startups

‘We see everything that happens’: 5 real estate execs explain why data is changing how we live and work – Business Insider


Data is not only the realm of young, tech-forward startups. Traditional real estate is getting into the game. Some are simply using data to give their own businesses an edge. Others, like Harvey Hernandez, the founder and CEO of Miami-based development company Newgard Development Group (NGD), are creating their own proptech ventures.

In 2017, Hernandez founded Niido in partnership with Airbnb. NGD had noticed that some of their tenants were renting out their apartments on Airbnb, which created tension in their buildings between tenants and building staff and left NGD vulnerable to potential legal and regulatory violations. Hernandez decided to create a full community dedicated to Airbnb under the Niido brand, where renters are encouraged to rent to others and the company provides hotel-like amenities, like a concierge and cleaning surfaces. Shortly after, Natiivo launched, which replicated the Niido model but for condo-purchasers.

As Hernandez continues to develop these two businesses, he’s also getting access to more and more data. For one, the company’s partnership with Airbnb gives it access to information about each unit’s utilization and demand. Niido also collect data on the utilization of all of the amenities they provide, everything from the concierge to their partnership with smart lock company Latch. The effect is a panopticon-like view into the patterns of both their tenants and their tenants’ guests.

“We manage the behavior, we see everything that happens — what people want, and what doesn’t work,” Hernandez said. “There is a tremendous amount of intelligence that we acquire in our communities.”

Both Natiivo and Niido are still young, so Hernandez estimates that they’ll be able to use the data more productively to help it make business decisions in a year or so.

Hernandez told Business Insider that the patchwork of local and state regulations around have slowed their ability to expand and gather larger amounts of data. Natiivo’s approach is to actually acquire a hotel license so that the company can operate in municipalities with strict short-term rental laws.

“Technology goes very fast, but it’s not the case with legislation,” Hernandez said. “I think at the end of the day, that has been what has been holding back real estate’s adoption of some of these new ideas.”



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.