Spectacular time-lapse video of Toronto's urban landscape

I was reading True tales from the real estate wars of 2012 (Toronto Life) this morning and reminded me that, first, Toronto real estate remains a topic everyone seems to love to talk about and, second, that most real estate startups are focused on the supply side of real estate. 

One thing I always find when I tell people I work in real estate is that they automatically assume I’m in sales. Sales are only one part of the real estate business — albeit an important one — but still only one part. As a result of this automatic association, I find that real estate startups tend to centre themselves around creating better listing platforms.

Another way of thinking about this is that they’re focused on the supply side of real estate. When real estate comes up for sale, available supply is increased. How do I then improve the way these listings are delivered to the marketplace?

But what about the demand side? If you read through Tale #1 from the real estate wars article, you’ll see that Matthew Slutsky and Carlie Brand ended up canvassing a St Clair West neighbourhood in order to find a private sale (after losing a few bidding wars). A smart and proactive move, for sure. 

However, why is there no easier way to do this? We’ve all been so focused trying to improve listing delivery that we’re forgetting that there are owners out there who are willing to sell given the right opportunity. 

This is one of my primary goals with Dirt. I want people to engage with real estate all the time — not just when they’re looking to buy/sell — and I want to shift the focus to the demand side of real estate: what neighbourhoods do people like, what houses do they like, what’s happening with this property, etc.

I’m reminded of a piece I recently read by Matthew May called Observe First, Design Second: Taming the Traps of Traditional Thinking. Often we can be so quick to jump to final solutions that we forget to take a step back and contemplate whether or not we’re even headed in the right direction.

If you like building mobile apps and are interested in real estate, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free reach out at @donnelly_b.

Background

I started blogging about Dirt (my startup idea) a few weeks ago in the hopes of finding a technical cofounder to join me in my journey to change the real estate industry. And while I am still searching, perhaps one the biggest benefits of blogging about my idea is that it’s forced me to bring additional order to my various sketches, wireframes and UX designs. It’s also forced me to clearly articulate what I’m trying to do.

I spent a number of months working with Toronto-based agency Jar Creative on Dirt and at the time we were fixated on “real estate activity.” Specifically, finding a way for people to discover, track and share the real estate activity happening all around us. I still think this is a valid objective, but I’ve been questioning how exactly to go about this. One way to do it, is how I’ve outlined here: by having a property-only newsfeed. Users would follow properties and people and this would create a custom newsfeed surrounding their interests. 

Evolution of the idea

Spectacular time-lapse video of Toronto's urban landscape

I was reading True tales from the real estate wars of 2012 (Toronto Life) this morning and reminded me that, first, Toronto real estate remains a topic everyone seems to love to talk about and, second, that most real estate startups are focused on the supply side of real estate. 

One thing I always find when I tell people I work in real estate is that they automatically assume I’m in sales. Sales are only one part of the real estate business — albeit an important one — but still only one part. As a result of this automatic association, I find that real estate startups tend to centre themselves around creating better listing platforms.

Another way of thinking about this is that they’re focused on the supply side of real estate. When real estate comes up for sale, available supply is increased. How do I then improve the way these listings are delivered to the marketplace?

But what about the demand side? If you read through Tale #1 from the real estate wars article, you’ll see that Matthew Slutsky and Carlie Brand ended up canvassing a St Clair West neighbourhood in order to find a private sale (after losing a few bidding wars). A smart and proactive move, for sure. 

However, why is there no easier way to do this? We’ve all been so focused trying to improve listing delivery that we’re forgetting that there are owners out there who are willing to sell given the right opportunity. 

This is one of my primary goals with Dirt. I want people to engage with real estate all the time — not just when they’re looking to buy/sell — and I want to shift the focus to the demand side of real estate: what neighbourhoods do people like, what houses do they like, what’s happening with this property, etc.

I’m reminded of a piece I recently read by Matthew May called Observe First, Design Second: Taming the Traps of Traditional Thinking. Often we can be so quick to jump to final solutions that we forget to take a step back and contemplate whether or not we’re even headed in the right direction.

If you like building mobile apps and are interested in real estate, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free reach out at @donnelly_b.

Background

I started blogging about Dirt (my startup idea) a few weeks ago in the hopes of finding a technical cofounder to join me in my journey to change the real estate industry. And while I am still searching, perhaps one the biggest benefits of blogging about my idea is that it’s forced me to bring additional order to my various sketches, wireframes and UX designs. It’s also forced me to clearly articulate what I’m trying to do.

I spent a number of months working with Toronto-based agency Jar Creative on Dirt and at the time we were fixated on “real estate activity.” Specifically, finding a way for people to discover, track and share the real estate activity happening all around us. I still think this is a valid objective, but I’ve been questioning how exactly to go about this. One way to do it, is how I’ve outlined here: by having a property-only newsfeed. Users would follow properties and people and this would create a custom newsfeed surrounding their interests. 

Evolution of the idea