Prop Tech Innovations for Real Estate Investing
Investing in properties and becoming a landlord can take a lot of work. Much of that work tends to be repetitive and time-consuming paperwork. Real estate is the largest asset class in the world, but those who are involved in the field are often some of the last to adopt technology. They continue to do things the “old way”, but that is slowing them down more than they might realize.
Fortunately, technology is starting to innovate and make headway into this area with new tech-enabled solutions that can help to solve many of those issues. However, they have to be willing to adopt the new technology and put it to use if they want to garner all of the benefits.
Why Is Real Estate Resistant to Technology?
With all of the innovations that are being developed, you will still find many real estate agents and investors that are reluctant to adopt technology. Some people, particularly those who have been in the field for years and are part of the old guard, worry about paperless technology. They worry that they might not be able to learn how to use the technology or that they will do something wrong.
Others might be accustomed to having reams of documents for all of their transactions and their real estate portfolio and feel it’s the safest—albeit slowest—option. Having everything on the computer or their phone worries them, as they see it as ephemeral. They worry that they could lose the information. Of course, backups in the cloud or on another drive make this fear unfounded. Also, paper isn’t entirely gone. The innovations just help to reduce the amount of physical paper needed and to reduce a lot of the repetitive work that eats up a substantial amount of time.
Over the years, more and more have come around to the idea of using new technologies. For those who are still on the fence, it’s important to have a firm understanding of what prop tech is and why it can be such a boon for real estate investors and landlords.
What is Prop Tech?
This is simply a term for property technology. It is any type of tech that is used in the real estate world. This could include a range of types of tech including hardware, such as sensors, and software, such as property portals. The term is also often used to refer to startups in this industry, as well as the technology itself. It is no longer a niche field, and it continues to grow as new and better tech is being developed.
With these innovations, it is allowing landlords to improve their portfolio and their workflow on several levels. It can allow for faster data entry, better organization, easier access, updates and alerts, and much more. The field is filling with a wide range of prop tech options that can help with a host of needs a landlord might have.
Property Technology Has Changed Over the Years
Property technology innovations from startups can help change this field for the better. Although prop tech might seem like a relatively new term, this type of technology has been around, at least on the fringes, for decades. It just wasn’t as quick to be adopted. In the early days, there were pieces of software that could be used for underwriting, accounting, organization, etc. However, they were all separate programs, and they did not integrate. This meant that to use them, you would have to invest in a wide range of technology. For many investors at the time, this was not feasible or practical.
As the Internet became more prominent, there were new prop tech innovations that rose to the forefront and that are still being used today. The websites Zillow and Trulia are two well-known examples of online aggregators. Sites like those made it possible to find homes quickly and easily for purchase, for rent, to learn more about the property, the location, etc.
However, the prop tech that’s being developed today is taking things further and providing more benefits to investors. The advancements in data processing and storage have allowed for great leaps in the software that’s being made available. They are providing investors with an innovative approach to real estate that can make it far easier for them to research, buy, sell, rent out, and manage properties.
What Type of Prop Tech is Right for You?
There is no single answer that will work for everyone. Each real estate professional, whether they are an agent or broker, an investor, property manager or a landlord with several residential properties will have varying needs. Therefore, you will want to check out some of the different pieces of tech that are currently available and keep an eye on those that are currently being developed.
Always consider your pain points when you are looking for a solution. What part of the work is slowing you down or causing problems? Where do you feel that things could be better? Do you need to improve your organization? Do you need to save time on data entry? Do you need help with the basic management of the properties? You can find prop tech solutions for all of these needs.
Consider Foliolens as a Solution
Foliolens is property tech software that aims to eliminate all of the repetitive and time-consuming data-entry work that you usually have to handle manually. You can scan, email, or upload a document and then the software can gather the information and provide you with actionable data in the palm of your hand. It will match it to the right property and organize and populate your most important data.
The process is fast and easy, allowing you to stay on top of your portfolio thanks to the intelligent alerts. It can provide you with trend reports, information about expense increases, reminders to avoid late fees, leases, support for tax prep, and more. It’s a great solution and early access to the software is available.
