These two young people help you find your next home with their digital real estate
December 8, 2020 9 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Have you imagined how technology could revolutionize the real estate industry just as it did with the banking industry to create fintech and education to generate edtech ? Two young Argentines are answering this question to improve the way of acquiring real estate to boost the proptech sector in the region.
Franco Forte and Lucas Díaz founded Mudafy , a platform for acquiring real estate that seeks to simplify and streamline the entire process of buying and selling a property. Its objective is to carry out transactions in a simpler, more reliable and transparent way, all this thanks to the contribution that its technology offers in each part of the process.
“It was a bit of knowing each other and having some experiences in the real estate world and with the passage through two companies to end up doing Mudafy, one of the companies was a management system for real estate and the other was a portal for real estate, a true The challenge we saw was the experience that the end customers had and the adoption of technology by this sector, there it was a challenge to unite both parties to improve that experience and create Mudafy ”, says Franco in an interview with Entrepreneur en Español .
This Argentine proptech has a presence in two Latin American countries and has the use of CRM, that is, its own system for customer management. It mixes the online environment with the offline one, offering a team of specialized advisers, harmonizing technology and the human factor.
The main objective of Mudafy is to improve the experience of buying and selling a property throughout Latin America. To achieve this, they not only add technology, but also redefine the real estate operation processes.
“Being a technology company, several of the characteristics that we have by definition of the ways in which we operate are currently almost a requirement in the real estate sector, and some of them may be taking a virtual tour. Nowadays, and more so due to the pandemic, it is highly valued for not being exposed to the virus, ”explains Franco.
What do you think the real estate market will be like after the pandemic?
“That is super interesting, one might think that what happened in other sectors has happened, that it goes backwards, but what we were seeing was that it did not and this is because the real estate industry is a real need. People have to move, people have a child, they need one more room, people get divorced and maybe each of them requires their new home, ”says Lucas.
The market is activating after the quarantine, but the key for them has been virtual tours.
“We do the first part with the virtual tours, at the end of the day the person before making the decision wants to go to the property and see how the pressure of the walls is, verify that they are real, because that transaction is so important in nominal terms Silver and emotions have to make sure that there is no risk of anything. So, what we observe is that after the quarantine there were two months where it slowed down a lot and now everything is being reactivated, particularly in Mexico, ”says Lucas.
It is mentioned that now what is having an important effect are interest rates. Lucas says that they are at historic lows, so the market is being given a lot of liquidity and this does not even suffer the impact that it may have economically.
“Mexico is the second largest country in all of Latin America, obviously this makes it extremely attractive and in turn the real estate market is one that was too active. So it was the ideal place to open Mudafy, ”says Franco.
Currently, Franco and Lucas observe the real estate sector very active, for a short time it stopped when social distancing began and when the pandemic began. However, today they observe it quite active and in fact there are demand values, of real estate searches, either for sale or purchase.
“Today the demand for searches on Google or the Internet is higher than what was seen before the quarantine. So, we see him as super active in the market, but I clarify that interest rates have a lot to do with it ”, explains Franco.
In alliance with several real estate companies in the country, Mudafy begins its operations in Mexico City, in the catalog there are 5 mayor’s offices: Miguel Hidalgo, Benito Juárez, Álvaro Obregón, Cuauhtémoc and Cuajimalpa. They were based on the demand and density within the colonies, from the average it was that they decided to operate with these alliances, a key point for their landing in the CDMX.
“Regarding alliances, with more than 200 real estate agencies in which there are all kinds, whether renowned, but also small and medium-sized, to reach more public and we are the perfect ally because we have a lot of access to people who are looking for properties and we work together to find a home for that person, “adds Franco.
The differentiating factor of this platform is that its value proposition is around giving a better experience for users, in this way, each interaction it has does not generate any type of complication for customers, since they understand that transactions generate many emotions. So, from the first moment they seek to understand that not only if they like a property they can consult it, but to see what their true need is to cover it through their search, give more options and advise them on which is the best investment taking into account their resources and interests in the first instance.
“Technology helps make the process much more efficient, because virtual tours mean that you don’t have to go directly to the property and spend half an hour or 40 minutes in traffic, they make it possible for you to discard those you don’t like by observing it online. You can put many solutions that are annexed, they can be advice in terms of mortgages, taxes, construction insurance and a whole real estate ecosystem ”, says Lucas.
Franco exemplified that imagining that you want to acquire a property, when searching the internet there is a 50% probability that they will respond to you and a 50% that they will not respond, and you may have to go the next day, call again, locate the person who knows that property, in that sense they make sure that in less than 10 minutes, within the hours they have of attention they contact you and analyze what you are looking for in a timely manner, investigate properties similar to those of your interest. It is an immediate and effective experience, in a very simple way for them.
“Today we have operations both in CDMX and in Buenos Aires, in the second there is all the technological part, the vast majority of our team and then everything that would be the commercial part in CDMX,” says Lucas.
That said, what they do, compared to the traditional real estate experience, is that every advisor goes in parallel and performs from the acquisition of the order to the closing of the transaction. It is similar to a production line, where there is a person specialized in that first contact, in outlining and understanding the client’s needs.
“It can be a person who is specialized in giving the visit, in showing the property properly, in telling you what the positive characteristics are and with which you have to be careful, knowing how to negotiate so that you get the price. In addition, we have the legal advisor, which is the closing of the operation and the most administrative part, that is one of the most critical parts when buying a property ”, explains Lucas.
There are very important elements to know how to choose the right property for you, one of the characteristics is the water pressure, to verify that it comes out properly, there are an infinity of options in social networks where tips that may seem basic, but they really are important to take into account when looking to acquire a property. They emphasize that the information is often not so accessible and this is when a real estate advisor should take action to recommend the transactions or steps to follow in order to distinguish the good opportunities and get the most out of them.
“We are very focused on continuing to grow in Mexico, I believe that the next step would be to continue with the growth of its surroundings, eventually covering all of Latin America, so we will evaluate all those countries to meet the objective”, concludes Franco.
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