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Digital rentals: proptech Flexy says renting will be as easy as making an online purchase - Ámbito
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Alquileres digitales: la proptech Flexy dice que alquilar será tan sencillo como hacer una compra online
La proptech lanzó una plataforma que se ofrece como aliada de las inmobiliarias tradicionales. Ya opera en todo el país y prevé llegar a Chile y España en 2025.
www.ambito.com
March 10, 2024
The proptech launched a platform that offers itself as an ally of traditional real estate companies. It already operates throughout the country and plans to reach Chile and Spain in 2025.
Lautaro Reynoso, CEO of proptech Flexy, says that digital contracts are certified through blockchain, so they are 100% secure.
Created in 2021 with an initial investment of US$300,000, the proptech company Flexy entered the real estate market with the aim of revolutionizing the rental system in the country by incorporating technology so that the entire operation can be carried out 100%. digital.
“We are betting that renting a property can be as fast and easy as ordering food through an app ,” explains Lautaro Reynoso, CEO of Flexy, to summarize the magnitude of the challenge that the firm faces in a market like Argentina, where the rental of Real estate has always been the subject of changing state regulations that strained relationships between landlords and tenants.
Flexy is a proptech owned by Delsud, a business group from La Plata that has more than 10 business units that feed off each other. Delsud manages firms dedicated to real estate development, traditional and dry construction, the financial sector, media and biotechnology.
Flexy is one of those business units and was created in 2021, with an initial investment of $300,000. For this year, its managers estimate a turnover of US$800,000 and predict that they will exceed US$1,500,000 in 2025.
The platform includes both long-term and temporary rentals . And, among other new features, it offers its own financing for landlords and tenants. It is now available throughout the country and plans to arrive in Spain and Chile by 2025.
¿Startups vs inmobiliarias?
Below, we transcribe the dialogue between Ámbito and Lautaro Reynoso, CEO of Flexy.What is Flexy's proposal like?
Among the key functionalities of the platform, in Flexy you can publish and manage temporary rentals, also properties for long-term rentals, as well as buy and sell properties or land.
Everything is done 100% digitally to avoid traditional cumbersome and bureaucratic practices such as cash payments, in-person signatures or coordinating a time to visit the place.
The goal was always to give users a fast, flexible and economical way to rent a property.
Is it a digital competition for traditional real estate companies?
The idea of Flexy is not to compete with real estate companies, but rather to try to be allies . Therefore, one of the main functions is the rental management CRM. Nowadays, a big problem that real estate agencies have is the management of rental properties, since it is the least profitable and the most cumbersome to manage. With this management panel, any real estate agency can now continue generating rentals while maintaining its internal processes; but when uploading their contracts to Flexy, they completely forget about management. Flexy takes care of that 100% and does not generate any costs for the real estate agency (it is the owner who pays that minimum commission that is deducted from the monthly payments, as has been done all his life). In addition, they can also publish their properties for sale 100% free, which on other platforms you have to pay for and they are not cheap at all.
What is the differential in the Flexy proposal?
The traditional system is a model that has been in place for decades, that has not had any improvements for years, and that is full of bureaucracies and high costs.
That is why Flexy proposes an evolved rental format: we are betting on the development of this proptech so that renting a property - by day, month or year - can be as fast and easy as ordering food through an app.
Furthermore, if we focus only on temporary rentals, Flexy has its own financing system that allows guests to pay for their accommodation in up to 6 installments , while the owner receives the money immediately. This is a differential with respect to other platforms available in the country. It allows them to beat inflation and we notice that it is one of the key points that is attracting more and more users to the platform.
And among the benefits we offer for owners, Flexy gives one month's rent to those who rent their property for the first time (valid for 36-month rentals). Meanwhile, tenants have the possibility of financing the costs of entering the property to facilitate and speed up the process.
Technology and real estate market
What were the main challenges for the project?It depends on the Flexy functions that we analyze. For example, speaking of digital rentals - that is, the option where an owner publishes a property for long-term rental on the platform - the main challenge is that we are the only platform in Argentina to allow this.
Flexy is the first Argentine platform to generate long-term contracts between tenants and individuals 100% online. In this way, we are betting on a paradigm shift, since renting an apartment for 1, 2 or 3 years, but entirely from a platform, was an unthinkable scenario before the creation of Flexy.
And what is the reaction of users to this new contracting modality?
Beyond the logical challenges of any startup in Argentina, this proposal also entails having to educate users, both owners and tenants, to trust this new and revolutionary method of renting to which we are not accustomed.
That is why, to make everything 100% digital, each publication has photos and videos of the property and a personalized review by Flexy agents to guarantee the veracity and subsequent security of the transaction, points that were key for users. will trust this revolutionary system for the Argentine real estate market. On the other hand, all digital contracts have electronic certification that is done through blockchain, so they are 100% secure.
What are the short and medium term plans?
This year the focus will be on getting owners to learn about the project, try our new technology and evolved processes by publishing their properties. We are convinced that it is a matter of time that after learning about the platform and all the benefits we offer, both owners and tenants will benefit enormously and the way of renting in Argentina will change forever.
For this year, we are committed to continuing to reach more parts of the country and we are going to advance to reach other Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, to bring our technology to many more tenants and owners who need it.
By 2025, we project a strong landing in Spain and Chile . We believe that these countries, unlike perhaps the Argentine public, are one step ahead in terms of technological improvements and, above all, in trusting in a 100% digital rental system. These landings seem key to us to continue strengthening the business model for the coming years.
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