Archer Announces Revolutionary Data-Powered Underwriting Tool for Multifamily Investors

Archer has unveiled AIM Automated Underwriting, a data-driven underwriting tool that significantly enhances the multifamily underwriting process and reduces the amount of time required to complete a first underwriting from days to minutes.

AIM Automated Underwriting solves one of biggest challenges that real estate investors face today – evaluating and underwriting deals efficiently and effectively. With AIM Automated Underwriting, investors can complete a first underwriting of any multifamily property in less than 15 minutes.

"Quality underwriting is crucial to the successful execution of an investment strategy, but speed also matters because investors that act quickly have an advantage over their competitors," says Thomas Foley, co-founder and CEO of Archer. "Before AIM Automated Underwriting, investors had to choose between speed and quality. AIM Automated Underwriting gives investors all the information they need to estimate expected returns, mitigate known risks, and take advantage of upside potential."

AIM Automated Underwriting supports Archer's mission to make real estate investing easier through better data, technology, and local expertise. The tool is an extension of AIM, Archer's proprietary technology platform, which helps investors source opportunities by converting raw, disjointed data into actionable market intelligence with a click of a button.

"Real estate investors today are overwhelmed and stretched," says Fred Canney, co-founder, COO, and CFO of Archer. "Their teams are trying to do more with less and are constantly looking for ways to differentiate their capabilities. AIM Automated Underwriting not only vastly improves the quality of each underwritten model, it also gives back the most valuable commodity of all: time."

By leveraging machine learning, AIM Automated Underwriting predicts operating costs, identifies the best comps in the market for revenues or sales, and automatically sorts through thousands of comparable properties to select only the best. It then organizes the information in a useful and intuitive way through a user interface that helps real estate acquisitions teams quickly apply their expertise to adjust the base level assumptions as needed.

AIM Automated Underwriting provides:
Speed to the first underwrite – 15 minutes or less for a full multifamily evaluation, with or without a rent roll or T-12
Transparency in decision making – see all rent, operating costs, and sales comps; understand why each comp was chosen, and importantly, which comps were not chosen and why
Expansion of scope – with an automated underwriting model, investors can look at more deals than before, prioritize deals faster, and choose where to spend their time
"I can't imagine going back to the old way of underwriting," says Miles Pratt, managing director of acquisitions for Archer. "Being able to confidently underwrite dozens of properties in several different markets in a fraction of the time is a real game-changer. Though human-level refinement is still necessary for perfecting underwriting, the speed that you can get to the refinement part of the analysis is a huge leap in productivity."

AIM Automated Underwriting effectively produces a baseline underwriting complete with comparable analysis and all the information necessary for investors to make smart, informed decisions.

"At Archer, we know that data is only the start of the equation – real estate professionals bring a tremendous amount of market knowledge and acquisitions expertise," Canney says. "We believe AIM Automated Underwriting helps prioritize effort, focuses human energy where it can add the most value, and allows investors to pursue more deals with the teams they have today."

Q&A: Archer's Canney Explains the Ins & Outs of AIM Automated Underwriting
AIM Automated Underwriting is just one of Archer's unique technology tools. The company's talented data science team recently developed a recommendation engine to help investors expand from their local market into "look-alike" markets where they have a less of a presence.

The powerful recommendation engine analyzes new markets at scale that would traditionally require an army of analysts. Learn more about Archer's recommendation engine.

Since launching the platform in March 2021, Archer has grown its real estate clients to more than a dozen funds and operators who are sourcing off-market opportunities in more than 25 markets.

For example, Archer has partnered with a Houston-based private equity firm to expand its market entry to Austin and San Antonio. It's also working with an investor with very specific investment criteria to identify pockets of opportunity within San Diego and Salt Lake City.

About Archer
Archer is a real estate investment firm that helps investors build their ideal portfolios. By targeting specific cities and properties, Archer is transforming the way investors enter new markets and expand into new property types. The firm has developed a transformative technology tool, Actionable Insights Model (AIM), that merges data from trusted sources and insights from local market experts. Guided by AIM, Archer identifies the most strategic assets, allowing investors to reduce the risk associated with market entry.