SAN FRANCISCO — Seven more startups out to shake up real estate pitched their products in Part 2 of the “New Kids on the Block” panel at Real Estate Connect.
Here’s what they’re up to:
- Giveback Homes: Giveback Homes offers a platform for real estate professionals to make contributions towards the construction of homes for families in need. It also provides members with tools to brand themselves as Giveback Homes members, including marketing materials like door hangers, client thank-you letters, takeaway cards and open houses.
- Tumlis: Tumlis allows users to organize and share pictures, ratings and notes; use mobile apps with the “most advanced geotargeted home alerts”; access listings directly from the multiple listing service; and connect with agents in real time. The brokerage and technology provider recently launched a tool that helps agents give their clients a better understanding of the market conditions surrounding a specific home at the neighborhood level.
- Retsly: Acquired yesterday by Zillow, Retsly streamlines access to multiple listing service data for real estate technology developers. It also provides metrics back to MLSs showing how their data is used, helping them verify compliance with MLS rules and licensing agreements.
- Balcony: Balcony offers a social network for real estate agents that lets them see other members’ recent sales, see their profiles and connect with them. The platform handles all the paperwork involved in referrals and guarantees that referring agents receive payment within 48 hours after a transaction closes.
- Distil Networks: Distil Networks identifies and thwarts “bad bots” that attempt to scrape data without permission. The company recently raised $10 million in a founding round that reportedly valued the company at about $30 million.
- Property Connect: Property Connect lets people bid on rental properties by specifying their desired rent, lease length and move-in date. Users may see other bids made on the rental, so they can submit new offers to beat out their competition. The platform says it lets users “save yourself the time and frustration of dealing with multiple real estate agents.”
- Aether Films: Aether Films is a traveling production company that specializes in using drones to capture aerial footage.
And here’s a roundup of the first crop of “New Kids” in case you missed it:
- HouseCall: An Uber-like app launched in November 2013, HouseCall lets consumers schedule appointments with home professionals, including electricians, plumbers and landscapers. The app recently launched a feature that lets agents share their preferred vendors with clients, and another that lets consumers request showings on demand from agents.
- Updater: A National Association of Realtors-backed app that closed an $8 million funding round in April, Updater offers a platform that lets users seamlessly update their addresses on over 10,000 accounts and subscriptions, file their official U.S. Postal Service mail-forwarding form, and transfer and connect utilities, among other address-change tasks. For $149 a year, an agent may send an unlimited number of clients emails inviting them to use a version of Updater that’s branded with the agent’s headshot and contact information.
- Lenda: Lenda, the “Turbo Tax for mortgage,” wants to help consumers “fire their loan officers” by enabling borrowers to complete the home loan process online from start to finish. The company’s platform lets borrowers view rate quotes, apply for a loan, sign lender disclosures, upload or snap photos of their documents, receive real-time status updates, and process and close the loan.
- Lumentus: Lumentus offers a social media management platform that curates real estate content for agents and allows them to seamlessly publish that content across their social media networks.
- “Online town square” WikiRealty crowdsources information from professionals in all facets of the real estate industry in order to bring the sort of insider information to consumers that they traditionally can glean only from face-to-face interactions with locals.
- Porch: Porch is an online remodeling network that claims to offer data on 90 million home projects and 1.5 million professionals. The site lets homeowners pinpoint professionals who specialize in their neighborhoods, and view those professionals’ project histories. Since launching late last year with $6.5 million in seed funding, the company has formed partnerships with realtor.com and Lowe’s.
