RPR Spurs Some Positive Chatter at the C5 Summit

The C5 Summit (Capital, Connect, Commerce, Community and Commercial) is sponsored by the National Association of REALTORS^®, and is the “Commercial Real Estate and Economic Impact” event of the year.

It’s billed as three days of Commercial real estate networking, learning, and deal-making with an array of panels, speakers and exhibitors. It was held on September 27th-29th in New York City and proved to be a hub for industry influencers to forge relationships, discuss the latest trends and get some deals done.

RPR’s (Realtors Property Resource) Emily Line, VP of Member Experience, was one of the emcees of the event. And when she wasn’t gushing about keynote speaker Alex Rodriguez, she heard various mentions of RPR Commercial in one particular panel discussion. This Q&A with Emily will give you a recap of that session to give commercial practitioners who couldn’t be in attendance a chance to hear what RPR Commercial can do for you and your business.

Hi Emily! During a recent guest speaking gig, we heard Dave Garland, the Managing Partner of Second Century Ventures, speak to how many people he heard discussing RPR’s commercial capabilities at C5…

Yes! The RPR chatter Dave Garland referenced was from a great panel on the future of PropTech, which was facilitated by Ashkán Zandieh, who is the Head of Strategic Growth at REACH Commercial. The panel also featured Tyler Thompson of Second Century Ventures, Andrew Flint, the Co-Founder of Occupier, and Deena Zimmerman, vice president of SVN Chicago Commercial.

Anything that stands out from that session?

One thing that Tyler Thompson said during the tech panel: “Give me a big, boring problem that involves manual processes, spreadsheets, and pen and paper, and solve that. Because while the problem might not be sexy, the returns attached to solving that problem are.”

Very true. Why did his quote grab you?

I thought it summed up the imperative role RPR plays in the industry as the foundation for users. Too often we talk about futuristic, Jetsons-like “what ifs” and distract ourselves from the solutions that need our focus most. RPR sees the future by investing time in vetting new technology and engaging the active RPR Advisory Council in the review and seeing if the solutions make sense to introduce as an extension of their member-driven benefit. That said, RPR never loses sight of the foundational needs of having inventory in one place and continued focus on prospecting. We’re focused on solving problems for REALTORS^®, and that always includes commercial specialists.

Strong point and some great analysis.

Here’s another strong take from Ashkán Zandieh about focusing on REALTOR^® members and their tech needs: “Since 2010, over $100 billion has been invested in proptech startups, with the lingering question: What’s next? I’d say the answer from us to this group is always embracing the members first by studying their needs, recognizing their pain points and serving as an advocate for streamlining technologies so that the user isn’t lost in the focus.”

That’s RPR’s main mission and this sounds like a great discussion. What did Deena have to say?

She spoke about using RPR to do property research and the advantages of using Trade Area Reports for her clients. Here’s an excerpt from a REALTOR^® Magazine article, What’s Holding Back Tech Adoption? by Stacy Moncreif, that captures some of Deena’s comments word for word:

“…Zimmerman is not only a sharer but a zealous advocate for technology. While her company subscribes to CoStar, she said she’s also a fan of Crexi, a commercial listing platform that offers a discount to NAR members, and Realtors Property Resource, where commercial practitioners can research properties and market areas and find deep data on more than 1 million active commercial listings and 55 million off-market properties. There’s no cost for NAR members to use RPR. It’s a benefit of membership. She also uses ArcGIS from ESRI and SitesUSA to help tenants do site selection.

Having access to such tools routinely help Zimmerman beat out larger real estate companies in her tenant rep business, she told the C5 Summit audience. In one instance, adding an RPR trade market report to a proposal led to an hour-long discussion with a potential client. No other broker had offered near that depth of information, she said. She won the business and earned a sizeable commission.”

Great stuff, Emily. Sounds like RPR’s commercial capabilities were really well promoted. What are your parting thoughts from the conference?

It is becoming abundantly clear for a greater audience that the power of the “R” includes both residential and commercial real estate. This inaugural C5 Summit was proof that all facets of the commercial real estate industry benefit by coming together under one roof to learn about the latest trends and close deals.

It was incredible to see NAR in the driver seat for this influential, game changing event! And I’d be remiss if I didn’t add that it completely warms my heart that RPR commercial data tools contributed to the discussions and deal-making that happened onsite. I’m already geeking out in anticipation for next year’s C5 Summit August 15th -17th, 2022!