With the rental industry being such a dominant force economically, why haven’t we seen any innovation? Your property management may use programs like Appfolio to create a simple dashboard with information about your property, but the upcoming technological advancements behind this user experience have got the industry buzzing.

Setting the stage:

It was the start of 2019 when Daniel Li and Daniel Kim discovered a problem within the University of Washington housing districts. It was very difficult to find housing and the onboarding process with an owner took an extensive amount of time. 

Confident they could innovate this industry, they left their jobs at Facebook and Adobe and set out to solve this problem not only in Seattle but for the whole country.

Backed by Y-Combinator (a startup accelerator program that has funded platforms like Airbnb, DropBox, Coinbase, and others), Marble has begun redefining what it takes to own a rental property.

Different Types of Management:

Following the pandemic, there has been a shift in the way both owners and renters operate in the rental market. Property management companies are now using software and technology to optimize the rising demand of housing. In Washington, 36.28% of households rent their homes, so how are these homeowners navigating the market? Let’s take a look.

Boots on the ground-

Traditional firms still have an analog process of doing things by hand, which can take up valuable time as an owner. The “business” aspect can often overshadow the fundamental need of providing quality service to owners and tenants.

A recent survey shows traditional property management companies' top priorities include growth and efficiency, with not a lot of emphasis on building relationships with owners and tenants. 

Virtual Management-

Marble is now introducing a new hybrid model of property management where the service can be augmented to the level of expectation of the owner using technology. Beyond just creating your dashboard, owners can communicate what their preferences are when it comes to things like selecting maintenance vendors or setting up late payment fees.

By streamlining all the information that is normally done on pen and paper, they can provide that extra level of customization that caters to every owner's needs using a subscription model of just $50/month.

Great, now that you have all these software tools available, what happens if the tenant’s toilet is flooding? How is a virtual manager supposed to tend to that?

This is where dispatching local vendors comes into play.

When taking a look at some of the new and upcoming companies like Airbnb and Uber, the ability to get on-demand offsite services has never been easier. Digitizing the operational flow for getting a contractor to your home keeps landlords in the loop of who and when people are coming to your property.

If you can schedule an Uber to come pick you up, you should be able to do the same with a handyman.

The Vision:

Daniel Li and Daniel Kim envision a management platform that offers an owner a quick and easy way to get their property listed and rented out within just a few weeks.

By using a smart lock system, they are able to conduct property tours anywhere in the country. The tenant will submit their information and be granted an access code that introduces them to the property without the need of a showing agent. This concept of ‘self-guided touring’ is something that hasn’t been made possible until now.

“We are looking to create an ecosystem of owners, tenants, and property managers that go beyond just collecting checks and signing papers... We are looking to build a ‘living experience company’” - Daniel Kim (Co-Founder and CTO)

What Marble Offers:

For just $50/month, owners receive: listing and advertisement, background checks, leasing drafting, rent collection, 24/7 maintenance support, and much more.

By using a mix of Virtual and DIY property management styles, Marble is fundamentally changing Seattle’s rental market with product innovation and software.

"... there are component technologies that make anything we do more frictionless, faster, easier, cheaper, but the process of leasing space, using space ... all of that is really done through fairly archaic, antiquated processes. So I actually think real estate tech as a category is one of the most fertile in terms of new opportunities for entrepreneurs.”

- Bendan Wallace, founder of Fifth Wall