Richard Du, Agorafy, Inc.

It is no secret that there are major inefficiencies in the residential and commercial real estate markets. The way professionals bring listings to the market, research market data, and share information is costly and often lacks transparency.

The market is built upon an age-old system where information is disconnected and needs to be aggregated from multiple sources, putting everyone involved in the deal-making process at a disadvantage. Market participants are armed with none other than incomplete or incorrect data, having wasted their time, money, and effort.

Sound familiar?

The mission of Agorafy is simple. It is to provide access to trustworthy market data to protect real estate brokers, agents and other professionals. And who better to provide this data than the professionals themselves? We offer every single real estate professional across the market the ability to manage and communicate that information easily and efficiently on one central platform.

Building the Agorafy platform on transparency requires that every listing have a verified asking price and that agents proactively update their listings. We truly believe that it’s this little extra effort that allows everyone in the market to share in the collective benefit. Starting from this vantage point saves professionals time and energy retrieving information so they can focus on what’s more important, like building relationships and closing deals.

First and foremost, agents must protect other agents. Not only the ones from the same team or company, but when cooperating with outside firms as well. Providing accurate and up-to-date information to the brokerage community is the first step that builds trust and greases the wheels of the deal-making process.

Additionally, whether they are a property owner or a potential tenant, agents have a fiduciary duty to protect their clients. But in order for the market to function properly, this protection must be reciprocated by property owners as well, by protecting their agents.

When a property owner signs an exclusive with an agent, all communication should flow through or back to the agent so they are both on the same page. This lets agents focus their efforts more on properly marketing the listings and showing the space; not worrying over losing their exclusive. Prospective tenants must do the same by utilizing their time and effort not just to open the door but working with agents to submit their offer and negotiate the transaction.

From day one, Agorafy was built with the purpose of giving real estate professionals complete control over how their listings are presented to the market. By using Agorafy, brokers and agents gain maximum exposure for their available listings and maintain complete control over the flow of information.

Agorafy provides the direct contact information of the exclusive broker(s) for every listing, reducing confusion and increasing transparency. Other listing platforms, or those who see themselves as online brokers seek to insert themselves in the deal-making process by not providing the direct contact information and having potential leads flow through them in the hopes of earning a piece of the commission. That is not Agorafy’s goal.

Our data team consistently verifies market availabilities with the exclusive broker or owner. We also receive daily updates from our users on the availability and pricing of listings. It has always been our mindset to protect the exclusive broker and verify with them if there is a change in availability or pricing. We only publish first hand data from the professionals representing a listing.

Beyond this, Agorafy is building an outreach team focused on forging relationships with residential and commercial brokerages, management companies and property owners to assist them in listing their availabilities. If you want to build a cohesive ecosystem, it usually helps to have agents and landlords on your side.

Richard Du is the founder and CEO of Agorafy, New York, N.Y.