Real Estate Investor Magazine July/ Aug 2020 July 2020 | Page 20

TECHNOLOGY
Stay ahead of the game
Be virtual & app wise
SIDIMA MFEKU
Today, the definition of technology can be altered to range
from the way in which companies are ran, how services are
rendered, to the way people live. It has become the stem of
each and every company’s productivity, with the real estate
being among the many the other industries that utilise
technology for its growth.
I
t is through technology that venture capital investments
are existing investment methods, that 3D real estate is a
trend to be followed during this time of the pandemic,
and it is ultimately through technology that buying
property these days requires not to leave the house to do
property search. All it takes is a mere device and mobile data
to browse the internet or through an application.
One of the few property tech players who have put
together an app that helps those in need of properties
among many other functions shared information about the
birth of their brainchild as a result of tech innovations.
App development
Flow’s CEO and Founder, Gil Sperling says “When we set
about building Flow, we were hoping to find a smart way to
match tenants and landlords – but as we built it, we saw the
potential it had to have a major impact in the South African
social space, and beyond.”
In its initial creation the platform was created to match
highly-profiled renters with the right properties and give
landlords the tools to retain good tenants. It has its rewards,
benefits and special offers from an array of partners.
Through technology the platform has been tailored to help
landlords market their unlet inventory to the right people, in
the right place, at the right time.
The model’s founding theory was to solve social issues
profitably by leveraging the resources and innovation of the
private sector to create new solutions to some of society’s
most pressing issues.
“Aside from the basic human need for shelter, the problem
we applied this approach to was helping fight gentrification
in South African cities. Gentrification can be a powerful
force for economic change, but it is often accompanied by
extreme cultural displacement. While it can increase the
value of properties in areas that may have suffered from
disinvestment, it sends rent soaring and reduces the supply
of affordable housing for the people who make up the
community,” says Sperling.
In light of rising property values, rental rates rocketed,
forcing long-time residents to either bite the bullet and find
ways to pay increased costs or move away to the fringes of
the city. This also entrenched the inherent power difference
“While a picture tells a
story of a thousand words,
a 3D Virtual Tour captures
an entire property in an
immersive experience. “
between landlords and tenants and saw an unregulated
free market situation take hold, in which landlords had little
incentive to work with tenants to maintain both properties
and relationships.
In South Africa, the current rental rate is 55% within the
developed economy and is set to grow immensely in the
next decade even though the financial crisis brought about
by the economic knock-on effects will most likely hasten
16 JULY/AUGUST 2020 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine