Lead generation is an essential part of the complex dance that mortgage and real estate professionals are required to perform daily to keep their businesses afloat. There are precious few mortgage and real estate companies that have in-house staff to research the myriad documents necessary to locate the necessary financial, property and owner information about particular buildings, if they can even find it. Most brokers are left to their own devices, and with closing deals, endless processing management and mind bending diplomacy between clients and the bank and/or the buyers/sellers/attorneys, there is simply not enough time in the day to invest in new business development.
Brokers in N.Y.C. have life a bit easier than their colleagues throughout the nation, since there are multiple databases available that actually record ownership and mortgage information. It is true that property owner info, as well as other important mortgage details, such as the lender, when loan was initiated, when it will expire, prepayment penalty, the rate and amount of the mortgage are all public record, these are pieces that are often buried deep in mortgage documents. The essential piece of the puzzle, the name and contact number of the owner often proves to be elusive, since owners of commercial real estate often hide behind their LLC's. With limited time for lead generation, brokers can easily become frustrated and overwhelmed.
Technology has eased this burden somewhat, and software has been developed to research property information culled from CMBS (Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities) prospectuses. Several large-name subscription based software tools have become the standard for effectively researching CMBS properties. Besides being expensive, these services only work for properties have been CMBS financed. In N.Y.C., less than 2% of the commercial properties fall under that category. Relying solely on these services for N.Y.C. properties, will effectively shut a broker out of a full 98% of N.Y.C. properties!
Enter Actovia Explorer, launched by Actovia Commercial Mortgage Intelligence, which is a cutting-edge, cloud-based subscription program that streamlines the heavy load of information, to bring all relevant information to a broker's fingertips through a simple, yet sophisticated technology tool. The technology culls information from databases which are public record, such as the Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS), the city's public data resource for real estate transactions, and from N.Y.C.'s Dept. of Buildings' website, in addition to CMBS prospectuses. Actovia's research team then manually researches documents bringing its users enhanced coveted info on roughly 30% of the 180,000 N.Y.C.'s commercial properties listed in its database, a major breakthrough in the CRE world. Then, using the same technology that Netflix uses to stream movies, software called Silverlight, Actovia Explorer provides info in an easy-to-use interface that links the user to, for instance, a landlord's full portfolio, behaving more like a desktop application, with little or no load-time.
In addition to allowing users to look up a property by landlord and vice versa, it lets them search by loan expiration date, loan rate, prepayment penalty, loan-to-value and mortgage per s/f, helping brokers identify various triggers for potential sale, such as over leveraged properties or mortgages which may be underwater. Its sophisticated analytical tools can help a broker identify potential off-market deals, opening up a whole new vista in lead generation. For advanced users, the program can help a broker track trends, signaling areas to be targeted. The icing on the cake is the integrated client management system, so that Actovia Explorer not only locates properties, but it allows brokers to track them.
With the use of all these tools and more, Actovia Explorer empowers brokers to approach landlords from a whole different point of view—from an educated perspective, bringing lead generation to a whole new level.
Currently, the product focuses on the N.Y. metro area, and NYS and N.J. are currently in the pipeline, with an estimated launch date of September 2013. Plans are in the works to expand throughout the east coast and eventually throughout the country.
Jonathan Ingber is the president and founder of Actovia Commercial Mortgage and Real Estate Intelligence, New York, N.Y.







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