A House to Unite Proptech (Transmission #196)

Co-investment, co-ownership, fractionalizing—no matter what you call it, it’s likely the single biggest area of opportunity in proptech. I dream of opening a window to the future of built-world innovation—as a way to expand community, as well as to pilot and test new concepts. Broadening one’s interactions is critical to cultivating understanding, compassion, and deeper relationships. There are few better ways to nurture allyship than overnight stays. Home sharing and swapping among GEM members is one obvious way to strengthen relationships (more on that front soon). But, why stop there? 

What if we take a leap of faith in the power of community and actually co-own assets as well? We could push the envelope of partial and fractional ownership, the sector I think about more than any other.

Imagine a CRE innovation think tank of GEM talent manifested in the real world. A Geek Estate retail presence (more museum/showcase than anything) would be located on the ground floor of a next-generation multi-family development towering into the sky, directly in the urban core of a major metro city. A proptech-focused coworking community would tie it all together, creating an all encompassing Built World showcase.

A residential version testing the cutting edge of innovation would be equally compelling. Imagine a proptech house, complete with next-generation smart home tech and property management operations, that serves as a landing spot for trips, dinner parties, entertaining, and even small group retreats.

It would be a Pacaso-style second home, but not bought with total strangers. These homes are two, three, or even six bedrooms, making it possible for multiple owners to use them simultaneously. This setup would foster strong relationships among a group of the boldest proptech operators in existence in the process—not to mention give everyone invested a reason to a vacation-like getaway that comes with a side of fresh perspective. 

From this, a proptech networking juggernaut would emerge, with participants reporting back with learnings along the way. Sounds cool, eh?

LOGISTICS AND FINANCING
Where would such a house be located, you might ask? 

NYC makes a ton of sense since almost all proptech founders frequent the proptech capital of the world at least once a year, whether that be for Inman Connect, CREtech’s NYC flagship event, or a host of other reasons. Las Vegas is a conference hotspot and, provided it was in close enough proximity to the strip, a proptech house would be undoubtedly popular for entertaining and short-term business stays. Or, Miami or Southern California (La Jolla, anyone?) would provide sunny weather while still serving a business travel purpose.

Alternatively, it could be a destination in itself. Such as Tahoe, Bend, or even Whistler north of the border.

In a business hub scenario such as Vegas, it may make sense to use an own, earn, and vacation model similar to Cloud Castles. Renting the home for 30+ day stays for a portion of the year would help cover operating costs and mean less wear and tear than if it operated as a STR. While a highly desirable travel destination, where execs and their families would like to spend longer stints of time, would be best operated closer to a straight Pacaso model (Land Better in Texas, and Ancana/Kocomo in Mexico), without renting it out to recoup costs.

Purchasing the property as Geek Estate Labs and operating it as a member benefit is one route. Dues would have to be raised by a lot to execute that, and not everyone would use it. Or, I suppose we could crowdfund the upfront down payment. Alternatively, eight members could put up ⅛ of the costs—perhaps, we tweak the Pacaso model to have Geek Estate cover the operating costs (rather than the owners) in exchange for being able to use it for entertaining among the community. 

A GeekEstate DAO for collaboration and governance is yet another option. Then, open up the investment opportunity to a much larger segment of the group in smaller chunks (perhaps $1 per share) using a platform like Rhove. Everyone who invests receives governance tokens, and  can participate in the strategy, vision, execution. Real estate owned and operated by this community.

GET INVOLVED
I’m not naive enough to think I can do it alone. A proptech house needs partners, both from a capital perspective as well as participation. Individual participants on board with blurring the lines between personal and professional are table stakes.

A few questions:

• Would you be interested in owning a share of a home shared among the GEM?
• If so, would it need to be an investment or would you be okay “donating” to the cause?
• Would you be willing to pay higher dues in order to participate?
• Do you see another compelling avenue to make this vision a reality?