How investors can benefit from the evolving Proptech sector with Thom Richards – BONUS SERIES Ep.31

Episode Summary

In Episode 32 of the Property Investing Journey series, Mike is joined by Thom Richards, experienced real estate agent and Co-Founder of Proptech darling, Managed App. With his property app recently surpassing $1Bn in real estate transactions, Thom sits down today to talk about the newly emerging Proptech sector and how it can benefit investors, property managers and tenants alike.

Having started a real estate agency from scratch and building it in four years to be one of the leading agencies in upmarket Sydney suburb, Surry Hills, Thom is no stranger to the challenges investors face when dealing with the ongoing management of their investments. Thom was frustrated by the process of trust accounting and the many layers of admin involved in property management, and set out to develop technology that simplified the workflows and created better access and clarity for all stakeholders.

In this episode, Mike and Thom discuss the ways in which Proptech is permeating the property sector and automating the more cumbersome paper trails of traditional property management. Using online banking as an analogy, Thom explains the inroads that are being made to provide greater transparency and timeliness for investors. He also touches on how better tech can improve the sometimes adversarial relationship between investors, property managers and tenants.

With the Proptech sector arguably in its infancy, Mike and Thom consider the ways in which investors needs can be better met and the level of opportunity still available. They provide simple steps on how investors should go about seeking out optimum performance from their property management teams and provide clear insight for property managers who may be looking to improve on their quality of service.

Whether you’re fascinated by the world of technology, an investor looking for better control of their money, or a property service provider focused on continual improvement, this episode of the Geared for Growth podcast is not to be missed.

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What we cover in this episode

Quotes

“Proptech has always traditionally targeted real estate agents in the early days. It was always focussed on helping an agency become a little more efficient but what we’ve seen with this whole Proptech explosion is just so many different pieces of tech that are targeting different users in different spaces and a lot of it is starting to filter down to landlords themselves” Thom 00:32

“You do have the big players but there’s also a lot of great tech that’s coming from the garages of some of these guys that are doing it as a hobby project and then it becomes a little bit bigger than what they anticipated” Thom 02:00

“The key word that we built our business around was clarity. We really wanted an open forum for managing property. I just felt that giving landlords and tenants and tradies tech that allowed them to be on the same page at all times as the property manager, would make for a much more healthy and conflict free relationship.” Thom 12:11

“I want access to my information, as an investor, so that’s something I’d be encouraging all investors to look at. So being able to log on, have a look at details, access documents, and see reports. I would want real time payments.” Thom 20:08

Links mentioned

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomrichards/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/managed/