Different companies with a lot of resources are targeting robots and their algorithms for buying houses in the real estate market. There it targets the management of applications that lead to home ownership being out of reach for a person with limited resources. At this point, many people looking for low-budget homes find themselves with this dilemma of not reaching them. Century-old houses, imperfect but habitable, appear to them as a good starting option.
Mostly, by making a down payment of a few thousand dollars and having the ability to make the monthly mortgage payments. There we find companies in post-industrial metropolitan areas aiming for inexpensive single-family homes. Imagine Homes Management is one of the companies that contacts tenants or potential buyers through robotic technology. Thus, with the automation of text messages, to inform about what to pay the deposit or move arrives, no longer requires contact with a human.
Imagine Homes has no direct contact with its tenants or customers. Interrelation is by means of a machine, application or e-mail, in the best case. Everything is carried out through an access code, and many tenants, especially, report that their only contact with a person has been with maintenance workers who are assigned to repairs.
Robots in the real estate market
Nick Osborne, a medical student, spoke to Motherboard about this situation he has experienced with his partner in Cleveland. “Moving in was pretty straightforward,” Nick recounted. On the initial formalities, he commented that:
“All information was left in a folder on the counter and all documents and access codes were provided electronically.” There was no direct interaction with anyone.”
Imagine Homes is one of the companies that serve as an example of an “automated homeowner”. The company uses new data tools and technologies to minimize human labor costs. This use of “robots” is increasingly occurring in the growing sector of companies backed by Wall Street investment firms. They often purchase thousands of single-family rental homes in several states.
The new world of real estate
The firm we have been analyzing was founded in 2016 and is linked to a West Coast investment fund. He is interested in companies that automate and simplify real estate transactions. Another peculiarity of this company is that, unlike others, it did not seek to open leasing offices. Instead, he focused on the role of technology in Wall Street home ownership. This is how The Automated Landlord defined it, in an article published by Environment and Planning magazine in February of this year.
The firm could not be contacted by different portals that claimed to have some specificities of the firm. One of the doubts is the number of employees. In terms of signs, there is talk of rudimentary equipment to manage some 1,500 houses in four states. Found 35 employees on LinkedIn and estimated close to 200 on Indeed, then it’s all about outsourcing and automation.
