When my brother and I started our real estate company nearly two decades ago, we considered ourselves "ahead of the curve." Keep in mind that in those days, in the background of those discussions was the deafening sound of a dial-up internet connection in tinned roof villa in the middle of a Costa Rican rainforest. After several years of operating our website, we made what was at the time a mind-boggling decision to hire a SAAS provider in Canada to provide a CMS service to deploy our listings to the site. Prior to this, each property upload was a manual process, involving graphic design and several days of patience. While the platform was truly not designed for our unique real estate market in Costa Rica, it allowed our agents to freely upload their listings and be syndicated across the globe.
At the time, I remember being a pioneer in Costa Rica, and even those at the provider's firm recognized our entrepreneurial spirit, and since we were their first user in Costa Rica, they actually asked for our assistance in mapping areas and defining best practices. For years, the seamless process was not only successful but efficient and helped our team's growth beyond measure. As our company grew, however, so did our demands and expectations for a service and platform that could truly be a partner in our growth. We had reached a point where we knew we needed more, but the fear of change continued to outweigh our willingness to try something new. By this time, hundreds of agents and agencies in Costa Rica had followed suit and began using the same platform that we had first embarked upon years ago. After a luxury real estate conference years ago, Scott and I made the decision to hire one of the sponsor firms to customize a solution for our company. With the excitement in our throats and our checkbooks in our hands, we started a process with a company that exuded tremendous confidence and capability. If they could do it for those guys, referring to top brokers and developers, I remembered saying, " This would be a piece of cake....Well, it was a piece of something, but it was not cake. Long story short, both they and we bit off more than we could chew, and months into the process and thousands of dollars later, the project was abandoned as both sides realized we would not reach the final product that was expected.
As we crawled back into our hole and started working again, the technology that we were chasing continued to remain at the forefront of our minds. At every LRE conference, we would engage with trusted colleagues about recommended technology partners and grill the endless list of sponsors about their ability to work in our idiosyncratic environment. Of course, no problem, they would all say...a follow up call post conference would always start with," I spoke with our programs, and not sure if we can assist since you guys do not have an MLS down there."... We were chasing the technology, but almost always got chased off by the limitations....or, admittingly, the firms that were willing to provide a solution, also cost about as much as my daughter's college education which I was not willing to give up.
Fast forward to 2017. Robust growth in our company, and Scott and I were looking at 2018 -2019 for a growth pattern for the company, and we knew what we had successfully avoided for the past 10+ years was a part of that growth. We could no longer expect to continue to be leaders in our marketplace and leaders for our team, without stepping out and investing in and providing the most advanced, state-of-the-art technology for our firm. We had the best team, an impeccable reputation both for our success and the ethics and professionalism with which we handle our operation...however, we wanted more. We wanted to deliver an incomparable experience for our clients, both buyers and sellers, as well as an unbeatable platform from which our team could work and continue to grow. So at a conference in Maui, I recall being that guy....yes, you know, that guy in a conference who asks all of the questions. When the rest of the group, at 330 already had their mental bathing suit on and walking out to the pool, I was keeping the presentor....the guy who won the token trip to Maui, but all he had to do was give a little chat about the software, technology, etc....that was, until the guy from Costa Rica started, and would not stop....After this conference, we were determined. I spent June, July, and August interviewing every real estate platform provider in the US or Canada. 90% of those calls started and ended the same: Of course we can....oh wait, you don't have an MLS? You don't have physical addresses....hmmmm. Yes, I knew what that meant. Next.
By August 2017, I had narrowed down our search to 3 potential partners. One, a very well respected partner with whom dozens of trusted colleagues have worked for the past several years and whose technology had always impressed me; the next, a very impressive company that powers several very respected global companies, and another, whose name I was not truly familiar with, but the technology and tools were very impressive. While the second company's technology was impressive, they would not allow us a deeper look other than their webinar. That, combined with the fact that it took nearly two weeks to get a response, quickly eliminated them from our list. The first company provided friendly service, a great product, but it seemed too much of a box solution for a company and market that could not be further outside of the box.
I started concentrating on the latter of the three....with an unlimited login and password to truly test drive the platform, Cesar (who heads the marketing and design division), and I dove in headfirst. We looked at every aspect, testing out all of the functions, and I guess it is fair to say, we asked a few questions. Without naming names, my contact received 24-7 questions via Facebook messenger...yes, he made what he might consider the mistake of answering a question one day via Facebook messenger since I could not wait for an email, and well, let's just say, I am glad I am not being charged by word count. All joking aside, though, in addition to the car passing the test drive, what convinced us as much as the technology, tools, and cutting-edge performance was the commitment to service. We knew that we were not an out-of-the-box company, and were going to require tremendous attention to detail and excellent service. And while we are a couple of weeks away from launch, I can tell you that while this company was far more expensive than the others that I was looking at, not once have we regretted the selection that we made, as the learning process, site build, training, and of course, the service, have been consistent from day one.
With in-house training complete, all that is left to say is hats off to our technology partner, smooth sailing, and #noxcuses to our team, and enjoy the experience to our customers.