Where is the Tenant Rep Broker in the Proptech Revolution?
November 22, 2021 • Thought Leadership
Proptech has been on the rise for over a decade and yet it is in some ways an underdeveloped trend that is still growing at a rapid rate. Proptech investment alone was worth $8.9 billion in 2019 and spiked to $23.9 billion in 2020, with no signs of slowing down, according to Currency Fair. Although proptech has spread to every part of the real estate world thus far, including commercial real estate, one piece of the puzzle has been curiously left behind: the tenant rep broker.
It should come as no surprise that the first proptech solutions on the market were on the residential side, with portals like Zillow and Redfin, now with iBuyers and new tech-enabled lending platforms on every (digital) corner. When the trend spread into the commercial space, building management software and portfolio management software quickly emerged. But now almost a decade into development, the tenant rep broker still remains underserved by the rising technological tide that is lifting the rest of real estate.
On the commercial side, the asset services community has been forced into the 21st century by their clients and building owners, who require some sort of asset management software more sophisticated than an Excel spreadsheet. But that’s only half the brokerage equation, i.e. the landlord rep broker.
Where the Tenant Rep Broker Fits into the Equation
In commercial real estate, both the building owners and the end tenants are represented by agents or brokers to facilitate a transaction. On one side of the equation is the property owner and the listing agent or landlord rep broker. On the other side is the tenant rep broker who represents the tenants.
The listing agents and listing brokers need building and property management, or portfolio management software to keep their operations digitized. They need to manage the leases of their current occupants and get leases signed on properties that are vacant. They represent the needs of the building owners. In the past two decades, a plethora of proptech solutions have been developed to suit these needs.
On the tenant rep broker side, the goal is to serve the needs of the tenants. This involves finding properties that meet the requirements of a given tenant, presenting accurate and up to date information, scheduling tours, and ultimately negotiating lease terms on behalf of the tenant. Working without adequate technology on the tenant rep broker side is both inefficient and an undesirable experience for the end client of every commercial real estate transaction: the tenant.
Software for the Tenant Rep Broker -
Transaction Management
Where is the tenant rep broker in this wave of proptech? They have been largely ignored. Look at any commercial real estate technology landscape infographic, and transaction management is surprisingly absent. Commercial real estate is a $9 trillion industry according to Deloitte--larger than any other class of financial services assets. And yet half of every transaction in the industry currently lacks even basic technological support and automation.
Why is tenant rep broker software so late to the curve? It is not as though tenant rep brokers lack pain points that could be resolved with technological solutions. The current workflow of the average tenant rep broker involves compiling information rapidly and repetitively, working in spreadsheets, and sending emails with dozens of PDF attachments. Here are just a few of the tasks tenant rep brokers currently manage manually or with spreadsheets:
Tracking deals
Building market surveys
Client communications
Property tours
Acquiring property details
The list could go on and on. Many tech-savvy tenant rep brokers have been asking themselves for years “isn’t there a better way?” Unfortunately, until now, the answer has largely been “no.”
AnthemIQ - Built by tenant rep brokers for tenant rep brokers
After working in commercial real estate for almost two decades, Chris Skyles and Kenny Tomlin founded AnthemIQ to help brokers solve some of the pain points they had faced in the industry. After raising $10 million in series A funding in early 2020, AnthemIQ has spread rapidly throughout the industry with thousands of users already on the platform.
AnthemIQ is the CRE industry's first transaction management software that takes tenant rep brokers and their clients all the way from search to signed lease on a seamless digital platform. Everything from deal management, to market surveys and scheduling property tours is handled within a single, easy to use dashboard. Tour books are automatically generated from selected or uploaded properties and the property data is easily accessible for other current or future clients, minimizing redundant work.
Improving the Tenant Experience with Technology
Providing tenant rep brokers with the technology needed to digitize their operations is the key to improving the tenant experience within commercial real estate. As the first platform aimed at digitizing commercial real estate transaction management, AnthemIQ serves not only tenant rep brokers, but the end tenants as well.
Customer communications and interactions are streamlined with the AnthemIQ platform. Instead of emails with numerous attachments full of partial data, tenants working with brokers who have implemented AnthemIQ are given a portal to navigate potential properties, easily compare leases side by side, do virtual tours to avoid wasted time, and schedule tours with their brokers. They also have the ability to comment on properties and flag the ones they like as well.
AnthemIQ improves the experience of the end user, the tenant, which is who commercial real estate is all about at the end of the day. A good tenant experience starts with a good tenant rep broker. AnthemIQ serves to optimize the tenant rep broker’s operations, enabling them to run deals more efficiently and wow their clients.
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Interested in learning more? Check out our tenant rep page to learn how AnthemIQ can digitize your transaction management. If you would like to get started today, fill out our demo request form and a member of our sales team will reach out shortly!
