Tag: proptech

Brynne McNulty Rojas: Leading Colombia’s Real Estate Industry into the Future, Ep 135

Category : Crossing Borders Podcast
Posted on by

You can now find the full show notes of the Crossing Borders podcast on LatamList.com’s new podcast section. I’ll still post the audio of the podcast on my blog and I’m planning to start writing more again on my blog, like I used to.

Subscribe to the LatamList Weekly newsletter to get updated on the week’s top tech news and stories from the region.

Thanks for listening to Crossing Borders all these years! If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to reach out here, or contact me on social media.

Outline of this episode:

  • [1:44] – About Habi
  • [2:20] – Buying and selling a property in Colombia
  • [4:25] – From New Jersey to Colombia
  • [5:54] – Brynne’s previous stops before starting Habi
  • [8:50] – Starting something of her own
  • [9:47] – Why Habi started with an MLS and Ibuyer model
  • [12:06] – Buying and selling a property through Habi
  • [13:10] – Habi’s experience while fundraising 
  • [15:10] – Advice on raising money from the US for a Colombian solution
  • [16:41] – Habi’s next milestones
  • [17:26] – Advice to Brynne’s younger self

Show notes on Latamlist.com.

Rodrigo Sánchez-Ríos, La Haus: Transforming Latin America’s Broken Real Estate Industry, Ep 134

Category : Crossing Borders Podcast
Posted on by

You can now find the full show notes of the Crossing Borders podcast on LatamList.com’s new podcast section. I’ll still post the audio of the podcast on my blog and I’m planning to start writing more again on my blog, like I used to.

Subscribe to the LatamList Weekly newsletter to get updated on the week’s top tech news and stories from the region.

Thanks for listening to Crossing Borders all these years! If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to reach out here, or contact me on social media.

Outline of this episode:

  • [2:47] – About La Haus
  • [3:21] – Growing up in Tijuana, Mexico
  • [4:07] – Studying in the US
  • [6:43] – From computer nerd to finance
  • [8:51] – Leaving Lehman Brothers
  • [10:45] – Choosing Stanford over Harvard
  • [12:30] – A life-changing trip to Colombia
  • [15:00] – Building blocks for La Haus
  • [16:37] – Latin America’s broken real estate industry
  • [20:35] – From idea to solution
  • [23:29] – Raising money in Colombia
  • [25:57] – Bootstrapping La Haus
  • [28:23] – Advice to Rodrigo’s younger self
  • [30:29] – Books, blogs, & podcast recommendations

Show notes on Latamlist.com.

Brian Requarth, Latitud: Building Iconic Companies in Brazil and Latin America, Ep 133

Category : Crossing Borders Podcast
Posted on by

You can now find the full show notes of the Crossing Borders podcast on LatamList.com’s new podcast section. I’ll still post the audio of the podcast on my blog and I’m planning to start writing more again on my blog, like I used to.

Subscribe to the LatamList Weekly newsletter to get updated on the week’s top tech news and stories from the region.

Thanks for listening to Crossing Borders all these years! If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to reach out here, or contact me on social media.

Outline of this episode:

  • [1:40] – About Brian
  • [3:58] – From merge to exit
  • [7:45] – Merging with a competitor
  • [12:11] – Advice for companies looking to buy instead of build
  • [14:58] – How the ecosystem has evolved since 2009
  • [17:00] – Brian’s latest book
  • [21:22] – Angel investing in Latam with Latitud
  • [27:00] – Do’s and don’ts of investing in tech
  • [34:00] – Where do you see the market going?
  • [36:43] – Advice to Brian’s younger self
  • [39:25] – Next steps for Brian

Show notes on Latamlist.com.

Real Estate Tech Opportunities in Latin America

Category : Latin America Startups and Investing
Posted on by

Even in the United States, the process of finding and buying property, as well as securing a mortgage, is not an easy one. In Latin America, where real estate agents are often not officially licensed, countries use notaries instead of escrows, and mortgage rates can be staggeringly high, buying a property in Latin America can be much more difficult. Most Latin American countries lack an MLS (multiple listing service) so there is no central place to search for properties, no exclusivity for brokers, and prices for the same property can differ from broker to broker. It can be hard to know whether you are getting a straight deal when the process for researching properties and brokers is anything but transparent.

Even in countries such as Chile, which is one of the more developed real estate markets in the region, renting an apartment as a foreigner can be daunting. Local landlords usually require significant paperwork before signing a lease, including a cosigner, local employment documents, proof of local taxes, and other documents most foreigners do not have. Landlords may also require your monthly income to be triple or quadruple the monthly rent, meaning that renting many properties is out of reach even for well-paid locals.

In 2013, Vijay Kailas, a fellow Start-Up Chile entrepreneur and I started Andes Property to help foreigners buy, rent or invest in properties in Latin America to help provide more clarity into this market. In 2014, my fund, Magma Partners, made Adrian Fisher’s PropiedadFacil our first investment. Adrian has been involved in the real estate tech sector since 2012 in Argentina, Chile and now the US with PropertySimple, so we had significant experience in the real estate tech sector.

Because of a lack of information, low levels of competition in the Latin American real estate market and corruption in certain markets, potential property owners can take on risks when buying a property that they wouldn’t otherwise take on in the US, where we take many of our existing systems and platforms for granted.

(more…)