As a real estate professional, it is your job to stay on top of market trends, pricing analysis, buyer and seller behavior, and tenant needs, and that includes new technology too. Like me, I’m sure you’re stretched for time and bandwidth, and the thought of having an AI-powered assistant to speed up certain tasks may seem like a way to automate your workflow.  ChatGPT, the artificial intelligent chatbot, is all the rage right now. With 13 million active users visiting the platform each day, you may be itching to know if it is worth the hype. That question is up for debate, but many real e ..read more

CityBldr’s Local product that we mentioned a few weeks back, is now FREE for a month in 150+ US cities. Since COVID, housing insecurity and homelessness have risen. Housing exists at the base level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs…people and communities need housing to survive, much less thrive. There is one thing every community in the US has in common: they’re built on land. CityBldr has located over 10 million housing units trapped in underutilized land in communities all across the country. Interested in finding and developing some of that real estate? Search for your City **I’m an investor ..read more

In this week’s founder interview, we’re bringing you Jeff Weiner from Realquantum. Without further ado… Who are you and what do you do? My name is Jeff Weiner and I am the CEO and Co-Founder of Realquantum. Realquantum is a SaaS company providing web-based commercial real estate appraisal software and database products that significantly accelerate the appraisal process. We are on a mission to transform commercial real estate appraisal with a platform that empowers appraisers to deliver high-quality, accurate valuation insights faster than ever. What problem does your product/service solve? Re ..read more

[Note from editor: The “Mastermind Showcase” highlights companies and news from members of the GEM. Today’s showcase: Stake] A fintech company and loyalty network, Stake enables multi-family owners and operators to reduce delinquencies, increase leads, and generate more renewals. Serving more than 40,000 units, they do that by helping renters save through cash back and banking. It integrates with Yardi, Entrata, RealPage, and MRI to import property and resident data.  For property operators: Incentivize renters for actions like referring a renter, paying rent on time, and renewing their ..read more

[Note from editor: The “Mastermind Showcase” highlights companies and news from members of the GEM. Today’s showcase: Matrix Rental Solutions] A tenant analysis fintech platform, Matrix Rental Solutions has built a tenant scoring model called MAIA (Matrix Asset & Income Analysis) that allows landlords and property managers to underwrite and approve tenants quickly, particularly in the area of affordable housing. Its universal rental application uses machine learning and direct connectivity to gather information on assets, income, previous rental history, and employment data to provide mor ..read more

An applied academic institution at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, Ivory Innovations is dedicated to supporting innovative solutions in housing affordability. They recently announced the Top 25 Finalists for the 2023 Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability (from 203 nominees). Finalists are divided into three categories (Construction & Design, Finance, and Policy & Regulatory Reform) and have demonstrated innovative, achievable, and scalable solutions to the housing affordability crisis. The Top 10 will be announced in April, with the final winners to be announ ..read more

[Editor’s Note: Below is the full text of our 242nd Weekly Transmission, originally delivered direct to the inbox of more than 600 GEM members on February 9th, 2023.] The benefits of customer loyalty are well documented. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that people like earning something for their time, effort, and attention. A full 37% of consumers “are willing to pay a fee for access to enhanced loyalty program benefits,” according to 2018 research from Bond. That number jumps to 47% for Gen Z, 46% for Millennials, 44% for households with children, and a whopping 69 ..read more

[Editor’s note: Originally published in The Appraisal on February 15th.] WeWork is currently trading at $1.55 (at the time of writing), off more than 85% from its peak. Despite the miss, several Wall Street analysts have reaffirmed their bullish outlook on the company — their median price target is $7.75, a 4x+ premium to today’s stock price. This divergence between investor and analyst sentiment inspired me to take a closer look at the company, including its recent performance, cash position, and tailwinds driving optimism in the flex office space. Overall, it’s an interesting case study in b ..read more

[Note from editor: The “Mastermind Showcase” highlights companies and news from members of the GEM. Today’s showcase: Revive] The benefits of flipping your own home are attractive to homeowners, but many lack the knowledge, guidance, and access to capital to make the right renovations. Enter Revive: a home concierge service that identifies the most effective pre-sale home improvements, provides renovation estimates, secures and manages contractors to complete the work, and fronts the cost of the renovations. They’re paid after the home sale closes with no fees, markups, or additional costs to ..read more

The Housing Innovation Summit, co-hosted by the Housing Innovation Alliance and the University of Denver, is a forum for startups and the homebuilders industry to connect, share ideas, and explore business opportunities. The event takes place April 25-27 in Denver, at the Franklin L Burns School of Real Estate. They’ve recently announced Pitchfest, a competition to explore innovation across three categories: Design + Build ESG Tech + Data  Interested in pitching? Both startups and students are eligible, with the deadline being March 14th. Apply Now PS: Attending the conference? We’re o ..read more