Wouldn’t it be Great if a Tech Startup Helped Investors?

Guest article by: Ron Richards

In 2008, my colleague Steve Perez and I pondered what our next move would be. The “Housing Crisis” was in full-effect, and the company we worked for at the time had just dissolved. The company we worked for was a real estate investment brokerage. We learned a lot and thought the show was over based on where the economy was headed. Despite the economic downturn, we felt that the investment real estate business model was still solid. We were confident in our knowledge and knew that with a little capital, we could make it better. Our idea of making the industry better is what motivated Steve and I to collaborate and start Altura Investment Realty. Having a good grasp of the industry, we wanted to build something special. We kept asking ourselves, “Wouldn’t it be great if…?” Well, after successfully implementing new guidelines for our company, the rest is history. Since 2008, Altura has bought and sold approximately 1,500 residential properties, on and off market, with a focus on selling homes to clients who wanted to build rental portfolios and UP NOW perform “flips.” In the end, we have created a successful boutique firm selling inventory to investors all over the United States and abroad. It’s been a great run, and Altura continues to do great things.

As we continue to innovate, we find ourselves asking the same question, “Wouldn’t it be great if…?” However, this time our collective knowledge gained from running Altura allowed us to adopt the perspective of the investor. For the last several years, Steve and I have both been heavily active in building our own rental portfolio and perform several flips a year. We took note on how investors made decisions on which properties to buy and adopted best practices to build lucrative portfolios. This new perspective generated a lot of questions about the number of resources readily available to help investors make sound investment decisions. At that moment, Steve and I asked each other, “Wouldn’t it be great if…?”

This September, we will be launching an Orlando-based tech startup catering to the real estate investment space. Soon thereafter, we will be introducing the platform across other Florida markets and then nationwide. And it will be 100% free for any user.

This new company is called Kuzza. Yep, just pronounce the U and you have Kuzza, an online real estate brokerage that is data-driven, analytical, and socially engaging – and here’s why we are so excited to bring this to market:

DATA
Locating inventory can be very challenging, especially in our investor-savvy locale, Orlando. But, in order to get the best deals, one must have up-to-the minute data. If a property sits on the market for a few days, then chances are there are many others who have beat you to the punch. At Kuzza, we don’t want that happening, and that’s why have we have a direct data-feed from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Having this direct feed gives you access to a property as soon as it hits the market. Not the next day, but the very minute it’s listed. At the same time, Kuzza has licensed to receive the largest source of “off-market” inventory. Driving around looking for “For Sale By Owner” signs is called “Driving for Dollars.” A great technique for sure, as I have done so much of it myself, but wouldn’t it be great to have that data faster and at your fingertips? Kuzza will provide you the most current list of properties on and off market to help you build a list of prospective investments. Further, with the use of custom, saved searches, Kuzza will notify the user via email as soon as a property hits the market.

ANALYTICAL
Having the tools to analyze a property and its return on investment (ROI) is as equally important to finding the deal itself. So, wouldn’t it be great if you could have access to sales comps, rental comps, and investment calculators? Yes, of course it would! At Kuzza, we are providing the tools to help you assess deals and provide multiple levels of due diligence with respect to valuations. First, we provide a Sales Comps Map with the most similar comps available matching the subject home allowing a user to know if the offer is worth the value. Second, we provide a Rental Comps Map displaying similar homes and their rental amounts in a given neighborhood. And third, Kuzza is introducing to its map feature a boundary overlay, which will allow a user to compare a property to other sales in a geographic location. The boundary overlay was customized specifically for Kuzza users. From a map view, every parcel will have specs of a home (beds, baths, and square footage), the sales price, and the month and year of that sale. Kuzza aims to turn users into their own appraisers. While everyone else wonders how much he or she should offer when it’s time to submit a contract, Kuzza users can utilize one of the online investment calculators. It doesn’t matter your strategy – rental or flip – Kuzza has a calculator for each. By giving the user sales data coupled with investment calculators, each user will be able to determine their ROI and make offers with confidence.

SOCIALLY ENGAGING
The real estate investment community is driven by each day’s success story. Just take a look at the investor clubs here in Orlando. They have a lot of members who meet monthly to discuss potential deals and other ways to help ensure success. Many times, members will partner on deals because they each bring a certain strength to the table. For me personally, I have often found it helpful to call or email a peer within the industry for advice. So, wouldn’t it be great to collaborate with other investors on the same platform all while researching properties? What if users had the ability to socially engage with a market’s leading lenders and vendors (including contractors)? How about joining group discussions regarding investment topics of interest to you? If you answered yes, yes, and yes, then Kuzza is definitely worth checking into.

We anticipate launching Kuzza in September 2015 to be a resource for real estate investors. The site will not be live until our official launch day, but every day prior to launch our tech startup will be working hard to fill investor needs for making better and more lucrative investments. Wouldn’t it be great if you had Kuzza at your fingertips? To learn more about our launch, and to stay updated about our new venture, visit www.kuzza.com to join our mailing list.

Ron Richards, co-founder of Kuzza.

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