Published on 07, Sep 2022

How Move Management May Change the Real Estate Game

BERGENFIELD, NJ – The average American moves once every five years, but it doesn’t mean that moving gets any easier. In a recent survey 45% of Americans found that moving was more stressful than going through a divorce. Though movers can be of huge assistance, there are many features that a moving service may lack. 

The moving industry has long remained stagnant in terms of its business model and range of service offerings. A standard moving company will only offer a limited selection of services to help you relocate or move your items into storage. Though some companies may go the extra mile and offer packing services or furniture assembly, that is often the extent of what they can provide. To put it bluntly, moving companies rarely do much more for you than haul your belongings from point A to point B. 

While these services can be a huge blessing to anyone looking to move, you are often left to your own devices once you’ve waved goodbye to the movers. This means that everything from mounting your TV, to installing your light fixtures, assembling your furniture, hanging your art and even hooking up your utilities will require hiring your fair share of contractors, Craigslist gig workers and TaskRabbits. So instead of enjoying your new home, you must get back online to research more contractors, acquire more quotes, read more reviews, hire more companies and pay another set of workers to help you get settled. On average, those in the process of moving have to hire 4-7 additional contractors to properly get moved in. 

But, a new venture known as realOestate has emerged to challenge what it means to be a moving and logistics service. realOestate serves as a mediator between movers, realtors and utility services to assist all aspects of the move in and move out process. 

“Nowadays it makes perfect sense for travelers to order flights, hotels and rent cars from the same online service,'' says founder and CEO Ronnie Tenami. “So we did the same, just with moving, one of the three most stressful events that we experience in our lives.”

First launched in March of 2022, realOestate develops a streamlined system for real estate agents and property management companies to merge the real estate transaction process with their clients’ moving needs. By doing so, brokers can inject additional value into their services and provide their clients with customer experience they didn’t expect to get from an agent. Moreover, in combining the real estate transaction and move management process, realOestate has managed to untap a new $100 billion market, opening a wealth of opportunities for the various industries involved in a move. 

A huge value-add for agents in the real estate industry

Many top real estate agents are aware of the added value a service like realOestate can bring to their brokerage. 

“The days of agents being glorified door openers are over!” says Triplemint’s Vanessa Zdesar. “As a successful agent in today’s world, you have to be a great listener, be overly communicative with your clients every step of the way, and ultimately be educating them throughout the process -- in other words, provide something of value beyond just showing available inventory.” 

Zdesar emphasizes that buying and renting in NYC can be a complex and time-sensitive process, far different from other places in the country. 

“So for clients, being able to simplify/streamline the process from start to finish is of utmost importance,” says Zdesar. “That’s where services, like realOestate, come in handy. Once the purchase process is complete, clients want to breathe easy and not be bogged by another obstacle, like ‘How am I going to move all my stuff now?’” Zdesar sees a service like realOestate as an asset to her business. As she puts it: “Move management is not only beneficial to my clients, it also makes me look great. It’s a win-win for all involved.”

The real estate industry is not the same as it was 20 years ago. The rise of the internet has drastically revamped the profession, and transformed the day-to-day roles of real estate agents. 

“Before, your brokers had little black books of whom to call in order to source listings for their buyers, or conversely, find purchasers for their sellers,” says Ryan Kaplan, a 15-year veteran of the real estate industry and part of Douglas Eliman’s “Eklund Gomez” team, co-owned by “Million Dollar Listing’s star Fredrik Eklund. “Now the vast majority of listings are public, so identifying the product is less frequently the issue. Brokers now have to act more like advisors—they need to be fluent in pricing guidance, articulate in their sales process when presenting a home, yet still well-networked in order to source the occasional and coveted “off-market” deals.” 

Kaplan emphasizes the overwhelming advantages that a service like realOestate can bring him and his clients. 

“A transaction that embraces both the real estate side and the move management process creates the perfect white glove service for any client looking to relocate.” Many brokers will learn throughout their careers that customer service can often be the feature that makes an agent stand out. As Kaplan notes: “Finding the right property, appropriately valuing it, and negotiating the deal are all fundamental necessities of a broker, but a broker that excels on the customer service side will also have quality resources for their clients.” 

A luxury service that won’t break the bank

An affordable and all-encompassing service like realOestate may sound too good to be true. However, CEO Ronnie Tenami has decades of experience in the NYC move management industry and works hard to secure a deal for his clients. Despite the unique nature of his service, Tenami knows that clients will put a lot of weight on the price tag, a.k.a “the bottom line.” In the words of Tenami: “Clients may assume that this luxury concierge service will end up being wildly expensive, but actually, the opposite is true. Our system is designed to have lower overhead costs that allow us to offer these services at a lower market rate and give discounts and freebies.” Furthemore, as Tenami adds: “clients can rent storage units at up to 60% lower than the market price and save all the way to their new home.”  

The beauty of a service like realOestate is that all parties benefit: the agent, the movers, the contractors, and, of course, the client. 

“Everybody wins,” says Tenami. “Imagine a seller with a busy career and kids who has bought a new home and needs to move. To complete this transaction, they’ll need to dispose of old furniture, disassemble a large wardrobe, unmount and remount their TV’s and chandeliers, pack their boxes professionally, deep clean the unit and pass the key to the new buyer,” Tenami recalls of this all-too common scenario. “We are talking about 5-6 contractors they will no longer have to search for, saving them a ton of energy. Now add free utility hookups to the mix and just imagine how amazing it makes the agent or the building look for saving their client or tenant from such an enormous hassle. The unparalleled convenience of this service prompts the question: “Who are these people going to recommend to their friends when they're looking for an agent?” 

As times continue to change, so do our expectations 

It’s astonishing that prior to realOestate, no moving company or real estate firm has had the foresight to tap into this market and merge all steps of the real estate and moving process. Whereas numerous consumer-focused services like Amazon and Uber have strived to improve the convenience and experience of their clientele, few companies in the real estate and move management world have done the same. In the words of CEO Ronnie Tenami, “both the real estate and moving markets have only experienced minor aspects of digitalization, and conduct business almost the same way they did 30 and 40 years ago. Meanwhile, people’s habits continue to change and evolve quickly. People no longer consume music and TV shows the way they used to. They don’t do their shopping or work as they once did and they are now about to change the way they go about buying, renting and moving into their new homes as their expectations from these services grow.” 

realOestate

t: 917-730-8090

www.realOestate.com