AIに賃貸物件の鍵を開けさせますか？ MyRemotely創業者Ran Fridmanが語る無人内見と賃貸管理の自動化

Hello everyone, welcome to AI Marketing. Today, I haven't done anything on real estate, and I don't know why, because I had a broker's license in California. Our guest today, Rand Fridman, is from Chicago, but I pretty much know the real estate industry nationwide. I've invested in multiple states, as he has, but our focus today is going to be on how he used AI to help him out with his property management, maybe some of the other things that he does. But before we jump into that, Ran, will you give us a brief background on yourself? Sure. My name is Ran Friedman. I'm originally from Ukraine. I lived also eight years in China and did business in China and other Southeast Asia countries. Moved to U.S., Chicago about 11 years ago and started my real estate journey here. Wonderful. Well, welcome to the U.S. Always love to hear a good success story from immigrants that have come here.

Thank you. So let's kind of get into what you do. So you, if I remember correctly, you bought three properties, one in the Chicago area, one in Indiana, and I can't remember what the other one was. Just walk us through your venture into real estate. Sure, yeah. So we bought more, actually. We bought about six foreclosures. We started with six foreclosures in the south side of Chicago. We fixed them up. It was foreclosure. And then we rent them. And then we pull out equities that we had in those properties, and we invested in Michigan City, Indiana, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. So we end up owning 22 units in three states personally. Okay, wonderful. And so that's how you started. So when did you start using AI? What problems were you having that you said, okay, we've got to switch to kind of an AI focus?

Yeah, so we, as I mentioned, we end up owning personally in three states. And it was impossible to do the showings of the properties in one day in three states. So I cannot be physically in three states in one day. So I had to come up with a solution where I can use AI and remote showings and show properties in different states using remote AI solutions. Okay. And what were some of those, what kind of problems did you have that were solved with those solutions? I know it's multiple states, but what was going on that you said, well, we need help here? yeah so first of all I needed a remote solution like a physical digital lock or a lock box that I can people can come in and only after using AI verification uh the driver license the identity

and uh face recognition I can allow them to the property so obviously I cannot be in three states in one day so using this technology face recognition and our REMA AI agent verifies them and help me to basically do those showings in three states and verify people. Okay. So that makes a lot of sense. But why do you need AI for that? Because I cannot physically verify them and be in the same place in three states. okay all right makes sense and then you you expanded from there right then you got into more and more units uh i don't know how many states you went into tell us tell us what the next thing was after you developed that solution yeah so basically once our personal portfolio started to grow uh it's me and my wife we started to look for a property management company that can

help us to manage our own personal portfolio. And nobody wanted to take us because they don't want to manage and drive to different three states and do the showings. So about three years ago, I told my wife, you know what, we're just going to start our own property management company, focus on technology, remote showings, and AI agents that we develop for ourselves. and now we manage about 150 doors for other investors and landlords in those three states. Okay. And so what now does the AI solution or the AI that you're using do? What are all the things that it does? So it takes anywhere from LEED as soon as – and we partner already. We're working with Zillowapartment.com and other major websites in the U.S. So as soon as the lead comes in, our Remo AI agent is answering this lead 24-7, the response time, which is very important.

And now people cannot wait. They want a response right away. So response time less than 30 seconds. So as soon as the lead comes, our AI agent answers and sends them a link to schedule self-tour. and a tenant doesn't matter what time of the day schedule the tour we get ai again ai get verifies them like their driver license face recognition and once they verify using api technology we take last four digits of their phone number and we transfer to the digital log box that we manufacturing and that's how they get into the property and so do you have anybody push back that you know as expensive things in their house that you know they just don't want people going through it without a realtor there or is most people open to it you know after doing almost like 11 years research after like our own personal properties actually people love the idea of self-showings

because they're not based on a schedule of an agent when he can do it. So usually those showings is after work, at night, or on weekends, and they love the idea that the showing actually is based on their schedule. Oh, I know they love that, but what about the owner of the home? Aren't they a little worried that these people might not be credible? I know you have their license and all the rest of that stuff but there no camera We never for 10 years yeah for 10 years we never had a problem Plus we require each landlord to have insurance like liability insurance for their unit as well. Got it. Okay, that makes sense. You could also put in a camera, I suppose, while you're. We do have a camera. So before any tenant can schedule self-tour, they check a legal question that I know I will be video, and audio monitored. And this camera we can share with the owner of the property

so they have a peace of mind as well. Okay. So essentially what you put together, it sounds like very smartly, is this end-to-end system where it's taking leads off of Zillow. Is Zillow the only place? Zillowapartment.com, all the major websites, yes. Okay. And somehow you're API-ing into those to respond on your behalf. Exactly. Or the owner's behalf, or I'm sure the rental management agency could do it as well. And then it kind of schedules on its own based on some sort of calendar that the owner has set up. And once they're verified, I don't know if you use like a some sub or some other place to verify these people, then they are allowed to go in with a code, the last four digits of their phone number, and a certain time window, I'm sure, they get to go self-guided, which I would rather do anyway, through the house,

and they potentially are recorded on audio and video, so at least you have some documentary evidence in the event that something goes wrong. I think that would make people feel a lot better. And then after that, does the AI do anything after the showing? Of course, yeah. So once they finish with the showing, so the window we can set up for half an hour or one hour. And because we developed this log bug that it's always online, we deactivate this code so they cannot come back to the property. And as soon as they finish the showing, they get a text message. And we can set up both, text message, email, and phone calls, everything in one place. So the landlord, again, we develop it for ourselves. All the phone calls you can make, the phone call, text, or email within the system. They receive a text message, hey, my friend, did you like the property? If they say yes, then we send automatically a link to official background check,

where we check their income, background, and employment, and so on. If they say for any reason no, we send them a feedback, questionnaire, or we can do it over the phone or by text messages. If you didn't like it, why? Because we want to know what they didn't like. Maybe in front of the building it was not clean enough or the grass was not cut. So what another benefit is of self-showing is that we always have an extra eye on a property. Okay And so you do the survey but who actually closes the tenant Can the AI close the tenant as well or does that require either the owner or the property manager to do it During the whole flow, there is the human monitoring what's happening. But everything is automated, and this link is sent by AI agent.

They submit application, and once they submitted already application, Then our team review it and we send it to the landlord for approval. So landlord or the owner of the property, because it's his business, it's his property, he or she has the final say. Okay. All right. Is there anything else that I didn't ask you about this, the AI that you're using that I should have? Does it set up a listing on Zillow? Or is that still done by the seller? Exactly, yeah. So, yeah, for now, the PM, like property manager or agent, need to submit because we need pictures. Need to submit pictures and description. And with one click, it's like a spider. It gets published to all the platforms like Zillow, apartment.com, and so on. Yeah. Okay.

So now you've productized this, right? and you let people use it or subscribe to it, whatever. Talk about that and what the business model is. Yeah, so we built this product for ourselves because we, as you hear my story, I'm always solving my own problem. We started as a landlord. Nobody wanted to take us like a property manager, so we started our own property management company. I couldn't find the right software, So we built our own living software. And the last piece of equation, we needed a digital lockbox that stays always online. And nothing like this exists in the industry. So we designed and started to manufacture our own. So we test this technology, software and hardware, both, on three states and 150 units that we manage for us and others. and now we're taking it to public to other landlords or property managers.

Okay. All right. And then it's myremotely.ai. Is that the website? Correct. Yes. Yep. Okay. Anything else that you want to add? How do people get a hold of you for questions or anything like that? Yeah. If they visit the website, myremotely.ai, they can see exactly what it's all about and there is a button to schedule Zoom meeting with us. Okay. Wonderful. All right. Great description. I liked how you laid it all out and how you're solving your own problems, which a lot of people have. I've been in the real estate industry and I know how difficult it is. So I want to appreciate you coming on and sharing that perspective and talking about a tool that you built from your own problems. It's remarkable. Thank you. Thank you, my friend. Yes, yes. All right.