartment finder app…

Problem: Most roommate opportunities are short-term sublets of additional rooms. This can lead to unstable situations with people with whom one might not be the right fit — fitting a circumstance instead of the perfect match, bad for renters and landlords alike. What if one could connect with someone on their same wavelength on one’s search — together. Real roommate collaboration. The demands exists and is resonating so well, there is a surge of early adopters and brand partners.

Steven Abd El Hamid, Co-Founder and CEO of LiveWith (a roommate and apartment finder app like no other, which makes it easy to find ideal roommate matches, chat, schedule and collaboratively rent an apartment together – all within one app) joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• Abd El Hamid reveals how 88% of Millennials are living with roommates, and have 4% less wealth than preceding generations, not as just a matter of choice or preference, but a necessity in most urban areas in the US and in Europe
• How those Millennials require a mechanism to find a stable and desirable roommate situations as a matter of importance
• The traditional process of finding roommates for many was relying on other agents talking to people like the person seeking a roommate situation, hoping that he/she was looking in same location, same budget, and same interests
• Abd El Hamid shares how he was co-owner of a real estate brokerage which matched roommates from Craigslist into situations, how they decided how to automate that process, and how they were looking at the most efficient ways to do that in the midst of carrying out a rental
• How LiveWith is like date-matching tech mixed with the trend for everything to be available and transacted online, with the added impact of being able to consummate the entire rental through the product without having to leave the product
• Why more companies don’t take this path – the technology exists but some of the powers that be have not had an incentive to build it out
• Prospective roommates can chat via the LiveWith app and search all properties that fit preferences
• How LiveWith uses general first-tier compatibility matching questions along with machine learning
• The way LiveWith is referring business to various apartment providers, at a cost-per-click
• What drove people to adopt LiveWith early on, and how most options are sublet-based
• Societal and macro economic changes are driving symbiotic micro economic trends
• Co-living situations, and “dorms for adults”
• Sweden vs. USA, Abd El Hamid’s difficulty in transitioning from on Visa to another
• How Abd El Hamid found his co-founder through an acquaintance
• How vision plus effort can lead to success, and reaching for the sky as a an entrepreneur

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Designing office spaces for startup companies, with Dani Arps…

What comes first, does culture drive design, or does design foster culture? Danielle (Dani) Arps, a design expert, reveals how startups can approach a new office space, curate functional, supporting productivity, retention, and community in the workplace, work surfaces vs. desks, creating spaces people can work in where they will be the most productive, the nature of tertiary spaces, and aesthetics vs. personality when one doesn’t make sense for a business model. Plus, what math and music have to do with office design. Arps joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• How Arps designed spaces for Venmo, SeatGeek, and others, how she begins the inspiration process to design for a startup, and having a certain sense or vibe vs. traditional design.
• Thinking about the design for a startup since it is a corporate office space,
• Considering how are different spaces consumed
• Why open offices may not work for a lot of companies, looking at the growth of tertiary spaces (i.e. living rooms within offices), quiet nooks, phone booths
• Where the trends came from, the idea of open and tertiary spaces, what’s driving thoughtfulness in space usage, the impact of freelance workers
• How employees can be more productive because they like where they work and want to be in a space where they like being, and looking at it all starting with Google
• How company culture and ethos impacts design
• A well-designed space is a perk, and helps recruit and retain employees
• Why companies that are not startups want the look and feel of startups in their spaces
• The nature of how generational expectations are changing
• Does culture drive design? Or design drive culture?
• What the point of the company is matters in the design, including how the company is aligned with the industry, and where you want company brand and culture to go
• Phases of the design process: conceptual, programming, construction documentation/purchasing, installation

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Transparent commercial brokerage with proprietary smart tools…

The real estate industry is antiquated. For most people they think of the residential real estate first, and that’s lagging enough. But technology and innovation in the commercial real estate space? That’s twenty years behind residential. An exception to this is Squarefoot, an online brokerage platform that enables companies to find commercial properties without going space to space.

Jonathan Wasserstrum, Co-Founder and CEO of Squarefoot (”a team of trusted commercial real estate experts armed with our own technology to help guide you from initial inquiry to lease signing and beyond”), joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

In this episode:

• The state of affairs of commercial real estate today, two decades behind residential real estate, comparative sizes of residential vs. commercial Enabling tenants to find space more easily
• The problem being solved by Squarefoot is offering transparency and technology, as a listings platform,
• Squarefoot’s biggest size deal ever, and the average size and company needs commercially
• Playing a role in helping solve real estate problems
• How Squarefoot clients can see the inventory Squarefoot aligns better incentives between broker and client, instead of commission based on deal size, a flat fee per broker, a different comp model, so its not about steering toward biggest commission.
• Most brokers aren’t still at the same brokerage after three years, and at Squarefoot the rate is better than the industry average
• First efficiency, not having to prospect, how inbound people search online and wind up on the Squarefoot site
• Offering further efficiency via tech and products in the space and discovery, and a proprietary app
• Looking ahead to the next level: agency business representing landlords
• Commission structure in commercial vs. residential similar, and how many buildings average landlord own
• A lack of interest from Squarefoot in competing against CoStar — being just a channel for tenants to find space and landlords to market the spaces, not a current interest in data.
• Is Wasserstrum a technology guy or real estate guy? Ample Hills ice cream makes a special appearance
• Are most companies actually tech companies?
• 20% of market is moving every year, but it takes 5 cycles for everyone to go through a new change of process/tech, with commercial taking even longer
• The need to ask “how do I do it better”
• Anything that can help increase the top line, and decrease expenses, should be a welcome thing
• A lack of Houston TX accent
• Houston’s lack of zoning

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360 degree video tours using VR and AR technology that films and processes web-based virtual reality in real time, via autonomous mobile supercomputers…

Why this service is important for consumer convenience, how consumers browse actively for all products but for the biggest purchase of their lives they typically make, they haven’t had access to the same digital access. To let them get the guided tour of spaces it can save time and money for all involved, plus offer convenience for the consumer.

Bryan Colin, CEO of VirtualApt (360 degree video tours via autonomous robots) joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.

In this interview:

• Looking at early innovators like Google Street View and NET-A-PORTER with 360 images, and now being able to compress quality of video necessary to make this full and better, getting a full tour experience with narration, and with embeddable video on a custom player
• VirtualApt’s full production team in the autonomous robot, programming the same path a normal tour would be
• Hiring veterans as robot operators and why this plays such a significant role for the company
• How the service is as affordable as a photographer, and how VirtualApt is able to bring the cost structure down
• Why so much of VirtualApt’s business is in residential real estate in Brooklyn, NY
• The ability to have international consumers see virtual tours that are narrated in their native language, and why landlords love international renters
• A snack of Raspberry pie has meaning
• Reproducing currently guided tours, being able to meaningfully experience views and sizes that a 2-page brochure doesn’t work for, along with all the visualization that a company would need
• How the price point is so low, providing everything the client needs and making it so much more affordable and with quality control plus touching many points of the process—this controlling best end results
• The world of visualization beyond real estate, how VirtualApt is more of a tech company thank a service company, and the aptitude of apt
• How VirtualApt is inventing its own tech
• Creating more links into the video, seeing a product in that space, creating a new experience, shoppable links to buy or shop, and making virtual reality experience what it should be
• Bringing you to another location where you want to be, showing what makes that space unique
• Bootstrapping the company, recruiting the right people, creating a company culture as an enjoyable place to be
• Does this technology risk putting real estate agents out of business or is it creating opportunities?
• How robots can provide nearly exact measurements of a space, and Colin’s favorite robots
• Being comfortable in your own self and in the world, and the cost of being focused as an entrepreneur
• How the digital is now, and it is necessary to be focused on how you look digitally and your digital presence as the place when someone is there already

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CRM for real estate…

Zvi Band, Co-Founder & CEO of Contactually (a customer relationship management software and service company, and a provider of customer relationship software for various industries including real estate) joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

Complex transactions require real relationships, and intelligent CRM, and motivating software adoption

Band discusses how the real estate industry is not vastly different than other industries, and simple sales don’t require complex relationships. Buying/selling homes and properties involves complex transactions, and the process is not always neat and clean. The primary competitive advantage real estate agents/brokers have is the relationship. The right CRM keeps relationships strong. The 1.2 million real estate agents in the US. How Contactually differs from other CRMs, intelligent CRM, and delivering intelligence, prompting action. Setting a level of expectation, training brands and ease of use, and overcoming low agent use of software in a brokerage.

Accepting change, the commodity of relationships, and how culture eats strategy

Incentivizing agents to use the support systems, and one muffin for snack time. The biggest pain-point real estate agents have, how some are stuck in their model, sand some are transforming and accepting change. How agents build their own brands with relationships and web presence, and relationships are a commodity. Technology makes sure transaction is smooth, supported, making sure agents can build their best relationships. Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Brokerage vs. tech company, siloed listing data, and a rocket scientist

Why brokerages don’t always build their own CRMs, and are technology companies seeing real estate as a play? Or brokerages becoming tech companies? What’s broken in real estate that should and can be fixed, how listing data and MLS (multiple listing service) is siloed off, and a mess. Personal questions cover a rocket scientist, friends as a resource, transitioning to the public face of a company, and the duality of honesty.

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Neighborhood insights, landlord reviews, and quality listings empowering and informing the rental community…

Ofo Ezeugwu, CEO & Co-Founder of Whose Your Landlord (enabling renters to find their next home and to review their landlords and housing complexes, and enabling landlords to provide and use renter references and to target their listings to their desired market), joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

Why it matters, content, and landlord reciprocation

Ezeugwu discusses why the landlord review process is so important, why content is important, the need to educate, a forum called The Community, plus blog and video content blended in with the platform, reviews, search and content—all as key things. Plus, how landlords can reciprocate, and the overcoming fear of being blackballed by landlords.

Acquiring users, growth, and helping with disputes creatively

How Whose Your Landlord is getting the platform in the hands of renters, how there are many truths to situations and reviews have both sides, larger companies are controlling larger blocks, the importance of reviews, bigger vs. smaller landlords, and more than 10,000 reviews in the Philadelphia and New York areas over 4 ½ years. Developing significant readership, getting involved in disputes, making content to help renters know how to maneuver out of issues and difficulties.

Diversifying the industry, inspired by off campus living, and expansion

Personal questions cover moving a lot as a kid, female and unrepresented backgrounds in real estate tech and how to change that. If people never had a hand in real estate or understood it, or parents could teach them about it, how will they be motivated to enter that industry? But every industry is helped by newbies looking at it, who are not jaded by that reality, and how can one create one’s own. And when one is looking for people, one may not know where to find them. The need for making a more concerted effort for change, and how that can make a big difference. Ezeugwu’s surprisingly good landlord experience, but as VP of his college student body he was focused on off campus activities, and a lot of housing issues. His favorite city to live in, Philadelphia and NYC, where they plan to expand in the cities growing fastest. What home is, and a crowdfunding opportunity for ownership in the company.

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Smart online brokerage enable commission rebates via an end-to-end Platform…

Thomas Kutzman, Co-Founder of Prevu (a smart online brokerage focused on saving people money) and host of “Real Estate Is Your Business” podcast, joins Scott Pollack and Pavan Bahl in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser.

Better Technology. Better Service. Best Commission Rebates.

Kutzman touches on how commission rates too high in real estate, with rates in the US/NYC being double and triple than other developed countries, and how his experiences along with his co-founder Chase Marsh led to creating a solution with Prevu. He continues that in New York City the average real estate price is $1.5-2 Million with high commissions, and how it really is not free to be represented by buyer’s agent because it’s built into the price because of commission split with buyer’s agent. How Prevu gets up to two-thirds back on commissions of buyer’s side to the customer, receiving money back as a commission rebate check. It is not because of a lesser service, instead using technology for better experience for buyers and to make agents more efficient, plus a lower internal cost structure. Controlling the consumer experience and the quality of service and interaction. Despite some 30,000 licensed agents in NYC, 10% of them are doing 90% of work. The Prevu brand acquires leads and customers digitally, and provides more stability and experience/activity for Prevu agents. Plus, why it is a scalable model, and best for major markets.

Engineering a smarter buying experience

How Kutzman has been looking at it through the lens of other industries have changed like travel and financial, changing the way agents com into the industry and their expectations of stability, and why you’ll never learn a profession doing it part time. Prevu’s compelling value proposition, the impact of the new tax reform on real estate, and why it won’t impact most people. And, making use of a commission rebate, and expanding to other markets.

Charitable giving, learning, and treating people well

Personal questions cover giving back, a focus on charitable giving, Children’s International, and Code2College which encourages STEM careers at a high school level for underprivileged and minority teens, and how encouraging tech careers at earlier ages leads to greater success. The NYU Violets, how Kutzman was encouraged to save and buy a property instead of having cancelled rent checks, making sure if you didn’t know something, go take a class to learn it. How there are a lot of great real estate people, and a lot of great technology people, but few have a lens on both areas. As time goes on, more people will know both. The meaning of success, a great mentor, treating people the right way serving you well, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”, and “Principles”.

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Student housing as a captive market and massive asset class in real estate

Oliver Swan, Managing Partner of Treesdale Real Estate Partners (a real estate investment platform focused on the acquisition of student housing properties nationwide), joins Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

The opportunity, maintenance challenges, service platform

What is student housing, is it dorms? The surprising quality and variety of students housing, and why this asset class? Marketing properties, the application process, how students discover properties, the focus on amenities, then price and location, starting with signing leases in fall, aligning with academic year, how it is a captive market, how students don’t have proper expectations so need to instill and manage those expectations. The current generation interacts differently, they don’t use the telephone to call for service Crazy requests from tenants such as one involving 25 tons of sand. Having to out technology in place to meet needs of tenants, and whether paying attention to social media is useful for responding to service, the opportunity for big data from service needs and responses, and a 100% engagement rate of platform for services. How the service platform is like a concierge out of necessity vs. luxury, for maintenance requests, and how real estate has lagged on technology front.

Technology complexity, navigating and strategizing demographic trends, and how universities prioritize housing

The complexity and expense of providing Wi-Fi to every resident as a challenge, especially when offering beefy enterprise-grade equipment and infrastructure, how landlords will need to react to the future tenants of this generation, hurdles to get big companies to partner in providing Wi-Fi, the bureaucracy in the way of partnering with municipalities to drive infrastructure innovation in major markets, how markets are opportunity-based, the strong demographics, focusing on the acquisition of existing products and operating them more efficiently or repositioning them for better value/monetization. How regional differences in demographic have impact on operating properties. Looking at university enrollment over time and their plans, along with statewide demographics and economy, plus factors leading to family creation and trends across education paths. And why providing housing is seen as an ancillary priority for universities.

Good timing, a room divided, and the concentration required for racing cars.

How Swan got his start with some good timing in this new growing space with Campus Habitats. And how his job is being a generalist and being able to do a lot of different tasks. Swan’s freshman year dorm room as the seeds of a desire to fix things in student housing, a roommate random coincidence who played a combination of Fish and Rent, too many towels, and a room divided. Being clean but messy, total concentration of taking a car onto a racetrack, and geography leads to a goal in Botswana.

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Security deposit alternative for rentals with Paraag Sarva…

Paraag Sarva, CEO/Founder of Rhino (replacing security deposits with a smarter alternative that’s better for both renters and landlords) joins hosts Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

An atypical path, from dating site to the Mayor’s office, and why Rhino was created

Sarva discusses how Rhino is making renting easier, starting with security deposits and figuring it out after that. He reviews how his path has not been that of a typical real estate entrepreneur, taking a journey starting with financial services, working as a policy advisor in the NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s office, a principal at Grow Real Estate, and his role as Vice President, Media and Partnerships for the dating site How About We. Plus, why Rhino was created, and some amazing donuts.

Insuring the landlord, marketing, and additional applications

How instead of signing a lease with a security deposit, Rhino insures the landlord for damages caused by the tenant, solving challenges and pains from owner’s side. How Rhino marketed it to landlords, being mindful of ignorance of forfeiting security deposits, how the renter/landlord dynamic is adversarial, and why it takes a culmination of experience and learnings to do something in a complex space. The potential of applying this type of thinking to other components of real estate transactions.

Business strategy, customer adoption, and a presidential “prediction”

Business growth strategies based on looking at the concentrations of where people live and want to live, following the population and obvious opportunities, how Rhino achieves customer adoption, and employing geography by geography company-building much like dating sites. Sarva’s favorite industry so far, the implications of being the youngest in an entrepreneurial family, sibling rivalry, and a 2020 presidential race prediction and candidate suggestion.

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A platform for transactions and “paperwork” for UK home rentals…

Richard White, CEO/Co-Founder of Goodlord (the first digital system that pulls together the whole tenancy setup process) joins hosts Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack from the United Kingdom. Recorded in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu. Special thanks to Tom Lambert of Global Founders Capital.

Overcoming industry fragmentation, whether the UK market is more receptive to innovation, and umbrella agencies vs. agents

White discusses taking on a great opportunity, and initiating what he believes can be a global movement, the nature of the rental market in the UK, the changing rental experience, what he saw as an estate agent, how in this day and age so much of the rental market is “super fragmented”, the continuing use of antiquated processes such as fax machines, questioning why the industry is not more modern, and his determination to do something about this. He reveals how he looked at discovery, how to find property, how manage it, but no one making transaction easy or tying it all together. He and his co-founder figured it was the right place to start, from signing, to exchange of cash, to due diligence. Why the UK may be more receptive of real estate tech than other markets. The Goodlord software platform, its segments including emerging (1-3 offices), then 3-13 offices, and 13+, and the division based on how big the agency is and how many transactions. White describes how in the UK there are more umbrella companies, not individual agents.

Building a new set of rules, creating ease and transparency, and finding a co-founder

Next, White reviews the goal, how Goodlord can’t sell product only to estate agents, how they need to take key stakeholders and establish an understanding of a new set of rules. Plus, the challenge of having to convince people that electronic signing was legal. The impact on the industry, driving things forward, and the effort to making people raise their game, making renting as easy and transparent as possible for everyone, going from 11-130+ people in the business, how scaling a business is difficult, finding his co-founder via serendipity from renting a house together, and the dynamics of friends vs. family as business partners.

Working with investors, selling the vision, and cryotherapy

How a large investment changes the dynamics of business operations and focus. Selling the vision, getting the MVP out the door, and dealing with potential investors. Personal questions cover struggles with school, learning problem solving, a surprising app on his phone, cryotherapy, football and cricket, Outward Bound, and white water canoeing. And, taking stock of assets, how a business owner is the biggest asset, and the importance of developing an arsenal of thing you know.

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Transforming home remodeling into a safe and hassle-free process…

Fraser Patterson, Founder/CEO of Bolster (a soup to nuts renovation platform built atop a powerful new process. offering the best architect and general contractor for your home renovation project and together use a suite of budget & project management tools) joins hosts Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

Traditional vs. marketplace, from online selection to a detailed call, and catering to flexible needs

Patterson reviews marketplace vs. traditional approaches. Traditional involved finding a contractor – a marketplace model can do a disservice to homeowner, not trying to solve the problem downstream but instead solving a matchmaking need; with the model aggregating demand and selling leads to professionals, creating a competitive environment bad for service people and with the homeowner getting less info. How Bolster is different, overcoming the usual Illusion of choice in marketplace. Consumers get direct matches, better than just a marketplace. How Bolster knows what a homeowner wants from an architect or contractor, allowing the homeowner to identify online and auto select in a qualification process, discovering things they need to know about their project, then jumping on a detailed call with specialist. How Bolster offers a wide range of opportunities and types of jobs and contractors. The opportunity to cater to several types of needs: flexibility of scope of work and budget, with others on a fixed budget but flexible on scope, and then those with strict scope of work but a more flexible budget. And, how it all comes down to educating the consumer.

Cost overruns, reality shows, and saving real money

Examining the average cost overrun of 60% in NYC, which is usually not planned for. How one can probe in advance, slowing down before construction begins, getting the right info. How, if done properly, constructions can be very plug and play, and how with Bolster across projects they boast a mere 0.1 % cost overrun, which Bolster absorbs. How most consumers can’t enjoy results emulating construction-themed TV reality shows, and how Bolster can save the average homeowner $59k/project as well as time.

Yorkie Bars, a price guarantee, and scaling nationally

A special snack offering of Yorkie Bars, how Patterson started as a carpenter, and has a mathematics degree. Direct/indirect costs of builds, and a detailed review of all of the elements of the construction process and budget. The importance and desire for transparency and Bolster’s cost guarantee, thanks to their insurance partners. How Bolster offers what can be seen as a full-stack experience, and the offer of a best price guarantee. The plan for scaling nationwide, news of recent major acquisition, and following a calling to solve this problem by building this business.

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Taking the friction out of rentals and roommates with tech…

Harley Courts, CEO at Nooklyn ( Brooklyn-based tech start-up fixing the experience of finding apartments and roommates) joins hosts Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

From skateboarding to real estate, data as a core asset, and why brokers are here to stay

Courts discusses the impact that the company’s atypical management and structure has contributed to its success, what he took from running a skateboard company, leadership, building a collaborative, mission driven team, how his skateboard company failing led to becoming the super of a building, then meeting numerous real estate brokers and realizing he can do that, starting Nooklyn as a blog, and having so much success that he had to hire agents. How when giving listing data away you have nothing, as it’s a core asset. How Nooklyn is giving renters control over process, plucking away at removing friction for renters, the majority of the country is still on Craigslist for rentals, and why the highly regulated nature of the real estate industry, and the fact that this is the largest purchase most people will make, means brokers will remain.

Taking on Manhattan, fixing the experience, and growing quickly

A spectrum of vegan offerings make for a dynamic snack. Court reveals how Nooklyn is growing beyond Brooklyn, and being on a mission to fix the experience for renters, and to take on a new market, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Why 200 listing number is a magic number to make progress, how Nooklyn offers an advantage for landlords, getting into shared housing on the platform, and the ability to facilitate transactions. Why with currently 250 agents Nooklyn is trying to hire 375 more agents in the next year. And how more than half the deals are split between at least two agents, who often contribute different skills sets and resources.

The skateboarding business, a police offer and a party animal, and eating vegan

Personal questions cover missing skateboarding, a broken elbow, a daughter (also) named Harley, learning the skateboarding industry in detail, seven layers of wood, difficulty in competing in the skateboarding business, a bad experience moving in with a police officer and a party animal who both stopped paying rent immediately, and how Court has personally gone through many challenges of rentals and roommates and what’s driven him to make the process better. Plus, a roommate platform built into the site, and favorite Vegan restaurants in Brooklyn.

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Connecting technology innovation and real estate industry leaders…

Brendan Wallace, Co-Founder of Fifth Wall Ventures (fostering collaboration between innovative technologies for the Built World and industry-leading incumbents from all sectors of the real estate industry including: retail, industrial, hospitality, multi-family, homebuilding, office, and brokerage), joins hosts Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

Two halves of a career, the historical absence of funds in the largest economic sector, and playing translator

Wallace shares the mission is to accelerate innovation in the Built World to improve how we live, work, sleep, consume, move, create, connect, and play. He comments how the company envisions a future where technology is seamlessly integrated into the physical spaces around us, creating a shared environment that is more accessible, efficient, and delightful than ever before. He covers his successes as entrepreneur and an exit, arriving at real estate tech, the marriage of the first half of his career (real estate banking and private equity, witnessing the boom and bust) and the second half of his career (going to business school, starting a data analytics business for recruiting and targeting the right kind of workers, raising $35 million as students, then creating the largest ride sharing platform in Latin America, and finally angel investing). How real estate tech offers low-tech risk because innovation is usually technically simple. Real estate is the largest asset class and lending category and store of consumer wealth—so why have there been no funds? What if one could raise capital from the largest buyers of real estate technology themselves, then collaborate and understand or influence what they are going to do, allowing them to make better investments, while supporting portfolio companies. This approach offers the best of traditionalist and generalist VC and corporate VC. How Fifth Wall is like an outsourced recruiter for companies to invest, and on the side of the companies, playing translator between major real estate incumbents and innovators, and partnering with generalist funds. And, how Fifth Wall has relationships deep into every subsector.

A demand for tech, big drivers, and learning from Amazon’s business model

Is Fifth Wall inciting change or making change themselves, and how the demand for real estate tech is growing. Playing a role in translating needs to specific solutions, a focus that is more on commercial real estate, less on residential brokerage, and concentrating on what partners are looking for. Big drivers are energy efficiency and building data assets, why more companies haven’t had a huge impact on the real estate industry with data, and the challenge with collecting meaningful data. Looking at brick and mortar retail and learning. Does Amazon know its business model? The meaning of retail is changing, and the line between online and offline. Plus how there must be more consideration of the physical store in online purchases, and how this relates to Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods.

A technology divide, rushing for the exit, and real estate on Mars

East Coast vs. West Coast divide in technology, how technology is becoming all industries, New York as the nerve center of the real estate industry, and why Fifth Wall is likely to open office in NYC sooner vs. later. How rushing for the exit might have been the biggest mistake of Wallace’s career, both tech and real estate boom cycles won’t last, and why the real test is how you perform during imminent retractions. How Fifth Wall is effectively an advisory business and a venture fund, so Wallace’s time belongs to other people. And a look at rare free time, running and physical training, and the search for balance when one is being paid for good judgment. Plus, maintaining reality as a great partner while creating space to identify the next great opportunity, playing pool, early real estate memories, favorite rooms, and spending a lot of time on the roof. Plus, buying property on Mars.

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Creating the best possible client experience when buying, selling, or renting a home…

David Walker, Co-Founder and CEO of Triplemint (a high tech real estate brokerage) joins hosts Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

Pushing the envelope, a shift in the industry, and a major pre-market value proposition

Walker discusses why there’s room for so many new players, how despite the Internet and technology in other industries, the real estate industry lags 10 years behind, and in the last few years a transformation has begun. How the modern buyer and seller are smarter and looking for tech forward brands in all they do, how Triplemint is pushing the envelope, consumers are leading the charge, how more can be offered than just the agent, and the right equation of offering fantastic humans plus tools. There is a similar shift in real estate as in financial services, what’s changed is a demand for tech, an ease of actual transaction, speed to close, managing properties seen, and transparency of data. And, how to show more properties to buyers than they can see anywhere else, using predictive analytics. One major value prop is understanding trends and patterns and the data to determine someone is likely to list their home, adding a new value prop pre-market that’s fair for the consumer to have, earlier in the value chain. It’s not about convincing people to sell. Adding more data to the pricing picture. Plus, diligence to fiduciary responsibility,

A high NPS score, acquisition sources, and the impact of great agents

Customer service satisfaction survey measuring chance of referring business in the form of a Net Promoter Score (NPS), evaluating agents, and competing against established firms for that talent. How it used to be about highest splits and nicest offices, and now about the value a company can provide to the agent to do business and to the buyers and sellers. Two-thirds of transactions are acquired digitally by Triplemint, acquisition via agents and platform, and how it is one thing to get customers and another thing to offer more value and close transactions and get referrals. Triplemint’s off-the-charts NPS score of 91, with an average survey of 9.7/10 and a testament to the team. Triplemint boasts success due to fantastic agents, great and powerful technology, and empowering value.

Expansion, the future of agents, and working with a friend

Looking ahead at expansion beyond NY, how the consumer is getting smarter, and wanting to empower them to do so. Will the need for agents dissipate or is the consumer seeking agents who provide real value? And personal questions cover a surprising mobile app, The New Classics, Fantasy Football, working with a college friend and rowing teammate, an Iron Man, overcoming disagreements, working real estate, and teaching English.

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De-rigging the mortgage game with thoughtful technology…

Vishal Garg, CEO of Better Mortgage (a direct lender dedicated to providing a fast, transparent, and online mortgage experience backed by superior customer support) joins hosts Thomas Kutzman and Scott Pollack in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Presented by Prevu.

An industry behind the times, the need, and why pre-approval in 3 minutes is possible

Garg discusses how the mortgage industry is dominated by the top 5 banks with a third of the market, why the mortgage industry hasn’t modernized as fast as other industries, how it is one of the last oligopolies, and how because of complexity and size is one of last ones standing requiring modernization and innovation. He covers how startups need at least $20M of capital to make mortgages and finance them with Wall Street or bigger banks, and those amounts are usually not available to most tech startups. He shares the goals of helping consumers know how much they can afford, the challenges that followed a number of financial crises, and why Better Mortgage was created. Garg touches on how the company takes the info provided by applicants, uses an API to create pre approval within typically 3 minutes, whereas usually takes much longer as well as many as dozens of people.

Eliminating commissions, creating certainty, and making obtaining a mortage a non-event

When the numbers have been proven and credit has been checked, there is a high degree of confidence a consumer can obtain that financing. The impact of having no incentives to drive consumer experience or product choices, with loan consultants not paid on commissions at Better Mortgage, and how the company built a marketplace of 21 financing partners, making up the majority of mortgage lending market. How human elements are doing things that empower the consumer instead of just order taking, integrating automation to create certainty, why banks won’t do something like this kind of solution and the industry doesn’t care that the mortgage process is painful for the consumer, as an industry that helps the industry. The objective of making getting a mortgage a non event, helping consumers win with lower down payments, and a look at the source nearly half of default.

Overcoming industry inertia, the only way brokers can prosper, and maintaining focus

The importance of the fact that Millennials don’t want to be sold, creating a platform so 6 of 7 biggest banks in industry are financing off the platform, overcoming the inertia of the industry which cannot innovate, how mortgage brokers and real estate brokers who are really helping people with value today are the only ones who can prosper, and how the rest will have to find something else to do. Plus falafel chips and running a startup with young kids, focusing on the most important thing you need to do, and helping Americans to buy homes.

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How Technology Is Modernizing Real Estate …

Real Estate Is Your Business is a series of conversations with the innovators, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders at the forefront of the modernization of the real estate industry. The podcast, presented by Prevu, is hosted by real estate technology entrepreneur Thomas Kutzman and business development expert Scott Pollack. You will hear the about the exciting technological and business innovations that are improving the way we live, work, and pretty much do everything.

Thomas Kutzman is the co-founder of Prevu, a tech startup on a mission to save people money when they buy or sell a home. Thomas has broad experience investing in public technology companies at asset management firms and top-tier investment banks, and has also been an active real estate investor for over a decade. Scott Pollack is a business development expert with experience helping both startups and Fortune 500 companies focus on growth. Scott is a member of the Forbes Business Development Council, author of “What, Exactly, Is Business Development”, and a regular speaker on the topic.

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