Big Data is Coming to CRE in a Big Way

Big data is here and CRE will never be the same. CRE before Big data was the land where guesstimates of income and expenses, and risk analysis were made from multiple sources.

During our analysis of a property we might need to call the title company in the morning, and the city water services, then call a surveyor, and after lunch a call to the previous management company, and then print out comps from three different sources and compare numbers.

Welcome Reonomy!

This new concept platform scours through hundreds of public databases and brings together property information, outstanding mortgages, capital expenditure, Department of Building violations, and multiple other nuggets that provide an investor with critical data for making a single decision: BUY or NOT.

Charlie Oshman and Rich Sarkis, founders of Reonomy, didn’t have commercial RE experience but they did understand big data:

“I was grabbing a drink with a friend who worked as a commercial real estate investment analyst and he told me about the crazy inefficiencies in the work he was doing,” Oshman said. “Things were very manual and the access to data was woefully behind what you’d find in other public markets, such as finance. This resonated with me and even more so when you think about the size of the space – $15 trillion in the U.S. alone – I had to dig in.”

Reonomy’s clients include investment sales and debt brokers, major banks and small-to-mid-sized investment funds. Sarkis said that he plans to go after larger investment funds, private equity firms and real estate investment trusts once the firm expands its sales team. Revenue, which comes primarily through subscriptions, is expected to hit the low single millions in 2015, he said.

Understanding technology, data, and the physical aspects of commercial real estate is a big fish to swallow and have at your fingertips. Without it you are making deals with only half of the picture. Today’s market requires navigation using every option available to find a clear path to your investment potential.