NERJ: Why Commercial Real Estate Must Adopt Technology in 2019

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The following article written by LeasePilot CEO Gabriel Safar was originally published in the New England Real Estate Journal on march 29th, 2019.

Commercial real estate has for far too long lagged behind the rest of the world in embracing modern technology, asking employees to meet today’s market expectations with yesterday’s tools. In commercial leasing, it’s the norm for it to take 90 days to close a deal, something that would not be acceptable in any other industry. That’s why now is the time to start improving antiquated processes by adopting technology.

Currently, commercial real estate lawyers use traditional word processors to draft and close leases, software that basically has not changed in 25 years. While Word is great for communicating abstract ideas, it’s not ideal for the creation of leases, which contain hundreds of dependent clauses and calculations that must be updated should even minor details in the lease change.

Further, the data within those documents is siloed from property management, financial and other software needed to keep the business running. Leasing administrators and paralegals manually (and inefficiently) break down those silos by combing through the hundreds of pages of a lease and summarizing key details into leasing abstracts. This tedious, manual task takes hours of time and painstaking attention to detail, leading to burnout and high employee turnover.

Is there a better way to complete this process? You bet. Technology, like document automation, for example, can reduce the amount of time it takes to bring a lease from letter of intent to close. Software integration reduces the hours of work into mere minutes, keeping employees engaged and freeing up time for commercial real estate professionals to focus on higher-level tasks that bring real value to the company.

This isn’t a Jetsons-like future fantasy. It can, and should, happen today. If your organization hasn’t considered technology to improve your outdated processes, what are you waiting for?

Law.com: Why Property Tech Might Be the Next Frontier For Legal

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LeasePilot CEO Gabriel Safar spoke with Law.com for a piece on the fast-growing prop tech sector. The article was published on March 19th, 2019. The full text can be found here. An excerpt is below.

Better development could help to drive adoption of prop tech inside law firms too. Gabriel Safar practiced as a commercial real estate attorney before co- founding LeasePilot, the company behind the lease-drafting solution of the same name.

He thinks that many real estate tools aren’t designed with lawyers in mind. “Most technology is created by engineers and people that have an understanding of some big benefit or the generic concept of efficiency. But the tools that are being created actually make the end-user’s life harder,” Safar said.

That doesn’t mean that law firms won’t continue to try and incorporate prop tech, though. Giving up isn’t exactly an option. Safar pointed to an increasingly crowded marketplace and the desire—or need—for a competitive edge as drivers that make both law firms and real estate companies more willing to look to the future.

Pressure from clients doesn’t hurt, either. “[Clients] want stuff done fast, and they can’t understand why lawyers can’t do it faster. They don’t realize that lawyers are using a cell phone from 1993, and they think that lawyers are using an iPhone. There’s this fundamental disconnect,” Safar said.

In this case the “iPhone” is automation software that can make key changes inside a 100-page lease while potentially cutting down on errors. Still, lawyers aren’t just going to get away with delivering faster leases.

Disruptor Daily: What’s The State Of Blockchain In Real Estate? 10 Experts Share Their Insights

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LeasePilot CTO Itzik Spitzen spoke with Disruptor Daily for a piece on the state of Blockchain in real estate.

The real estate industry is currently exploring and experimenting with blockchain in various areas, including checking boundaries. While many ideas are being raised and companies continue to experiment and some are moving toward practical application, there are few examples, if any, of blockchain being widely used just yet.

Click here to read the full piece on Disruptor Daily’s site.

CMS Wire: Is Artificial Intelligence Stupid?

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LeasePilot CTO Itzik Spitzen spoke with CMS Wire for a piece on the limitations of artificial intelligence.

Multiple markets are now starting to develop a better understanding of what AI actually is, and how it can or can’t yet be used in the business world. Instead of just automating a process, companies should be sure that context and nuance are taken into account, which is something AI still hasn’t fully mastered.

Click here to read the full piece on CMS Wire’s site.