The end of Data Rooms in Real Estate

And how this marks the beginning of a new generation of deal making software

The proptech revolution was long awaited by corporates, investors and, of course, startups. This movement towards a digital industry has taken many forms, hardware for construction, software for leasing, property marketplaces…, but what about the heart of the industry, it’s finances? Being one of the key aspects of this niche how real estate transactions are carried out and executed. In the most recent times we have seen how many “deal-making” solutions started appearing, gaining ground to the old-fashion, archaique data room systems. Now these companies, once clear dominators in the industry with no competitors in sight, regard with suspicion all the other incumbents that are pushing for their own place in the market.

Real Estate has inherited solutions for the last decades that were not prepared for the sector, but for the financial industry. This lack of specificity and progress to fit the needs of the industry has led real estate professionals to adapt to the solutions that were appearing in the neighbouring industry instead of the other way around.

Philosophy turned into product. Sympl.deals

Tackling the problems mentioned above was the priority when starting Arextech. We are reinventing the way deals are executed in real estate. Data rooms don’t make deals, the people do and that’s why creating a solution that centralized collaboration and made it more effective was crucial. Sympl.deals is an intuitive transactional ready-to-close deal room with automated workflows and smart data management.

We are proving that real estate professionals can save time by automatizing much of the work they do in their day to day and that companies can leverage the use of the data they generate to their own benefit. In order to do that, this data must be properly stored, structured and shared with ease. Centralizing communications and fostering collaboration in a single platform is driving a major competitive advantage and improving our clients’ overall experience. Furthermore, it is allowing professionals to work seamlessly and simultaneously between different deals by performing the least possible interactions. Our philosophy is that you have to be able to focus on closing deals, not on managing folders.

Centralization must become the “new normal” of doing business in the industry. One software for all purposes.

“The actual situation is bringing closer fintech and proptech. This is what we do at Arextech. Reinventing the real estate industry from a Fintech perspective”

— Miguel Linera Alperi — Co-Founder & CEO Arextech

The path to innovation

The traditional transactional software products in the industry were provided by the tech companies that we like to describe as “sales” companies, because the impossible-to-justify expensive price that you are paying for their services is the consequence of the huge costs these companies dedicate to PRs, marketing and expensively wining and dining their prospects and clients. But, as in every tech revolution that has happened, there comes a moment where alternatives appear and business models are challenged. Normally challenged with cheaper, better and more adapted alternatives under the umbrella of a faster and more flexible corporate structure.

Now, the times are changing, and real estate corporations are seeing that there is no added value in a Virtual Data Room that makes you pay over 3,000 USD per month (we’ve heard cases averaging 10,000 per month for a transaction) for just an empty space in the cloud in exchange. As data storage systems kept on evolving and storing GBs of information became cheaper and cheaper, VDR companies started making up new ways of justifying their pricing; number of documents, number of months on the platform… It was (and still is) difficult to justify paying 3,000 per month for a 5gb room when Apple Icloud or Google Drive are offering a similar service to you for approximately 1$.

In a nutshell, “sales” companies that create the illusion of indispensability in their customers.

Discover Sympl.deals

Is an automated cloud-based platform that offers management solutions for brokers and investors.

Centralization in the cloud

From our clients’ experience, we can attest that there are significant problems that arise from using data rooms and that are embedded in the way these companies operate and monetize. As an example, data rooms force you to be constantly opening and closing rooms (with the added work it entails uploading, managing and downloading documents).

The impossibility of automatizing deals’ processes or accumulating information deal after deal to use it on the company’s benefit results in hundreds of hours lost per year on manual processes. Additionally, the existence of a data room implies intensive usage of many other non-integrated solutions such as email, CRM, internal company software and other management tools with the loss of time and efficiency that comes attached.

We believe that centralization is the only path to effectiveness and repeatability. Faster, more dynamic ways of working have to be established as standards.

Such as the financial crisis boosted the rise of Fintech, it seems like Covid-19 is fostering a faster expansion of Proptech and its implementations in the built world. What’s even more interesting is that this situation is bringing closer the real estate and the financial industries, creating a new category of startups that we could define as “Refintech”. Fintech for the real estate sector. This is what we do at Arextech, reinventing the real estate industry from a Fintech perspective.

We work closely with brokers, investors and developers to make sure that they meet their deadlines, offer a better service to their clients and save time, money and resources.

Forward minded companies are already collaborating with us in North America and Europe. Join the ready-to-close deal-room revolution.

If you are a real estate company wanting to innovate in the way you carry out your processes, reach out to us at www.arex.technology and request a free demo. If you want to contribute to our blog, also reach out!

See you next time!