Patent Application
20250078128
The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for facilitating real estate transactions and, more particularly, relates to systems, methods and computer program products for providing real-time demand and/or valuation for properties to thereby facilitate real estate transactions involving those properties.
In the commercial real estate industry, potential sellers of commercial real estate often avoid publicly advertising or listing their real estate, and potential sellers and buyers are often very cautious about selling or purchasing commercial real estate that has single or multiple existing tenants. Potential sellers often fear that existing tenants of affected properties will look to lease space elsewhere, and/or that potential tenants will avoid leasing space within the affected properties. Potential buyers, on the other hand, are typically reluctant to purchase property due to the risk of default of tenants leasing space within the property.
In addition, potential sellers typically prefer to not be “shopped” by competitors, or felt out by numerous developers and/or potential buyers. Further, potential sellers typically prefer to not be limited by listing agreements or agency relationships that bind the potential sellers to a single brokerage firm or an unnecessary agency liability for a specific duration. Another concern for some regulated property owners or financiers is the requirement to “mark-to-market” a property. For example, if a property receives an ill-timed or unrealistic offer, then the property owner may be required to mark in its books the value of the property down to that offer amount, as an indication of the market value of the property, even though it could potentially be worth much more to a different buyer. And as a result of potential sellers avoiding public advertising or listing of their properties, in various segments of commercial real estate, the demand of available potential buyers may significantly outnumber the supply of known, publicly available properties. However, this generally does not reflect the fact that the demand of available potential buyers significantly outnumbers the supply of properties available for purchase, only that a significant number of available properties may not be publicly available, and thus known to potential buyers.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0214073 teaches a facilitator arrangement that receives and stores asset base criteria for one or more properties of a participant (such as a seller), where the asset base criteria characterize the respective one or more properties of the participant. Acquisition criteria for one or more properties that other participants (such as buyers) anticipate purchasing are also received and stored, where the acquisition criteria characterize the respective one or more properties the other participants anticipating purchasing. The method also includes providing, to each participant, a number of properties the other participants anticipate purchasing that have acquisition criteria matching the asset base criteria of the respective properties of the participant. In this regard, the number of properties is provided for display as a measure of demand for the one or more properties of the participant.
In one embodiment, the facilitator arrangement also provides for sellers to designate their properties as being in one of a number of different states, such as in a “hold” state or “for sale” state. In this regard, properties in the “for sale” state may be listed by the facilitator arrangement as being properties available for engagement in a real estate transaction, such as a real estate sale or exchange. Properties in the “hold” state, on the other hand, may be evaluated by the facilitator arrangement, but not otherwise listed as being available for engagement. At such time that the respective seller arrangement desires to list a held property for sale, the seller arrangement may move the property from the “hold” state to the “for sale” state, with the property already having been evaluated. Properties in the “hold” and/or “for sale” states may indicate, in real time, the number of buyers interested in similar properties (as identified by, e.g., matching asset base and acquisition criteria), and if so desired, also identify the types of interested buyers, such as cash, joint venture or exchange-type buyers (identified based on buyer information).
The decision to move a property from the “hold” state to the “for sale” state is made by the seller based on the information available to it in the form of the acquisition criteria of the buyers made visible by the facilitator arrangement. These criteria include the typical metrics for arm's length sales, such as property type, region, price and/or price range, cap rate and/or quantity. However, this may limit the demand for properties and the liquidity of the overall market.
In light of the foregoing background, exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide an improved system, method and computer program product for facilitating real estate transactions. According to one aspect of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a method is provided that includes receiving, and storing in a computer-readable storage medium, asset base criteria for one or more properties of a participant, where the asset base criteria characterizes the respective one or more properties of the participant. Acquisition criteria for one or more properties one or more other participants anticipate purchasing are also received and stored in a computer-readable medium, where the acquisition criteria characterizes the respective one or more properties the one or more other participants anticipating purchasing. The method also includes providing to the participant, in real time or otherwise, a number of properties the one or more other participants anticipate purchasing that have acquisition criteria matching the asset base criteria of the respective one or more properties of the participant. In this regard, the number of properties is provided for display by the participant, where the number of properties is displayed as a measure of demand for the one or more properties of the participant.
The method may also include receiving asset base criteria for one or more properties of one or more other participants, and providing to the participant, in real time or otherwise, a second number of properties of one or more other participants that have asset base criteria matching the asset base criteria of the respective one or more properties of the participant. In such instances, the second number of properties may be provided for display by the participant, where the second number of properties is displayed as a measure of supply of one or more properties.
In addition, the method may include receiving an adjustment of the asset base criteria for a property of the participant, where providing the number of properties includes updating, in real time or otherwise, the number of properties provided to the participant. In such instances, the asset base criteria may include a plurality of criteria selected from the group consisting of property type, region, price range and capitalization rate.
According to another aspect of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a method is provided that includes maintaining a database including information associated with a real-estate portfolio of a participant, where the real-estate portfolio includes a plurality of properties of the participant, and the properties are initially in a hold state in the database. The method also includes receiving selection of a property in the portfolio for offering the respective property for sale; and moving the selected property from the hold state to a for-sale state, including automatically notifying one or more other participants of the respective property being offered for sale. After moving the selected property, the real-estate portfolio includes at least the selected property in the for-sale state, and one or more other properties in the hold state.
The method may also include providing to the participant, a home page including the respective real-estate portfolio, where the home page is provided for display by the participant to manage the respective real-estate portfolio. In such instances, the home page includes a portion identifying one or more properties of the respective portfolio in the hold state, and a portion identifying one or more properties of the respective portfolio in the for-sale state. Also in such instances, the property selection may be received via the home page.
The method may also include maintaining a buyer database including information associated with a buyer arrangement of one or more properties, the buyer database including entries relating to one or more acquisition criteria the buyer arrangement anticipates purchasing, and one or more entries relating to extra-market criteria. The method then provides to a seller arrangement and/or buyer arrangement a number of properties a buyer arrangement anticipates purchasing that have acquisition criteria matching the asset base criteria of the properties of the seller. In embodiments, the facilitator arrangement also assesses the extra-market criteria from the entries in the property database and/or corresponding extra-market criteria entries in a buyer database and thereafter provides one or more suggestions to the seller arrangement with respect to at least one of the properties. The seller arrangement may then move the selected property from the hold state to a for-sale state in response to the suggestions, or the parties may engage directly through an engagement period facilitated by the facilitator arrangement.
In addition, the method may include notifying the participant of one or more properties of one or more other participants being offered for sale. In such instances, the participant may be automatically notified in response to (a) receiving selection of one or more properties in the hold state, and (b) moving the respective one or more properties from the hold state to the for-sale state. Further, in instances also including providing a home page, the home page may further include a portion identifying one or more properties of one or more other participants in the for-sale state. Thus, the participant may be notified of the properties of other participant(s) via the home page.
Further, the method may include receiving, from another participant, selection of a property of the participant in the for-sale state, where the respective property is a for-sale property of the participant. Then, in response thereto, the method may include moving the selected for-sale property from the for-sale state to an engaged state at least partially in response to receiving selection of the for-sale property; engaging, for an engagement period, the participant and the other participant in communication regarding the selected for-sale property. Communication between one or both of the participant and the other participant and further participants may then be restricted during the engagement period. In this regard, restricting communication may include restricting further participants from accessing or removing, from information available to further participants, at least some information for the selected for-sale property.
As indicated above and explained in greater detail below, the system, method and computer program product of exemplary embodiments of the present invention may solve the problems identified by prior techniques and may provide additional advantages.
Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments set forth herein; rather, these exemplary embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/748,982, entitled Facilitator Arrangement, Method and Computer Program Product for Managing a Real-Estate Portfolio, filed May 15, 2007, is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Referring to
The buyer arrangement 12, seller arrangement 14 and facilitator arrangement 16 can comprise any one or more of a number of different entities, devices or the like capable of operating in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, one or more of the buyer arrangement, seller arrangement and facilitator arrangement can comprise, include or be embodied in one or more processing elements, such as one or more of a laptop computer, desktop computer, server computer or the like. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the buyer arrangement, seller arrangement and facilitator arrangement can comprise, include or be embodied in one or more portable electronic devices, such as one or more of a mobile telephone, portable digital assistant (PDA), pager or the like. For example, the buyer arrangement, seller arrangement and facilitator arrangement can each comprise a processing element capable of communicating with one another across the Internet (e.g., network 18).
It should be understood, however, that one or more of the buyer arrangement 12, seller arrangement 14 and facilitator arrangement 16 can comprise or otherwise be associated with a user carrying out the functions of the respective entity. For example, the buyer arrangement can comprise a buyer or buyer agent (representing a buyer) communicating across a PSTN (e.g., network 18), by mail or in person with a seller operating a seller processing element, where the seller and processing element collectively comprise the seller arrangement. In such instances, the facilitator arrangement can comprise a facilitator processing element communicating across the Internet with the seller processing element. Alternatively, in such instances, the facilitator can comprise a facilitator operating a facilitator processing element, where the facilitator is capable of communicating with the seller across a PSTN. As explained below, then, the term “buyer arrangement” can refer to a buyer and/or buyer processor. Similarly, the term “seller arrangement” can refer to a seller and/or seller processor; and the term “facilitator arrangement” can refer to a facilitator and/or facilitator processor.
Referring now to
The processor can also be connected to at least one communication interface 24 or other means for transmitting and/or receiving data, content or the like. The processor can additionally be connected to a user interface 26 that can include a display and a user input interface. The user input interface, in turn, can comprise any of a number of devices allowing the entity to receive data from a user, such as a keypad, a touch display (not shown) or other input device.
The memory 30 can comprise volatile and/or non-volatile memory, and typically stores content, data or the like. In this regard, the memory typically stores software applications 28, instructions or the like for the processor to perform steps associated with operation of the entity in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention. For example, the memory can store software applications such as one or more connectivity applications (e.g., Web browser, etc.). Also, when the entity comprises a facilitator arrangement 16, the memory can store one or more databases 38, such as a buyer database and a property database. The buyer database can store information relating to buyers registered with the service offered by the facilitator arrangement, and the property database can store information relating to sellers and associated properties that are registered with the service. As explained herein, buyers and sellers may individually or collectively be referred to as participants of the service offered by the facilitator arrangement. And while the associated properties may be concurrently listed with the facilitator arrangement service and one or more other services, such as the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), in one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the associated properties are listed with the facilitator arrangement service in lieu of a listing with other services.
In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the facilitator arrangement 16 is capable of offering a real estate information exchange service to one or more buyer arrangements 12 and seller arrangements 14. Generally, the service provides a medium for buyers and sellers to communicate with one another without outside interference to facilitate the respective arrangements concluding a real estate sales or exchange transaction. And since buyers are typically reluctant to purchase property due to the risk of default of tenants leasing space within the property, if so desired, the service can also provide, for a period of time, insurance to the buyer against loss of income due to default of the existing tenants of the property, should a buyer and seller conclude the purchase/sale of a property. As described herein, such insurance may be referred to as “tenant default insurance.”
Reference is now made to
In addition, the facilitator arrangement can evaluate the buyer information to determine if the buyers are qualified to purchase an indicated level of real estate. In this regard, if the facilitator arrangement fails to determine that the buyers are legitimate and qualified, the facilitator arrangement can refuse to register the respective buyers. Otherwise, the facilitator arrangement can register the buyers with the service offered by the facilitator arrangement.
For the buyers, information regarding the properties of the sellers and/or the sellers themselves can be generated, gathered or otherwise received by the facilitator arrangement 16. The facilitator arrangement can then evaluate such seller information to allow the facilitator arrangement to provide data related to the properties. For example, the facilitator arrangement can receive and thereafter evaluate or otherwise confirm seller information including blueprints, aerial photos, zoning, certificates of occupancy, various regulatory approval letters, rent rolls, national tenants, lease abstracts, subleases, parking ratios, setbacks, surveys, proximity to rail or industrial power supplies, inspections, NOI's (net operating incomes), cap (capitalization) rates, appraisals, electronic property operating data (EPOD), EPOS-prop operating statements, deeds, mortgage information, financing packages, cash-on-cash projections, cash flow projections, comparables by radius, competition reports with tenant mix and local trend reports, as well as property specific mapping of income, population, consumer expenditure, retail sales and crime statistics. Further, the facilitator arrangement may divide the various pieces of seller information into types, such as performance information and identification information. Identification information can include all types of seller information that might be used to easily identify the seller. For example, the seller's name, the property address, aerial photos, regulatory approval letters or the like might be used identify the seller. On the other hand, performance information can include information that would indicate future financial performance of the property, such as the NOI's, cap rates and the like, but that also would not easily allow identification of the seller or even the specific property.
In addition to the foregoing, the facilitator arrangement can receive, from one or more of the participants (e.g., one or more buyers and sellers of the buyer arrangements 12 and seller arrangements 14), information regarding the supply of properties owned by the participants, as well as the demand (and/or anticipated demand) for properties by the participants. In this regard, the participants may provide, to the facilitator arrangement, their asset base of properties including asset base criteria characterizing those properties such as, for example, property type, region, price range and/or quantity. Additionally or alternatively, participants may provide their acquisition criteria for a current time period (e.g., year) and/or one or more future time periods, where the acquisition criteria characterizes properties the respective participants anticipate purchasing during the respective time period(s). Similarly, additionally or alternatively, participants and sellers may provide their disposition criteria for a current time period (e.g., year) and/or one or more future time periods, where the disposition criteria characterizes properties the respective participants anticipate selling during the respective time period(s). The acquisition criteria and disposition criteria can be provided in any of a number of different manners, such as by performing searches of buyer arrangements and/or properties in the buyer database and/or property database (i.e., databases 38). The acquisition and disposition criteria can include any of a number of different criteria, and may be the same or different. In one exemplary embodiment, for example, the acquisition and disposition criteria are the same and may include one or more of property type, region, price and/or price range, cap rate and/or quantity. Additional information such as percentage occupancy, percentage of national tenancy, average lease terms remaining, location, MSA (metropolitan statistical area) or other market size, average remaining lease term, total square feet, acreage, number of parking spaces, year built, year of last renovation, traffic count, and/or demographic variables may be coded or entered as searchable field data enabling the searcher to broaden or narrow their search, alignment or correlation of the acquisition and disposition criteria.
Further, the facilitator arrangement 16 can gather additional information from the buyer arrangements 12 and seller arrangements 14 during or after the registration process relating to other factors, data, considerations and the like that go beyond the conventional market asset base criteria or acquisition criteria such as those described above. This additional information, referred to herein as extra-market criteria, evidences considerations of a seller arrangement or buyer arrangement that would normally not be known or available to a counterparty in an arm's length transaction.
One example of such extra-market criteria would be if the buyer arrangement was, or was acting on behalf, of a sovereign wealth fund. These types of funds often covet trophy properties and might be willing to pay more than an appraisal value or conventional measure of market value for properties that are especially unique or iconic. Another example of such extra-market criteria would be if the buyer arrangement was, or was acting on behalf, of a bank, and the bank was interested in purchasing properties not only for later resale, but also for housing its own bank operations, such as headquarters buildings or bank branches. Another example of such extra-market criteria would be if the buyer arrangement was, or was acting on behalf of, a REIT, that had a made a strategic decision to exit a certain geographic market, and thus might be willing to sell the property for a lower price than an appraisal value or conventional measure of market value. The REIT might not want the other participants to know its strategy but may make an entry into the property database of the facilitator arrangement for the reasons discussed below. Another example would be contingent property sales or exchanges where one seller arrangement would be willing to sell a certain property if a buyer arrangement owning another certain property was willing to sell it as part of the transaction for both properties. Another example would be where a buyer arrangement owns or has a controlling interest in a certain property and would like own or control adjoining properties to maximize the combined value of the properties. The fact that a buyer arrangement has a controlling interest in the first property might not be publicly known, and by expressing an interest in adjoining properties through the extra-market criteria, the buyer arrangement can combine properties confidentially and without paying an artificially high price for the adjoining property. Finally, a seller arrangement might have no intention to sell a property in the foreseeable future, but a buyer arrangement was so interested in the property that it might be willing to offer well in excess of an appraisal value or conventional measure of market value, such as 20% higher. The facilitator arrangement 16 can include extra-market entries for the buyer or the seller relating to such nonmarket properties or acquisition desires in the buyer database or property database accordingly.
After providing such information regarding an asset base, the facilitator arrangement 16 can provide, to the participants, a real-time forecast of industry projected purchases and/or sales based on total aggregation of the participants' acquisition criteria and/or disposition criteria, and/or the number of properties having matching respective criteria. This breakdown may be respectively referred to as “industry” supply and demand, and may forecast performance for a particular time period (e.g., year). Such information may be used, for example, as a rule of thumb for entities such as pension funds to make funds available for institutional buyers. Further, for-sale (or for-sale or held) properties including particular asset base criteria in the asset bases of the participants may show immediate, current real-time supply for properties with matching asset base criteria, and active searches by participants for properties including particular acquisition criteria may show immediate, current real-time demand for properties with matching acquisition criteria. This breakdown may be respectively referred to as “current” supply and demand. As explained herein, the terms “match,” “matching,” matches” or the like may be interpreted to encompass not only a complete match, but may additionally or alternatively include a substantial match. In this regard, a substantial match may include a match of a particular percentage (e.g., 70%), and/or a match of one or more particular pieces of information (e.g., property type, region, price range and/or cap rate) in a collection of information (e.g., asset base criteria).
More particularly, the facilitator arrangement 16 can provide, to a participant, real-time information regarding the number of properties in the asset bases of other participants having matching asset base criteria with the properties in the respective participant's asset base (industry assets). For example, a participant with an asset base including a property with certain asset base criteria may receive real-time information regarding the number of properties in the asset bases of other participants that match that certain asset base criteria. The facilitator arrangement can also provide, to a participant, real-time information regarding the number of properties having acquisition criteria (that other participants anticipate purchasing) matching the asset base criteria of properties in the respective participant's asset base (industry demand), and/or real-time information regarding the number of properties having acquisition criteria matching the disposition criteria of the respective participants. For example, a participant with an asset base including a property with certain asset base criteria may receive real-time information regarding the number of properties (that other participants anticipate purchasing) having acquisition criteria that match that certain asset base criteria. In addition, the facilitator arrangement can provide, to a participant, real-time information regarding the number of properties having disposition criteria (other participants anticipate selling) matching the asset base criteria of properties in the respective participant's asset base (industry supply).
The supply and/or demand may be broken down to provide information as to the number of matching properties in the collective asset bases, those having matching acquisition criteria, in a “hold” state, in a “for sale” state, and/or in an “engaged” state (the respective states being explained in greater detail below), and/or the number of historical sales of properties of the participants. The matching collective properties in the asset bases that are in the “for sale” state (or in either the “for sale” state or “engaged” state) may constitute current supply, and the properties that are in either the “hold” state or the “for sale” state that match active searches for similar properties may constitute current demand. As described herein, although information may be provided in real-time as that information is received, generated or the like, it should be understood that such information may alternatively be provided in a manner other than real-time, such as at one or more instances per a given time period (e.g., once per day).
The facilitator arrangement 16 may provide the aforementioned asset, supply and/or demand information to the participants in any of a number of different manners. For example, the facilitator arrangement may provide the number of instances of matching properties, matching acquisition criteria and/or matching disposition criteria adjacent to, or in a manner otherwise associated with, the respective properties of the participants. Thus, with this information, buyers and sellers are apprised, in real time, of the demand and/or supply for properties similar to the properties in their asset bases (as identified by the respective criteria).
As explained above, the facilitator arrangement 16 can provide, to a participant, information regarding the assets or asset bases of other participants. It should be understood, however, that the facilitator arrangement may additionally or alternatively provide, to a participant, information as to the number of matching properties in the collective asset bases of, those having matching acquisition criteria for, and/or those having matching disposition criteria for, all of the participants (including the respective participant and other participants).
Once in the asset base or any of the states within which a property may be placed (e.g., “hold” state, “for sale” state, etc.—explained below), the respective participant can adjust one or more criteria related to the property (e.g., reduce the cap rate), such as to measure demand for the property with different criteria. The participant can therefore determine a real-time value of the property based on the real-time demand for the property with specific criteria (e.g., at a specific price). More particularly, for example, consider a participant with an asset base including a property with certain asset base criteria, including a certain cap rate. In this regard, the cap rate may be searched or assessed by viewing additional criteria such as percentage occupancy, average remaining lease terms, market size, or certain demographic variables, for example. Also consider that the buyer database includes a particular number of buyer arrangements 12 with acquisition criteria matching the asset base criteria of the respective participant, thereby providing a measure of current demand for that property. In such instances, the participant may adjust one or more asset base criteria of the property, such as by adjusting the cap rate. In response, the service of the facilitator arrangement 16 may adjust the current demand to now reflect the number of buyer arrangements with acquisition criteria matching the adjusted asset base criteria. The participant may adjust the asset base criteria of the property at one or more instances. Accordingly, the participant may perform a real-time valuation of the property by identifying the number of interested buyers (those with matching acquisition criteria) for the property with different asset base criteria values.
As information regarding properties of the sellers is generated, gathered or otherwise received, the respective sellers or seller arrangements 14 may designate their properties as being in one of a number of different states, such as in a “hold” state or “for sale” state. In this regard, properties in the “for sale” state may be listed by the facilitator arrangement as being properties available for engagement in a real estate transaction, such as a real estate sale or exchange. Properties in the “hold” state, on the other hand, may be evaluated by the facilitator arrangement 16, but not otherwise listed as being available for engagement. At such time that the respective seller arrangement desires to list a held property for sale, the seller arrangement may merely move the property from the “hold” state to the “for sale” state, with the property already having been evaluated. Properties in the “hold” and/or “for sale” states may indicate, in real time, the number of buyers interested in similar properties (as identified by, e.g., matching asset base and acquisition criteria), and if so desired, also identify the types of interested buyers, such as cash, joint venture or exchange-type buyers (identified based on buyer information). Accordingly, the facilitator arrangement may be triggered to notify buyer arrangements 12 of “for sale” properties as the respective seller arrangements change the state of those properties from “hold” to “for sale,” as explained below.
Before, after or as the facilitator arrangement 16 evaluates the buyer information or seller information, the facilitator arrangement can create an entry for the buyer or the seller in the buyer database or property database. Also, in accordance with the service provided by the facilitator arrangement, the facilitator arrangement can send the buyer arrangements 12 details of the for-sale properties of sellers stored in the property database (i.e., properties in a for-sale state), and send the seller arrangements 14 details of buyers stored in the buyer database (i.e., buyers available for purchasing one or more properties), as shown in block 34. In this regard, the details of properties and buyers can be sent to the buyer arrangements and seller arrangements, respectively, in any of a number of different manners. For example, upon registering with the service provided by the facilitator arrangement, the facilitator arrangement can send the buyer and seller arrangements currently active property and buyer details maintained in the property and buyer databases. Thereafter, as properties or buyers of interest to the buyer arrangements or seller arrangements are made available, such as by being entered into a respective database, the buyer arrangements or seller arrangements may receive a real-time availability alert notifying the respective arrangements of the newly available properties or buyers. The availability alert can be received in any of a number of different manners, such as by email, short message service (SMS), notification on a Web portal of the service or the like.
The real-time availability alert may also be filtered to limit its recipients. For example, the availability alert may be filtered by the sender so that only certain receivers may receive the alert. Also, for example, the availability alert may be filtered so that only principals can receive the alert followed by brokers a period of time later. Further, for example, the availability alert may be filtered so that only certain company types or companies of a certain size, or companies having a certain historical purchasing pattern, receive the alert.
As indicated above, properties may be maintained in the property database of the facilitator arrangement 16 in a hold state whereby the respective properties are not indicated as being available for engagement in a real estate transaction (it should be understood, however, that the foregoing may be equally applicable to buyers maintained in the buyer database). Properties in the hold state, however, have a number of characteristics viewable to the respective seller arrangement including, for example, the property type, cap, and region. In addition, properties in the hold state may also have associated therewith, and viewable to the respective seller arrangement, information such as the number of potential buyers (e.g., cash, exchange or joint-venture buyers) interested in purchasing properties having one or more characteristics of the respective properties.
The seller arrangements 14 of the held properties or buyers may maintain the respective held properties until such time as the seller arrangements desire to make their properties available for engagement in a real estate transaction. The respective seller arrangement can then indicate their desire by moving the held property or buyer from a hold state to a for-sale state. In response to a property being moved from a hold state to a for-sale state (or otherwise being added to the respective database), the facilitator arrangement can then, in real-time or otherwise, send availability alerts to the buyer arrangements to thereby notify the buyer arrangements of the newly available property. As will be appreciated, the hold state not only permits the seller arrangement to take a property from being totally confidential to for-sale, but may also permit the seller arrangement to take a property from being totally confidential to an “engaged” state (and even have an upstream buyer in-hand for an exchange) without the respective property ever having been placed in the for-sale state.
Properties can be made available to the marketplace in varied states of exposure, such as totally or partially confidential, fully publicly-identified, or the like. For example, properties may be made partially confidential by allowing only certain possible responders (buyers) to see limited information about the property. In this regard, a seller arrangement 14 can direct the facilitator arrangement 16 to only send out an availability alert only to certain buyer arrangements 12. These buyer arrangements may include, for example, public REITs who have assets of at least one billion dollars, have purchased this type of asset in the past. Along with directing availability alerts only to certain buyer arrangements, the seller arrangement may additionally or alternatively direct the facilitator arrangement to permit buyer arrangements to see additional property criteria such as for example, MSA or city, or perhaps the exact address.
Irrespective of how or when the buyer arrangements 12 and seller arrangements 14 receive details of properties and buyers, the details can include any of a number of different pieces of seller information and buyer information, respectively. In one exemplary embodiment, for example, the details of properties and buyers include a portion of the seller and buyer information sufficient to allow the buyers and sellers to gauge an interest in one or more properties of the sellers or one or more buyers, respectively. To facilitate the buyers and sellers engaging the service of the facilitator arrangement 16, however, the details may not include information sufficient to permit the buyers or sellers to contact one another independent of the service. As an example, the information viewable to the buyer arrangements 12 and the other seller arrangements 14 may be limited by the facilitator arrangement to just the performance information, and all identity information remains hidden from the other participants. This configuration may be an option chosen by the seller arrangement 14, and/or may be a requirement of the facilitator arrangement for participation, such that all participants are required to agree to provide and have shown their performance information for each of their properties. Advantageously, this greatly improves the number of properties that are potentially for sale, thus improving the efficiency of the real estate market, while at the same time avoiding unnecessary mark-to-market events that the owner would wish to avoid.
After receiving the respective details at the buyer arrangements 12 and seller arrangements 14, the buyers can identify properties of interest, and the sellers can identify buyer arrangements of interest, as shown in block 36. If either a buyer or seller (i.e., the initiating party) desires to contact a seller or buyer (i.e., the initiated party), directly or as a result of actions of the facilitator arrangement, the facilitator arrangement can forward the initiating party arrangement a non-disclosure, non-circumvent facilitation fee agreement in which the initiating party agrees to pay the facilitator arrangement a predefined fee for the service provided by the facilitator arrangement should the initiating party and initiated party conclude a real estate transaction with one another, as shown in block 38.
After the initiating party (i.e., buyer or seller) executes the non-disclosure, non-circumvent facilitation agreement, and the initiating party arrangement (i.e., buyer arrangement 12 or seller arrangement 14) returns the executed agreement to the facilitator arrangement 16, the facilitator arrangement can forward the agreement to the initiated party arrangement (i.e., seller arrangement or buyer arrangement) for acceptance by the initiated party (i.e., buyer or seller), as shown in block 40. Provided the initiated party accepts the agreement (see block 42), the facilitator arrangement can provide, to the initiating party arrangement, confidential, access-restricted information related to the initiated party, as shown in block 44. The confidential information can be provided in any of a number of different manners, such as by forwarding the initiating party arrangement a password permitting the initiating party arrangement to access the confidential information. For example, the facilitator arrangement can permit a buyer arrangement to access confidential information comprising one or more pieces of seller information regarding the seller and/or the seller's property of interest to the buyer arrangement. The access-restricted seller information and buyer information can include any of a number of different pieces of information, including contact information for the seller and buyer, and one or more of the pieces of seller information and buyer information indicated above. However, at least a portion of the confidential information typically comprises information not having been included in the details previously sent to the buyer arrangement and seller arrangement (see block 34).
Irrespective of the confidential information provided to the initiating party arrangement, after the parties are engaged with respect to a particular property, the property can be moved into an “engaged” state, or be further associated with such a state (e.g., in addition to the for-sale state). Also, once the initiating and initiated parties are engaged in communication, the parties can be restricted from contacting other parties (i.e., other sellers and buyers) for a predefined engagement period (e.g., twenty-one days), which may or may not be extendible (e.g., mutually extendible). In this regard, the parties can be considered engaged in communication in any of a number of different manners. For example, the parties can be considered engaged in communication once the initiated party accepts the non-disclosure, non-circumvent agreement, or once the initiated party receives the password or uses the password to access information related to the initiated party, as shown in block 46. Irrespective of when the parties are considered engaged in communication, during the engagement period, the buyer can be restricted from communicating with other sellers regarding other properties. Likewise, the seller can be restricted from communicating with other buyers regarding the same property during the engagement period. The parties can be restricted from communicating with other parties in any of a number of different manners. For example, the facilitator can contractually restrict the parties from communicating with other parties. Additionally or alternatively, for example, the facilitator arrangement can remove, or otherwise restrict access to, the parties from the details of properties and buyers sent to other buyer arrangements 12 and seller arrangements 14 (see block 34). Advantageously, restricting each party from communicating with other parties during the engagement period can facilitate the parties concluding a real estate transaction with one another without outside interference.
If so desired, a seller arrangement 14 can further decide to allow multiple engagements (buyer arrangements 14), such as in the form of permitting multiple engagees to “bid” on the property at the end of an engagement period. In this scenario, the multiple engagees may have time and the exclusive right to pursue this property during the engagement period. This allows the buyer arrangements to align their acquisition criteria with a larger more eligible supply of properties.
After the initiating and initiated parties are engaged in communication, the parties may desire to conclude a real estate transaction regarding a property of the seller. In such an instance, the parties can conclude the real estate transaction in any of a number of different manners, such as by entering into a sales contract regarding a respective property and closing on the respective property, shown in block 48. In such instances, the facilitator can operate outside the transaction, or alternatively function as a broker for the transaction. In another alternative, the facilitator can engage a broker, closing agent or other facilitator for the transaction, with the facilitator and the engaged party entering into a separate agreement related to the brokering of the transaction. In either event, at the conclusion of the transaction, such as during closing of the property, the facilitator can collect the predefined fee from the initiating party for the service provided by the facilitator, as shown in blocks 50 and 52. Also at the conclusion of the transaction, if so desired and previously offered by the facilitator, the facilitator can provide the buyer with a limited duration tenant default insurance policy, as shown in block 54. For more information on such tenant default insurance, see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/890,457, entitled: System and Method for Insuring an Entity against Tenant Default with Respect to an Income-Producing Property, filed Jul. 13, 2004, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
In accordance with another, more particular exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for facilitating a real estate exchange. Similar to before, the method can include registering buyer(s) and seller(s) of the buyer arrangements 12 and seller arrangements 14, respectively, with the facilitator arrangement 16, or more particularly with the service offered by the facilitator arrangement (see
Further, similar to before, the facilitator arrangement 16 can send the exchangor arrangement (buyer/seller arrangement 12, 14) details of the for-sale properties of sellers stored in the property database, and/or details of buyers stored in the buyer database. In this regard, as explained below, the method of facilitating a real estate exchange is described in a buyer-driven context whereby the exchangor arrangement receives details of for-sale properties and functions as the initiating party for the property purchase portion of the exchange, and as the initiated party for the property sale portion of the exchange. It should be understood, however, that the method may be equally applicable in a seller-driven context whereby the exchangor arrangement receives details of available buyers and functions as the initiating party for the property sale portion of the exchange, and as the initiated party for the property purchase portion of the exchange. Further, for example, the method may be equally applicable in a balanced context whereby the exchangor arrangement receives details of both properties and buyers or does not receive any details, and functions as either the initiating party or the initiated party for both the purchase and sale portions of the exchange.
Referring now to
Irrespective of when or how the propert(ies) for the sale portion of the exchange are identified, the exchangor arrangement (buyer/seller arrangement 12, 14) can also identify one or more properties for the purchase portion of the exchange, as shown in block 58. Similar to identifying the properties for the sale portion of the exchange, the properties for the purchase portion of the exchange can be identified in any of a number of different manners. For example, the respective properties can be identified from the details of the for-sale properties sent by the facilitator arrangement 16 to the exchangor arrangement. Additionally or alternatively, the respective properties can be identified from one or more searches of the property database for one or more for-sale properties meeting one or more search criteria (e.g., property type, geographic region, price range, expense offset, cap rate, availability, etc.). Similar to before, the for-sale properties can include a portion of the seller information sufficient to allow the exchangor to gauge an interest in the respective properties. Also similar to before, however, to facilitate the exchangor engaging the service of the facilitator arrangement 16, the seller information may not include information sufficient to permit the exchangor to contact the sellers of the respective properties independent of the service.
As shown in block 60, as the exchangor arrangement (buyer/seller arrangement 12, 14) identifies propert(ies) for the sale portion of the exchange, the facilitator arrangement 16 or exchangor arrangement can calculate, and present to the exchangor, a running total sale price of the respective properties. Similarly, as the exchangor arrangement identifies propert(ies) for the purchase portion of the exchange, the facilitator arrangement or exchangor arrangement can calculate, and present to the exchangor, a running total purchase price of the respective properties. The facilitator arrangement or exchangor arrangement can calculate, and present to the exchangor, a running comparison between the total purchase price and the total sale price. In this regard, it may be desirable or otherwise required for the real estate exchange that the total purchase price have a predetermined relation with respect to the total sale price, or vice versa. As shown in block 62, for example, it may be desirable or otherwise required for the total purchase price to match or exceed (i.e., be at least) the total sale price, thereby resulting in a zero or otherwise positive difference between the total purchase price and the total sale price.
If the total purchase price is not at least the total sale price, the exchangor arrangement (buyer/seller arrangement 12, 14) may remove one or more properties identified for the sale portion of the exchange (see block 56), and/or identify one or more additional properties for the purchase portion of the exchange (see block 58). The running comparison can then be calculated to reflect the property removal and/or additional identification, such as to identify a total purchase price that matches or exceeds the total sale price. If not, the process of removing identified properties and/or identifying additional properties can continue until such a total purchase price is identified. As explained above, additional properties for the sale and purchase portions of the exchange can be identified, and/or identified properties can be removed from the exchange, before engaging any of the properties to effectuate the respective portions of the exchange. It should be understood, however, that identification and/or removal from the exchange of properties may occur at any point prior to completion of the real estate exchange. For example, the exchangor arrangement can identify one or more additional properties for purchase at any point before or after completing the sale of one or more of the identified properties for sale, and/or before or after completing the purchase of one or more other identified properties for purchase. Additionally or alternatively, for example, the exchangor arrangement can identify one or more additional properties for sale at any point before or after completing the purchase of one or more of the identified properties for purchase, and/or before or after completing the sale of one or more other identified properties for sale. Generally, then, the real estate exchange may be considered effectuated when the sales of identified properties for sale, and the purchases of identified properties for purchase, have been completed such that the total purchase price has the predetermined relation with respect to the total sale price, or vice versa.
After identifying properties for the sale portion and/or the purchase portion of the exchange, the exchangor arrangement (buyer/seller arrangement 12, 14) can engage those properties for a respective sale or purchase, and effectuate the sales and/or purchases of the respective properties, as shown in block 64. The properties can be engaged for sale and purchase, and the respective sales and purchases effectuated, in any of a number of different manners, such as in accordance with the method of facilitating a real estate transaction explained above with respect to
For the property sales portion of the exchange, the facilitator arrangement 16 can forward the exchangor arrangement (i.e., initiating party) one or more non-disclosure, non-circumvent facilitation agreements (see
For each identified property for sale and purchase, the exchangor can engage a buyer or seller arrangement 12, 14 to effectuate the respective sale or purchase, such as in the manner explained above. The real estate exchange, then, may be considered effectuated following the sales and purchases of identified properties such that the total purchase price has the predetermined relation with respect to the total sale price, or vice versa, as indicated above. As will be appreciated, once the sale of a property of the exchangor is complete, the respective property may be removed from the property database of the facilitator arrangement 16, or may otherwise have its ownership changed from the exchangor to the buyer. Similarly, once the purchase of a property by the exchangor is complete, the respective property may have its ownership changed from the seller to the exchangor. In either instance, once a property's ownership has been changed from one party to another, the property may be moved from a for-sale state to a hold state within the property database, the property thereby being made readily available for future transactions.
To further illustrate the benefits of the present invention, reference is now made to
As indicated above and shown in
As shown in
For buyer arrangements 12 and seller arrangements 14 registered with the service provided by the facilitator arrangement 16, as well as buyer and seller arrangements not registered with the service (if so desired), the facilitator arrangement provide details of buyers and properties (see block 34 of
For registered buyer arrangements 12 and seller arrangements 14 registered with the service provided by the facilitator arrangement 16, the facilitator arrangement can provide a participant home page or display from which the respective party can manage their real-estate portfolio and activity with respect to the service, as shown in various exemplary embodiments in
Also, for example, the participant home page can include a hold, sell, engaged property portion (shown under the heading “my properties” in
As shown in the exemplary embodiment of
Further exemplary displays of the hold-state portion of a participant home page, including even more details of properties in the hold state is shown in
In
As shown in
In addition, the facilitator arrangement (shown as “Facilitator”) continually or intermittently assesses at block 73 the extra-market criteria including the various factors and considerations described above. In embodiments of the invention, the facilitator arrangement may refer to the extra-demand criteria entries (discussed above) for the buyer or seller in the buyer database or property database, and uses artificial intelligence associated with the processor or other efficient processing methods to assess one or more suggestions for the seller. For example, the facilitator arrangement may assess one of the properties in the seller arrangement's Hold section, using the extra-demand criteria entries in the database or other information known to the facilitator arrangement, and determine that one of them represents a trophy property, such as the tallest building in a central business district of a city, or a building of iconic or historical architectural design, even though these characteristics are not shown in the For Sale section of the screen for prospective buyer arrangements. The facilitator arrangement further may assess that one of the buyer arrangements using the system represents a sovereign wealth fund, which often are especially interested in such trophy properties, even though the identity of the buyer as a sovereign wealth fund is not apparent from the Interested Buyer screen shown in
When the facilitator arrangement 16 assesses from the extra-market criteria that a match could be made between a buyer arrangement and a seller arrangement, even though neither of those parties may be able to assess the possibility of a match on their own, the facilitator can make a suggestion to the seller arrangement to move a property in question to the For Sale section of the display. The suggestion may be sent, in real-time or otherwise, in the same fashion as the availability alerts sent to buyer arrangements as described above, and may include full or partial information regarding the extra-market criteria used in the assessment to trigger a suggestion. For example, the suggestion alert may include information that one of the buyer arrangements represents a sovereign wealth fund, and that the buyer arrangement should consider moving its trophy property from the Hold section to the For Sale section so that it might realize a higher price for the property than would be apparent from the visible Interested Buyer metrics alone. In this way, the facilitator arrangement can further promote quick and effective sales of properties using a display screen or home page, and can improve the liquidity and function of the real estate market. Although described and illustrated in
An embodiment of this illustrated in
However, the facilitator arrangement also has access to the extra-market criteria for each particular buyer arrangement and seller arrangement. The facilitator arrangement can advantageously re-rank the correspondence between buyer and seller arrangements based at least in part on the extra-market criteria, and notwithstanding the number of publicly available aligned criteria. For example, with regards to
The re-ranking may occur due to the highest individual numbers in the #Nonmarket Supply or #Unmet Mkt Demand columns, or may additionally or alternatively be based on the highest number of matches between the particular buyer and seller arrangements. As an example, the facilitator arrangement may rank the third row the highest of all rows in the illustrated example due to the matches of 6 properties between the respective buyer and seller arrangements.
The re-ranking may be manifested to the respective participant by way of the ranking of properties shown in
In embodiments of the invention, the facilitator arrangement may assess the extra-demand criteria entries (discussed above) for the buyer or seller in the buyer database or property database, and may use artificial intelligence associated with the processor or other efficient processing methods to achieve the re-ranking(s) and provide suggestions.
The facilitator arrangement may suggest to the seller arrangement that it move a particular property to the For Sale section of the display, or the facilitator arrangement may offer to directly engage the particular seller arrangement with the particular buyer arrangement—i.e., without moving the property from a Hold section to a For Sale section-so that no other buyer arrangement would be able to ever see the subject property is being negotiated for a sale. Thus, an engagement period may begin after the seller arrangement moves a property from the Hold Section to the For Sale Section as a result of the publicly displayed acquisition criteria of the buyer arrangement, and/or after a seller arrangement receives a suggestion from the facilitator arrangement to engage with a particular buyer arrangement.
When moving the property from the Hold Section to the For Sale section, the buyer and seller arrangement can negotiate the sale or exchange of a particular property that both participants knew the identity of prior to the engagement period. However, when acting in response to a suggestion from the facilitator arrangement, embodiments of the invention also advantageously facilitate the negotiation of properties that only the seller arrangement knew the identity of prior to the engagement period. In other words, based on the suggestion from the facilitator that the participants could be a good match, more properties are made available for sale than would otherwise occur, and a more efficient operation of the real estate market is enabled. For example, it is estimated that only 3-5% of commercial real estate properties are known to be available for sale at any given time, but this embodiment of the invention facilities potential sales of the other 95%-97% of the properties. Further, it facilitates these potential sales in a very confidential way so as to not to flood or oversupply the total real estate market with excess properties, which could lead to volatility and instability in prices.
Referring back to the exemplary participant home page of
Although not shown, the participant home page can include further tools for managing their activity with respect to the service. For example, the participant home page can include a portfolio portion including one or more real estate portfolios defined by the participant, each portfolio including a group of properties that, for various events, may be treated as a collective whole. Also, for example, the participant home page can include a tenant-in-common (TIC) portion including one or more properties, and/or one or more groups of properties, for which the participant has a TIC ownership with one or more other TIC owners, who may or may not be participants of the service. Further, for example, the participant home page can include a portion including one or more upstream Gantt charts for properties under contract, each Gantt chart identifying one or more tasks to be completed to conclude a transaction such that the participant can view their progression to conclusion of the transaction.
As shown in
As further shown in
The exchange portal can further include a button or other selectable element (shown as “execute exchange”) such that, after identifying properties for the sale portion and/or the purchase portion of the exchange, the exchangor execute the exchange to thereby initiate engaging the identified properties (see block 64). Then, as explained above, for those properties for which the exchangor is the initiating party (e.g., for the purchase portion of the exchange), the exchangor can receive from the facilitator arrangement 16, and thereafter execute, a non-disclosure, non-circumvent facilitation agreement. Then, after the exchangor has accepted the agreement, the facilitator arrangement can provide, to the exchangor arrangement, confidential, access-restricted information related to the initiated party (see blocks 38-44 of
Once the exchangor and initiating/initiated parties are engaged in communication for properties of the exchange, the parties can be restricted from contacting other parties with respect to those properties for a predefined engagement period (e.g., five days). For example, the facilitator arrangement 16 can restrict access to the buyer arrangement 14 and the respective property of the seller arrangement 14 from the details of buyers and properties. In this regard, the facilitator arrangement can restrict access to the buyer arrangement by blanking out the entry for the buyer in the display of buyers and identifying the buyer as being “Engaged,” shown in
After the exchangor and initiating/initiated parties are engaged in communication, if the parties can conclude real estate transactions for the respective properties to thereby effectuate the real estate exchange (see block 48), the facilitator can collect predefined fees from the initiating party for the service provided by the facilitator (see blocks 50 and 52). Also at the conclusion of the transactions, if so desired and previously offered by the facilitator, the facilitator can provide the buyer with a limited duration tenant default insurance policy (see block 54). In this regard, as the buyer arrangements 12 and seller arrangements 14 engage the service offered by the facilitator arrangement 16, the facilitator arrangement can provide the buyer arrangements and seller arrangements with information regarding such a policy, as shown in the display of
As will be appreciated, the service of the facilitator arrangement 16 described herein can be provided in a number of different contexts relating to real estate, from commercial to residential real estate. It should be understood, however, that the service can generally be provided in any of a number of different contexts involving a buyer and a seller of a good. For example, the service can be provided by the facilitator arrangement in the context of an auction offering of a good by a seller to a number of buyers, such as in the context of an online auction (e.g., eBay).
Also, the tenant default insurance described herein can be provided in conjunction with a real estate transaction between a buyer arrangement 12 and a seller arrangement 14. It should be understood, however, that the tenant default insurance can be provided independent of such a transaction, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, the tenant default insurance can be provided to a buyer arrangement independent of the transaction between the buyer and a seller of a respective property. Alternatively, for example, the tenant default insurance can be provided to an owner of a property at any point during the ownership tenure of the owner. Also, it should be understood that the tenant default insurance can also be provided in conjunction with other investment tools such as tenant-in-common ownership, REIT (real estate investment trust) ownership and/or IRS 1031 tax deferred exchange programs to create a new investment vehicle that offers a guarantee of a certain level of income to the new buyer during initial ownership, or during a period extending beyond initial ownership, if so provided by the facilitator arrangement.
According to one aspect of the present invention, all or a portion of the system of the present invention, such as all or portions of the buyer arrangement 12, seller arrangement 14 and/or facilitator arrangement 16, generally operates under control of a computer program product. The computer program product for performing the methods of exemplary embodiments of the present invention includes a computer-readable storage medium, such as the non-volatile storage medium, and computer-readable program code portions, such as a series of computer instructions, embodied in the computer-readable storage medium.
In this regard,
Accordingly, blocks or steps of the control flow diagrams support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block or step of the flowcharts, and combinations of blocks or steps in the flowcharts, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform the specified functions or steps, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which this invention pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
