Of the commercial real estate tech ventures worth talking about, Ten-X Commercial ranks at the top of the list. Founded in 2009 by Jeff Frieden and Rob Friedman, Ten-X has been making waves in the industry as a result of its revolutionary end-to-end online transaction platform.
“End-to-end means that, in addition to the actual transaction, we offer a full range of marketing services including digital, print, social, and email campaigns,” Steve Jacobs, general manager at Ten-X Commercial told Mann Report. “We also coordinate contracts and the closing process, and offer a global buyer database of more than 400,000 investors, a preferred broker network, data insights, and more.”
Why is this streamlined, end-to-end process superior? According to Jacobs, Ten-X Commercial helps customers transact commercial real estate three times faster, with the certainty of close.
Of course, while Ten-X Commercial today stands apart as one of the most distinguished tech giants in commercial real estate, its founding was met with skepticism from an industry that, especially at the time, viewed technology as a less-than-attractive unknown.
“We launched following the downturn in 2008/2009,” said Jacobs. “At that time, no one believed that anyone would buy a multimillion dollar property at an online auction. We had to prove it to the market, and we did just that in the first year.”
Indeed, Ten-X Commercial’s initial CMBS customers were immediately amazed at how Ten-X’s platform could not only streamline processes and increase rates of execution, but also help them to achieve maximum value for their properties. Even more so, they were surprised to see the readiness of those in the commercial real estate space to bid online on high value assets. The rest, as they say, is history, and since then Ten-X has branded itself as faster and more efficient than traditional offline transactions.
Ten-X Commercial has grown steadily, over the years, and has just recently surpassed $20 billion in total transaction volume. The company anticipates 2018 to be one of its biggest transaction years to date, and projects that it will outperform its Q2 by the end of Q3—an especially impressive feat since Q2 2018 was one of Ten-X Commercial’s best to date. That’s huge growth for any company, but especially considering Ten-X’s humble roots as just a handful of commercial real estate gurus. Now, the company has over 250 employees.
“Our North Star is to lead the digital transformation that is fundamentally changing the way commercial real estate is bought and sold, with a relentless focus on simplifying the transaction,” Jacobs added. “At our core, we’re a customer-focused business dedicated to simplifying the transaction.”
Ten-X Commercial prides itself on standing apart from the rest of the industry as well. The company provides the only truly end-to-end transaction platform for commercial real estate, and provides comprehensive marketing to its customers. Ten-X also provides data-driven insights to brokers via its dashboard, which shows the global reach that Ten-X brings, providing brokers with real-time analytics and actionable insights.
Of course, Ten-X Commercial is still operating in an industry that can oftentimes be stuck in its ways. “At Ten-X, we hope that the commercial real estate industry continues to embrace technology, helping to accelerate and grow the space,” said Jacobs. “Within that, I also hope the industry continues to recognize the strength of Ten-X’s platform and sees us as a top tech-powered tool for buying and selling commercial real estate.”
As for what the future holds for Ten-X, Jacobs and company aren’t spilling the beans just yet. What is certain is that Ten-X will continue to invest in designing and building new tech tools for brokers. This includes adding new enhancements to dashboards and building new partnerships and creating deeper engagements with existing customers. But above all, Ten-X is constantly honing and refining its data engine so that it can continue to intelligently match the right property with the right buyer at the right time.
However, Jacobs did speak to the future of the real estate tech scene. While Jacobs noted that AI, machine learning, and blockchain are all emerging as major players, he especially noted the potential of crowdfunding.
“Crowdfunding, and the technology that supports top crowdfunding platforms, enables commercial real estate investment using online technology. Essentially, crowdfunding erases boundaries such as access and geography,” he said. “It also further democratizes real estate by giving everyone a chance to participate. As these platforms integrate with technologies like blockchain, there will be a big shift in how real estate is transacted.”
But when it comes to the up-and-coming, Ten-X believes that it is already solidly ahead of the competition.
“Now that the commercial real estate industry is really starting to embrace technology, we’re ahead of the curve. We’ve been iterating and fine-tuning our online platform over the past nine years,” said Jacobs.
That nine-year pedigree certainly shows, and will undoubtedly push Ten-X to the forefront of the industry in the years to come.
For more information, please visit ten-x.com.
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