{"id":20404,"date":"2023-01-30T13:59:10","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T19:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/?p=20404"},"modified":"2023-02-13T10:24:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T16:24:31","slug":"the-backstory-of-nar-investing-in-latin-american-proptech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/editorials\/the-backstory-of-nar-investing-in-latin-american-proptech\/","title":{"rendered":"The backstory of NAR investing in Latin American proptech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Disputes over private property ownership in Mexico are often unpleasant and can sometimes turn violent. The\u00a0Associated Press<\/em> reported<\/a> on an exceptionally gruesome example in the final days of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, few economic arenas highlight the distinctions between the United States and Mexico more than the world of residential real estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlos Rousseau, co-founder of Orange Investments\u2014a billion-dollar multinational real estate firm\u2014is President of the Mexican Proptech<\/a> Association. Having also authored his country\u2019s preeminent guide to real estate technology, Rousseau\u2019s work has afforded him a unique look into this divide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an arcane and uncertain marketplace, Mexican home buyers and sellers often enter a transaction knowing the process will be, at best, cumbersome and confusing. At worst, Rousseau says, these experiences can rob people of their time and money, all the while leaving them unsure if their investment will remain viable in the long-term.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt takes time. It involves a lot of people; it involves trusting people,\u201d Rousseau notes of Mexico\u2019s typical residential transaction. \u201cAnd things don\u2019t always end well for the consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This realization has led Rousseau on a crusade he hopes will help Mexican real estate firms operate more like their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe.<\/strong> That includes capitalizing on the technological and investment opportunities readily available across Mexico\u2019s northern border and elsewhere around the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they have done in the States, these innovations hold the key to making housing transactions more viable for Latin American consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rousseau contends that just about anyone who buys or sells property in the region leaves the experience pleading for increased transparency. Expanding access to data and other critical information is a challenge he and his colleagues continue to wrestle with as they aim to bring Mexico\u2019s marketplace in line with other nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This contrast is particularly acute for Americans who travel to Mexico in search of vacation homes or investment properties<\/strong>. These buyers, Rousseau points out, expect the same level of service they receive in the U.S. and \u201cdon\u2019t want to lose money in what could be a potentially risky transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, Rousseau calls his nation\u2019s real estate industry \u201cdisjointed and disorganized,\u201d a classification he says extends broadly across Latin America. He sees these persistent, inherent obstacles as an opportunity, though, pointing to the surge of Mexican proptech firms founded in recent years to address gaps in the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing companies coming into Mexico to implement iBuying processes with goals to reform workflow and make all of these steps in real estate more efficient,\u201d Rousseau notes. \u201cThere is so much value in that, and it\u2019s something that\u2019s always had my attention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From his residence just 150 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border (where he\u2019s launched various professional enterprises of his own), Rousseau sees the structure he believes should serve as a model for Mexican real estate. And it comes with tremendous potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attending commercial real estate conference\u00a0CRETech\u00a0in 2021\u2014keenly aware that he was \u201cone of the few Latinos\u201d at the Manhattan event\u2014Rousseau stumbled upon a booth manned by a member of the National Association of Realtors\u00ae<\/sup>\u2019 Strategic Business, Innovation, and Technology team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that point unfamiliar with the REACH program<\/a> and its inherent overlap with his own expertise<\/strong>, Rousseau told the NAR representative about his background in proptech and of the ventures started from outside his home in Monterrey, Mexico. She then suggested Rousseau meet Dave Garland, a managing partner for REACH <\/a>and NAR\u2019s investment arm, Second Century Ventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little more than a year after that first encounter, NAR was proud to announce<\/a> last November that REACH would be\u00a0expanding into Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jointly based in Mexico City and Monterrey, REACH Latam<\/a> will connect the region\u2019s startups to international capital sources and innovators propelling the industry elsewhere around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Rousseau as its managing partner,\u00a0the program will also work to facilitate numerous consumer-minded protections like those so commonly found in the U.S. Boosting professionalism of the region\u2019s real estate-related jobs will be a key focus.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s say my mom wakes up and decides she wants to be a broker; she can just be a broker,\u201d Rousseau speculates. \u201cShe could be a great broker, of course, but either way she could sell a house tomorrow in Mexico if she wanted to without any formal education or certification.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rousseau adds, \u201cThat creates a problem, because there are people who don\u2019t know certain basic elements about real estate. They confuse the market, they confuse their clients, and they may not compete in the most ethical way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was fortunate to have helped launch REACH from my previous position as NAR\u2019s Senior vice president responsible for business development and strategic investments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the first days of these conversations, we hoped to spur changes like those now on display through REACH Latam\u2014programs and partnerships that can provide immense benefits to global consumers and real estate agents alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the Latin American real estate industry represents nearly $1 trillion USD in opportunity. And with internet accessible in 78% of the region\u2014a number significantly higher than India or China\u2014proptech has rapidly become one of the most attractive sectors for venture capital investment throughout South and Central America<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoping to serve as a conduit between Mexican and American institutions, Rousseau sees clearly the potential\u2014and responsibility\u2014before him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to be the bridge that connects Mexican and U.S. real estate,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re very close geographically, but we\u2019re far away in terms of the way we conduct business and interact with one another.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rousseau concludes, \u201cThe opportunity is immense, and there are so many people who can benefit from that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A chance meeting at a conference has led to NAR’s imaginative move into Latin America to create more opportunities for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":340926,"featured_media":20405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[254],"tags":[2332,263,1234],"class_list":["post-20404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","tag-featured","tag-nar","tag-real-estate-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/mexico-america.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/340926"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20404"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20412,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20404\/revisions\/20412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}