As more startups and tech companies continue to push into Portland, the city is entering a period of notable economic growth. This Pacific Northwest city has caught the attention of many Silicon Valley expats, making it a launching pad for tech innovation and cultivation. And with so many tech entrepreneurs vying to begin new chapters in Portland, the city has witnessed its once relatively quiet real estate market morph into a fiercely competitive one. According to the real estate company Redfin, the average sale price of a home in Portland rose 5.6 percent over the past year, while the average sale price per square foot jumped 2.8 percent.
As the “Silicon Forest” continues to grow, many local techies are cashing in on the city’s robust housing market. In recent years, organizations have sprouted across the city with the goal of redefining the real estate space. These housing experts are tackling issues like property management, CRE investing and vacation rental management, utilizing the latest technologies to make the housing process less tedious and more manageable for everyone involved. Take a look at these 8 real estate companies in Portland shaking up the nation’s housing industry.
Real Estate Tech Companies in Portland to Know
- Cozy
- CrowdStreet
- Househappy
- Vacasa
- IOTAS
- Dwellingo
- Qualtik
- Inhabit Real Estate
Founded: 2013
Focus: CRE Investing
What they do: CrowdStreet offers an online commercial real estate investment marketplace designed to connect investors with CRE firms. The company’s marketplace enables investors to directly access institutional-quality commercial real estate offerings. On the other hand, CRE developers and operators can use CrowdStreet’s crowdfunding platform to manage investors and investments while raising capital in order to grow their businesses.
Founded: 2009
Focus: Vacation Rental Management
What they do: Founded by Eric Breon, Vacasa operates a vacation rental management platform designed to drive revenue for homeowners and deliver superior experiences for their guests. Guests can explore vacation rentals through 3D virtual tours, while homeowners are granted access to premium cleaning services, dedicated local teams, targeted digital marketing, 24/7 guest support and more. Vacasa also offers home buying and selling opportunities, providing prospective buyers and homeowners with buyer tools and advice as well as data analysis of the nation’s top real estate markets.
Founded: 2012
Focus: Online Property Management
What they do: Cozy specializes in online property management services for landlords and renters. Renters can use the company’s platform to easily pay their rent, build their credit history, protect their belongings with affordable renters insurance and find their next home. Cozy also enables landlords to screen tenants and review their applications, create custom listings, receive payments directly to their bank account, track expenses, communicate maintenance requests and store important documents.
Founded: 2011
Focus: Home Services Management
What they do: Househappy has created a platform that helps people manage their home services. The company’s platform helps users take care of their home project needs by allowing them to store their home’s information and service records in an online dashboard, receive personalized service reminder emails and schedule in-home service visits. Househappy assists with a variety of home service areas including heating and cooling, landscaping, painting and plumbing.
Founded: 2014
Focus: Smart Apartment Management
What they do: IOTAS is dedicated to helping multi-family building owners and operators turn their properties into smart homes. The company’s smart apartment ecosystem equips property management teams with building-wide automations, leak monitoring and HVAC control while integrating with lights, outlets, thermostats, door locks and more. IOTAS’ solution is designed to generate new revenue streams, decrease costs and drive efficiency.
Founded: 2019
Focus: Real Estate Investment Analysis + Reporting
What they do: Qualtik specializes in real estate investment analysis and reporting. The company’s Spark software is designed to provide a nuanced understanding of assets and portfolios while offering fast reporting, granular valuation and stress testing in real-time. Qualtik aims to help lenders instantly access loan documents so they can spend less time looking for what they need and more time making strategic decisions.
Founded: 2016
Focus: Open House Lead Generation
What they do: Located in neighboring West Linn, Dwellingo has developed an open house digital sign-in platform with the intention of helping real estate agents generate more leads in less time. The company’s platform is designed to easily collect visitors’ contact information, which in turn allows agents to build stronger relationships and further expand their businesses.
Founded: 2013
Focus: Property Buying, Selling + Search
What they do: Inhabit Real Estate is dedicated to helping people with every aspect of the real estate process. The company enables people to search through its own curated listings or perform a MLS listings search in addition to allowing people to buy or sell houses, condominiums, townhomes and investment properties. During the buying and selling process, Inhabit Real Estate creates a customized strategy for each client in an effort to make sure they move through their transaction with clarity and confidence.
