SaleFish recently had the pleasure of participating in The Buzz Conference, a two-day virtual real estate and proptech experience in September 2020. The conference had over 950 attendees and an impressive calibre of speakers, including Sean Morrison (President of OREA), Phil Soper (CEO and President of Royal LePage Canada and Bridgemarq), Natasha Koifman (President of our partner NKPR), Amy Youngren (Founder of North Group Real Estate), Adam Stern (President of PSR Realty Resale Division), Christopher Wein (COO of Lanterra Developments), Brad Lamb (Founder and CEO of Brad J. Lamb Realty and Lamb Development Corp.), Lee Piccoli (CEO and Founder of Fusion Homes), Justin Havre (#1 Team RE/MAX Canada and #5 Team RE/MAX World), Warren Pentz and Lisa Reis (Lead Developer and Director of Marketing and New Business Development from our integration partner NEEZO Studios), and many more – including our very own SaleFish President and Co-Founder Rick Haws.

Rick joined the conversation to weigh in from a digital real estate sales perspective. When you look at how COVID-19 has impacted the buying process and virtual selling has become more prominent, this technology is paving the way.

In case you missed it, here are our top 5 key takeaways from Rick’s talk, “A Builder’s Guide to Simplified Online Residential Sales.”

Key Takeaway #1: Transacting real estate sales online isn’t a new thing for us

SaleFish has been selling real estate for 15 years, and selling online for 5 years. Many in the industry talk about selling online like it’s a brand new thing, but we’ve been at it for half a decade.

Key Takeaway #2: SaleFish simplifies online residential sales

At SaleFish, everything we do is about making things easier for our builder, developer, and real estate sales professional clients. We make the real estate transaction process smooth and simple. Essentially, what we’re all about is removing the layers within the real estate transaction – trying to automate every single piece of the process. More on this below!

Key Takeaway #3: There’s no universal definition of “online selling”

Online selling means different things to different people. There’s no agreed-upon definition, and some software, marketing and sales companies are being very liberal with their definitions – so beware.

SaleFish defines online transactions as an end-to-end solution. We offer end-to-end transactions, starting with real-time data on inventory and pricing, gathering and securing customers’ data, validating IDs and identities, and dynamically generating complex paperwork and facilitating a digital workflow. The entire process is within a closed system (environment), fully online and simplified.

Key Takeaway #4: Cyber security is SO important

Cyber security is misunderstood and undervalued in our industry. Security is not only about data encryption but also about a company’s policies and procedures around data – all of which are so important when it comes to online real estate transactions. What’s particularly unique about SaleFish is that we’re the only real estate company with a cyber security certificate from the Government of Canada.

Key Takeaway #5: There’s no substitute for time and experience

SaleFish has been conducting online real estate transactions for 5 years, and has been in business for over 15 years. What keeps us ahead of the curve are our years of experience, which have allowed us to continually finesse and improve our software, service and overall offerings.

Selling real estate online is more relevant than ever in the current real estate climate. In the past six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen more and more companies adopt online selling. As Rick noted in his talk, being able to sell virtually is a tool in your tool belt that you’ll want to be equipped with if you’re a builder, developer or real estate sales professional

Want to hear Rick’s full talk? Check out a recording of day 1 of the Buzz Conference here (Rick’s talk starts at 5:44:41).

Thanks for reading! Make sure to follow SaleFish Software on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for more news and updates.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=a7wQGKSDJ00%3Fenablejsapi%3D1%26origin%3Dhttps%3A

With the real estate market remaining hot, new construction developers and sales organizations need tools to help stay organized and monetize sales now more than ever. SaleFish Software is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of our newest feature, Broker Link. This worksheet system is designed to make the selling process as fair as possible without the need for agents and home buyers to line up, and to relieve your sales administration team of having to manually juggle hundreds or even thousands of worksheet submissions and multiple spreadsheets per project. Broker Link is simple, streamlined and accurate.    

Read on to learn all about this brand new feature and how it can help you to streamline the broker worksheet process.

Who It’s For

Broker Link is the perfect tool for any new home builder, condo developer or sales company who works with brokers. Is this you? You’re in luck!

The Nuts and Bolts

Broker Link is an innovative new tool developed by SaleFish Software. A “lite” version is now included for free with all SaleFish Software packages. Broker Link is a streamlined worksheet application that supplements traditional broker packages and allows builders and developers to quickly and easily allocate broker assignments, track broker logins, and facilitate worksheet submissions and approval.

The application provides effortless and accessible reporting, allowing builders, developers and sales companies to quickly and easily track which home designs or units are the most popular, how many homes or units are still available, the status of worksheets, and much more. With Broker Link, all the info you need is now just a click away – and it’s all completely virtual and seamless.

Why You Need Broker Link

Broker Link helps to simplify the process of selling real estate. It lets builders and developers streamline their relationships with brokers, keeping agents happy with easy-to-access information and allocations. Builders and developers also benefit from a smoother process and helpful analytics. Working with brokers has never been easier, and brokers and builders/developers alike will love this new tool.

If you’re a SaleFish Software customer, you can now get Broker Link “lite” included at no cost. We also offer a more advanced paid version of the application with additional features.

If you’d like to see how this tool can work for you, contact us today for more info.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to follow SaleFish Software on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for more news and updates.

When transacting new home sales online, ease and security are two key considerations that we keep in mind when designing our software, to make the experience the best it can be for both our clients and their customers. We’ve made the process simpler, more straightforward and more secure than ever with digital ID validation and identity selfies – and they’re all 100% FINTRAC-compliant.

FINTRAC-Compliant ID Verification Software

In choosing the platform to integrate with for our advanced identification verification software, we at SaleFish Software made sure that everything was FINTRAC-compliant.

FINTRAC is the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, Canada’s financial intelligence unit. Amongst other responsibilities, it assists in the detection, prevention and deterrence of money laundering, receives financial transacting reports and voluntary information in accordance with the legislation and regulations, safeguards personal information under its control, and ensures the compliance of reporting entities with the legislation and regulations. FINTRAC’s financial intelligence and compliance functions are a unique contribution to the safety of Canadians and the protection of the integrity of Canada’s financial system.

FINTRAC acts at arm’s length and is independent from the police services, law enforcement agencies and other entities to which it is authorized to disclose financial intelligence.

In October of 2019, FINTRAC made provisions for software to be used for the purposes of verifying a person’s identity on behalf of the reporting entities (in this case, builders, developers and sales companies). After doing extensive research, we invested in a partnership with a software company that offers end-to-end AI-powered identity verification and authentication. With this new software embedded in SaleFish Online’s application, SaleFish can now validate the front, back and content of a person’s ID and then the person’s face, using facial recognition technology, through the process of taking a selfie. The powerful software can recognize multiple different types of IDs in Canada and also in Australia, Germany and Turkey, supporting our initiatives in these expanding markets.

ID Verification in Action

This means that when transacting real estate sales online, home buyers can simply take a photo of their ID and the technology will determine its validity, allowing buyers to submit their ID online for builders to confirm – and we can also authenticate a purchaser’s identity by having them take a selfie. Using AI, the software can ensure the selfie and ID match. The process is quick, seamless and secure – and it’s completely FINTRAC-compliant.

Protecting our clients and home buyers is our top priority, and this software is as good as it gets. We’re proud and excited to see this new addition to our suite of tools rolling out to more and more builders, developers and sales companies around the world.

If you’d like to see how this tool can work for you, contact us today for more info.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to follow SaleFish Software on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for more news and updates.

Well ahead of March 2020, we at SaleFish have proudly offered innovative digital workflow solutions for brokers and agents to simplify the selling process. When a state of emergency was first ordered last year, many businesses immediately were forced to re-evaluate how they would manage operations to support safe physical distancing. For real estate professionals, that meant presentation centres would not be enough to effectively sell units for pre-construction residential projects. For many, they turned to SaleFish as a partner that could provide the necessary technology to ignite creative selling. What came with that was a stark realization of just how powerful digital workflow could be.

Now over one year later, remote selling has become commonplace. Brokers and agents are setting up one-on-one virtual appointments to take potential buyers through their options with necessary digital paperwork accessible with the click of a button, and are processing transactions in under five minutes. While maintaining that touch of personalization that comes with in-person meetings, the agent is processing sale after sale with our technology carrying them with the current. Notably, this saves builders hundreds of thousands of dollars on costs for sales centres and couriers, not to mention the excessive wasteful paper that can easily exist solely online. They also cut down on travel time for purchasers and signing authorities, and often reduce extra administrative labour. Further to these savings, agents are closing deals in record time because they can start the 10-day cooling-off period immediately for condominiums with digital documents, converting sales one to two weeks faster!

Crescendo Real Estate Solutions Inc., based in Vaughan, Ontario,  is a boutique brokerage setting an example for adopting digital workflow. As a consultant for builders across the province, they immediately set up shop virtually using SaleFish when the pandemic started, and have been processing sales online for various residential projects ever since. Leveraging Zoom and screen share functions to show digital documents, they’ve established new processes that put prospective buyers at ease while turning over sales at unheard-of speeds. In one day, they were able to book 95 virtual appointments and sell 30 homes. They also estimate that about 95% of buyers today are very comfortable using Zoom or other video services before signing digital documents. Keep in mind, the buyer can practically be anywhere, so Crescendo is seeing traffic from purchasers across the country. 

This is just the beginning. Sales centres will always have a place within the real estate industry, but not the only place, and as we’ve established, there are exceptionally profitable alternatives through digital workflow. This is where builders and agents of tomorrow will be turning and SaleFish will always be there with a helping hand.

To learn more about our digital workflow offerings, click here.

Fred Nicolucci

Manager, Project Implementation, SaleFish

FredN@salefishsoftware.com

Earlier this year, we at SaleFish had the pleasure of hosting a webinar with top real estate industry experts, Pamela Ventresca (COO at PACE Developments and owner of P2 Realty Brokerage), Justin Bossio (Senior Sales Manager at Minto Communities), and Ben Myers (President of Bullpen Research & Consulting Inc. and Co-Host of the Toronto Under Construction Podcast) where we discussed pivotal changes within real estate since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. We also collectively considered the year ahead and how the evolving digital transformation of the industry would prevail. We agreed that there has been significant adoption of various digital technology and that early adopters continue to expand their virtual footprint. We’ve also seen major shifts in communication strategies to accommodate the needs of buyers, meanwhile recognizing the heightened importance of cybersecurity as the industry continues to navigate the online world. 

A key takeaway was that the digital transformation of real estate is not new, but the pandemic has significantly accelerated this process. We’re seeing an unprecedented rate of adoption for PropTech like digital sales software enabling builders and agents to sell remotely in real-time with cloud-based technology. Through necessity, they are reshaping and rethinking the way they transact business, which will prove to have significant long-term rewards.

What is particularly interesting about this catalyst for change is that beyond the increased demand for digital real estate sales software, early adopters of this technology are expanding their software footprint to create new efficiencies for their operations and shifting gears on how they communicate with prospective buyers. As we are navigating digitally, there has also been an increased need for flexibility in the back-end operation features such as pricing, floor plans and promotional amendments and the increased demand for sales software such as SaleFish to accommodate those features.  

Presentation centres can no longer be the only point of interaction with purchasers – builders and agents are quickly learning that there are various avenues for educating prospective buyers. Paper brochures have pivoted to digital portals to give full access and visibility to sales assets – by a simple click of a button, agents and developers are now able to showcase projects and the surrounding communities all virtually. Our SaleFish team recently powered sales for Cachet Homes’ ParQ project, a community of townhomes in Brantford, and they sold out of all 150 units in four days using this technology without a sales centre.

The industry has also recognized the importance of providing prospective buyers with early access to information. Traditionally, information such as sales pricing and floor plans were withheld until the sales launch, but now, it is a common practice to share assets ahead of time to ensure buyers are fully educated when looking to make a decision. Not only does this increase overall efficiency, but also allows for increased transparency – these are major shifts from the conventional pen-and-paper ways and, needless to say, this has rapidly improved profitability. 

Selling real estate online also means communicating sensitive information on the web, so cybersecurity has become an important industry conversation over the past year. I recently spoke at the Buzz Conference in March about this topic and we conducted a survey with over 100 industry players. What’s especially interesting is that although cybersecurity is a top priority for the majority of these professionals, less than seven percent felt very prepared for possible cyber threats. We’re expecting an educational reform in the industry with builders and agents improving their knowledge for how they should treat data and manage devices that are at risk of being compromised. As the first and only software to be certified by Cyber Essentials Canada, our SaleFish team continues to be a leader in this important conversation, and we’re excited to see more discussion on the topic. 

One of the most significant changes we’re seeing in the industry today is not that of hardware or software, but that of mindset and attitude. Customer behaviours and preferences are changing and those who have long been reluctant to buy into the digital transformation are now firmly on board. Prospective buyers are more comfortable than ever before interacting with developers and/or agents online and signing agreements digitally. During a recent launch, 75% of the buyers chose to have online appointments.

Above all, a key takeaway is that the digitalization of real estate is here to stay. The last year has taught us that change allows for innovative approaches to business and helps us expand our capabilities by putting customer experiences and expectations at the heart of everything we do. Moving forward, technology will be embedded in all aspects of real estate. The streamlined sales process will be an ongoing asset to the industry, and the proficiencies of selling virtually will continue to be vital for reaching remote buyers.

Missed our webinar? The full recording is available here.

Rick Haws is President & Co-Founder of SaleFish, a cloud-based sales solution provider in the real estate industry. SaleFish’s proven platform improves real estate sales efficiency by 75% and has completed more than 150,000 transactions valued at over $55 billion USD in the last 15 years. With its head office based in Toronto, SaleFish is also the only company in the real estate industry to be certified by Cyber Essentials Canada. SaleFish is scaling up on a global level, recently expanding into Australia, Turkey and the Middle East. Around the world, they are enabling real estate professionals to transact digital documents with e-signatures, ID scanning and identity verification to complete a sales agreement in as little as four minutes, while also allowing buyers to purchase from the comfort of their own home.

To learn more, contact info@salefishsoftware.com

The most powerful sales tool is one that can do far more than sales; one that can market for you, visualize the product with perfect clarity, and make completing a transaction a breeze for everyone involved. Through SaleFish’s expansive integration capabilities with top industry partners, the company is blazing a new path of open, integrated, solutions that elevate the pre-construction real estate sales and marketing experience.

With evolving services, SaleFish offers innovative integrations with flexibility. The cloud-based sales software solution can integrate with any developer or sales teams’ preferred ERP, 3D rendering & marketing partner, accounting platform, CRM, and even their own website, ensuring a smooth process on both the front and back-end.

Considering every opportunity for accuracy and efficiency, SaleFish has also begun exploring never-before-seen integrations in pre-construction sales. For example, the company has partnered with LawyerDoneDeal (LDD), which provides web-based productivity tools to legal service providers, simplifying legal filings for property purchases. Once the LDD integration is complete, SaleFish will digitize all legal documents to live in one system with improved productivity, distributing copies to all pertinent parties during the process and upon completion. As a real game-changer, the software will also completely automate tracking deposits. Without this technology, it would often take legal offices days – or even weeks – to manually track deposits coming in and out on spreadsheets. Not only was this excessively time-consuming, but it was less accurate and there was more opportunity for human error. SaleFish is the first sales software to streamline the process for legal offices saving both them and the builder considerable amounts of time and money.

Another one of SaleFish’s most valued integration capabilities includes 3D rendering partners, which brings a pre-construction project alive on screen in front of a potential buyer’s eyes – whether remote or in-person. SaleFish has integrated with 3D Cityscapes on a current project called The Moderne by Spallacci Homes and Valery Homes (yet to be launched). Through the partnership, 3D CityScapes has taken its immersive, interactive platform and directly integrated SaleFish’s seamless, secure transaction workflow. Potential buyers will be able to virtually walk through suites and amenities to truly get a sense of what it would be like to live there, even though the project has not started construction. The process of exploring, shopping, and buying becomes completely frictionless.

Sales teams have also found it extremely effective to integrate SaleFish directly into a project’s website portals and digital brochures. In 2020, SaleFish partnered with COOLAID Studios, a marketing company also owned by The Plus Group, to build a digital experience for Cachet Group’s ParQ project in Brantford. This took potential buyers on an experiential journey as they scrolled through the story of the project on the ParQ website, seamlessly showcasing top project features. As an important touch-point, SaleFish added clickable site plans to browse specific townhomes in more detail. Simultaneously, Cachet also used SaleFish to power an entire online sales platform so agents could process transactions remotely. The project sold out in only four days!

With a collaborative spirit and the offering of streamlined services, SaleFish can guarantee an elevated user experience for both the seller and purchaser. The combined technology molds into a consistent look and feel within the SaleFish platform for an intuitive journey. Developers and agents can rest easy knowing they are ​​using the best vendors to create optimal buying experiences – sales will not only be coming in faster than ever before but can also be processed quickly, more accurately, and more securely than ever before.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to follow SaleFish Software on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for more news and updates.

What the MFA!?

Passwords are an essential part of staying cyber secure. But they’re not infallible.  Cyber criminals can use various methods to guess, steal, and compromise your passwords.  But Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) can help. You can use Multi-Factor Authentication to make it more difficult for cyber criminals to access your devices and accounts. Nowadays, most companies like financial institutions, Google, and the government offer multi‑factor authentication features on their products. SaleFish does as well.

Multi-Factor Authentication means that you need more than one authentication factor to log in to a device or an account. For example, to unlock your phone, you need to enter a passcode and scan your fingerprint. SaleFish offers verification code to be sent by text or email so that you can add a layer of security to your devices and online accounts. With this feature enabled, you need to provide multiple pieces of authenticating information to access a device or an account. If cyber criminals gain access to one piece of information (e.g. your password), they still need to provide additional pieces of information to successfully gain access to your accounts.

Multi-Factor Authentication is a way for SaleFish to say, “OK, you have one piece of information that identifies you as the account owner. But can you provide two pieces of information? Three? Four?”  Multi-Factor Authentication is an important cyber security measure because it provides an added layer of security for devices, accounts, and information.

 How Multi-Factor Authentication Works:

The most common form of Multi-Factor Authentication is pairing your login credentials, meaning your username and password, with another authentication factor. In many cases, this is 2-step verification – something like a text message sent to your phone or an email sent to your inbox with a unique verification code which is better than a password alone. Access your documents, sign them remotely, run reports and manage sales with full confidence knowing your data is in a secure environment using SaleFish’s Multi-Factor Authentication system.

Multi-Factor Authentication is a key component of keeping yourself cyber secure. So don’t wait! Use multi-factor authentication on all of your projects today. Click here to see a short video from Cyber Safe Canada to learn more.

Building on SaleFish Software’s proven success with more than 1.5 million users completing 200,000+ transactions valued at over $100 billion USD in the last 15 years, the industry leader has released SaleFish 2, its latest innovation as a culmination of upgrades to streamline the real estate buying process like never before. The new release will feature the most up-to-date web standards and introduces a new, fluid design system named “Sail.” Simultaneously, SaleFish 2 will maintain competitive differentiators such as seamless integrations, smooth processes that make sales 75% more efficient, and he highest standards for cybersecurity, making this one of the world’s most powerful cloud-based real estate sales solutions.

Soruya bakınca, “devlet Webtapu’yu başlattı ya, daha ne kadar dijital olabilirki?” diye bir başka soru akla gelebilir. Özellikle, ister satış isterse kiralama olsun sözleşme süreçleri hâlâ daha ıslak imzayla yapılıyorsa, gayrimenkulde dijitalleşme henüz sonuçlandırılamamıştır demek yanlış olmaz.

Teknolojik gelişmeler yadsınamaz, engellenemez, durdurulamaz bir şekilde hayatımızın bütün alanlarına ve aşamalarına nüfuz ediyor. Bankaya gitmeden banka işlemleri, seyahat acentesine gitmeden uçak ve otel rezervasyonu ve markete gitmeden alışveriş yapabilmek artık günlük olağan oldu.

Gayrimenkul sektörü açısından bakılırsa da, imar durumu sorgulamak, sair mevzuata erişmek vb. kolaylıklar zamanımızı etkin kullanmamıza imkân tanıyor. Yine gayrimenkul sektöründe ilerleyecek olursak, diğer sektörlerde yaşanan hızlı gelişmelerin sektörümüze yeterince adapte edilemediğini söyleyebiliriz. Bu noktada, gayrimenkul geliştirme, tasarım, mimari ve inşaat safhalarını bir kenara bırakacak olursak, kendi uzmanlık alanımızda yani pazarlama ve satış ayağında, ne durumda olduğumuzu belirlemek yerinde olacaktır.

Bir gayrimenkul projesinin ya da satışa/kiralamaya konu gayrimenkulün duyurulması ve tanıtılması ayağında, sektörümüzün dijital ortamları son derece yoğun kullandığının tespitini yapabiliriz. Gayrimenkul web sitelerinin genel olarak oldukça güncel uygulama ve içerik yönetim sistemlerine sahip olduğunu ifade edebiliriz.

Konu, satış ve kiralama için sözleşme süreçlerinin yönetimi ve sonuçlandırılması olunca, henüz tam dijitalleşemediğini söylemek yanlış olmaz. Devletimizin yasal mevzuatının emrettiği fiziki takip gerektiren işlemler özelinde bakınca devletimizin sektörümüzün tam dijitalleşmesinin önündeki engel olduğunu söylemek yanlış olmaz. Bir ikametgah belgesi, bir adli sicil kaydı verirken veya devletin kurumları arası yazışmalar artık ‘E-İmzalı’ hâle getirilmişken, devletimizin yapılan satış ve kiralama sözleşmeleri için ıslak imzayı, noter onaylarını talep etmesi, sektörel ilerlemenin önündeki engeldir.

Halbuki devletimizin gayrimenkul satış ve kiralama sözleşmelerinin çevrimiçi ortamda yapılabilmesine ve bu dijital sözleşmelere hukuki geçerlilik kazandırılmasına yönelik adımlar atması gerekir. Devletimiz, e-devlet uygulamalarıyla kendi tarafında etkin olarak kullandığı dijital teknolojiyi, gayrimenkul özel sektörünün de etkin kullanması için teşvik edici olmalıdır. Örneğin, tapu devir süreçlerinde dijitalleşmeyi iyi seviyeye getiren devletimiz, tapu devrine götüren satış sözleşmeleri ve tapuya şerh edilebilen kira sözleşmelerinin dijital ortamda hazırlanarak karşılıklı imzalanması konusunda mülk/proje sahiplerini ve alıcıları/kiracıları rahatlatacak ortamı hazırlamalıdır.

Özellikle ABD ve Avrupa’da, bırakın satış ve kira sözleşmesinin elektronik imzayla imzalanmasını, sözleşmeyi müşterisi adına inceleyip onaylayacak avukatın, konut/mortgage kredisi sağlayacak banka uzmanının, satış/kiralama sonrası bina yönetim hizmeti (güvenlik, temizlik, bakım, 2. elde satış veya kiralama vb.) verecek şirketlerin entegrasyonu bile yurtdışında yapılan gayrimenkul pazarlamalarında ve satışlarında/kiralamalarında dijital ortamlarda olağan hale gelmiş durumda. Bizim neyimiz eksik? Tam tersi genç nüfusumuz, bu tür altyapılara çok daha hızlı adapte olabilecek nitelikte.