An asset manager would prefer to have as much control as possible over the entire commercial process: from finding a tenant or buyer to the final property transaction with associated aftercare. So says Christiaan Ilias, Head of Asset Management at M7. ‘The more information you have, the better. By starting to work with the data platform Ally, we have made a huge quality improvement made in this asset management process and we also save a lot of time in the rental or sales process. A win-win situation.’
Ally is a product of PEER Ventures and was developed as a data warehouse solution for commercial real estate. It provides software for collecting, organising and visualising data,
specifically designed to support asset managers commercially.
‘It allows automatic standardised websites brochures, reports and dashboards and can
easily share important documents and figures with all stakeholders,’ says Gerrit ter Braake, partner at PEER Ventures. ‘Ally is not only user-friendly for the owner,
but also for the potential tenant or buyer.’
Over a hundred sales transactions
M7 has used Ally’s software over the past year, for instance, to sell over a hundred properties of real estate funds that were in the final stages of mandate. ‘Due to the market conditions of the past 12 months, portfolio sales were not possible,’ says Ilias. ‘Therefore, we chose to sell the buildings on single asset deals. This is much more laborious because instead of one big transaction, you are doing numerous small ones.’
To make this process tolerable and feasible, Ally offered a solution. First of all, Reddstone (part of PEER Ventures) developed a landing page that made M7’s Dutch sales offer easy to find and clearly displayed. Then, based on the available building data, teasers (such as these brochures or this website) were automatically generated in which the buildings are presented using text, images and figures.
This way, interested parties immediately have the most important information
at their disposal. This includes brokers (in this case CBRE, Prime Realty Partners, 1530 Real Estate, 3stone Real Estate, Creating Retail Parks and Cushman & Wakefield), for which in the leasing and sales process is still an important task ahead. Ally complements their services.
Support in different phases
In case of serious interest, the further sales process is also streamlined through Ally. M7 can share an initial selection of documents with potential buyers via the system, such as the energy label or the NEN-2580 measurement. ‘If we enter the due diligence phase, we grant access to all folders in the data room,’ Ilias explains. ‘Additional documentation can be easily added here as well if there are additional questions. At the end, the system produces a list of all documents to be attached to the contract of sale. With this, Ally supports us at different stages of the sales process and takes a lot of work off our hands in this way.’
Insights into interest and progress
An additional advantage is that with Ally, the building owner can track who has been in the data room when and in which folders. Also you can generate leads through the teaser websites. That offers important insights into interest in the property and the progress of the commercial process. Another important advantage is that a website or document is immediately updated if anything changes in the underlying data, images or texts are changed.
‘When you click save and display, you immediately get a new version,’ Ter Braake explains. ‘We are not in between, the system generates it by itself. You are never bothered by texts or images shifting in the file, because it automatically ends up in the desired format. This is always ‘white label’, by the way: nothing refers to Ally, everything is in your own brand identity.’
All parties involved, both internal and external, are also notified when new versions are available. According to Ter Braake, this saves asset managers a lot of time they would otherwise spend sharing information over and over again. ‘If, for example, a floor has been let, several parties need to be informed: colleagues, brokers and online brokers. Adjusting the documents and informing everyone about it hardly requires any attention now, as it’s done automatically.’
Overview of own property
Not only M7, but also other leading investors in Dutch real estate are currently working with Ally. About 90 percent of the buildings in the database are not listed for sale, says Ter Braake. ‘Ally is mainly for real estate companies that want to get their information in order and automate their processes, both internally and externally. There were already numerous good software solutions for the property management side, but we noticed that they were missing for the commercial side. With Ally, asset managers can get back to simply dealing with the buildings themselves instead of peripheral issues. Most buildings in Ally are in the dashboard to keep an overview of their own properties, such as vacancy rates and expiring leases. Once that data is in place, the process of selling, letting or valuing becomes much more efficient from now on.’
Ilias agrees. His experiences with Ally are very good. ‘The presentation of buildings looks slick and we see that the teasers are well used. In addition, the data room and sharing information from the system is very user-friendly for both sides.’ To use Ally to its full potential, it is however crucial to get its own texts about the buildings and their locations in order first. That is why Ally is working on having texts automatically write and translate texts using Artificial Intelligence.
‘One stop shop’
Ilias calls the combination of Ally and collaboration with Reddstone, both part of Peer Ventures, a ‘one stop shop’ for all of M7’s marketing purposes. Ally’s data platform provides a solution for the masses; Reddstone’s team for individual premises. ‘With Ally we standardise the whole,’ Ter Braake adds, ‘and with Reddstone we provide customisation for those few buildings that require extra attention. For those, we can provide a fully customised branding. So clients can come to us with any request, both for entire portfolios and for a single building.’