REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, MORTGAGE AND LENDING
Newswire | May 31, 2023
Pineapple Financial Inc. (PAPL: Reserved), the tech-focussed mortgage brokerage with an integrated network of partner brokerages and agents across Canada, is pleased to announce it will now be offering mortgage services in Western Canada via their alliance with Pineapple Canada Lending House. Pineapple is excited to provide more Canadians with its revolutionized approach to mortgage services through this market expansion.
"Our goal at Pineapple has always been to give as many Canadians as possible the opportunity to purchase a home," said Shubha Dasgupta, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pineapple. "To achieve this, we've simplified the journey through data-driven processes and intelligent technology, all while strategically and sustainably expanding our presence in the Canadian market. Thanks to our alliance with Canada Lending House, Pineapple will be able to provide more homebuyers and brokers across Canada with the best experience and products the industry has to offer."
Since its inception, Canada Lending House has offered brokers an established system of training and extensive support services to accelerate their success rate by eliminating time-consuming processes. Pineapple Financials' innovative, automated and digitalized technology approach will supercharge the Canada Lending House system to provide their brokers with a streamlined approach that will free up more time to focus on result-driven tasks and building relationships.
"We are thrilled to join the Pineapple network and bring the future of mortgage brokering across British Columbia," said Harbir Dhillon, Managing Broker at Pineapple Canada Lending House. "Our focus is dedicated to providing small-town brokers with the most advanced, digital tools that are not often available. Our partnership with Pineapple Financial will improve on delivering that experience and augment our proven system of time-saving processes designed to accelerate a broker's career." Harbir continued by saying, "After our brokers complete the Pineapple training program, they will be able to focus 100% of their attention on the things that matter most - providing superior customer service and deal-generating activities."
The expansion into Western Canada is proof of Pineapple's ambition to build momentum and drive its growth. The company is expanding its business presence nationwide, all while modernizing the Canadian mortgage industry. Even as the real estate landscape has changed significantly over the past 12 months with higher interest rates and turbulent conditions, Pineapple has continued providing mortgage-seeking Canadians nationwide with the best service and solutions to meet their needs today and into the future.
"We are honoured to partner with Canada Lending House," said Christa Mitchell, Chief Strategy Officer at Pineapple. "This partnership is key to unlocking Pineapple's national expansion and delivering on our commitment to provide the best service and mortgage solutions to borrowers across Canada."
About Pineapple
Pineapple is a leader in the Canadian mortgage industry, breaking the mould by focusing on both the long-term success of agents and brokerages and the overall experience of homeowners. With approximately 700 brokers within the network, Pineapple utilizes cutting-edge cloud-based tools and AI-driven systems to enable its brokers to help Canadians realize their ultimate dream of owning a home. Pineapple is active within the community and is proud to sponsor cancer charities across Canada, where proceeds from every transaction go to improving the lives of fellow Canadians touched by cancer. Visit www.gopineapple.com for more information.
About Pineapple Canada Lending House
Pineapple Canada Lending House is a trusted and established Mortgage Brokerage in British Columbia, Canada, with over 20 years of experience serving the community. They have built a reputation for providing their clients with industry-leading solutions, world-class customer service, and access to a wide range of mortgage products and services. They bring a new flavour to mortgage brokering and are proud to offer big-city perks to smaller communities across BC.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, INVESTMENTS
Businesswire | June 01, 2023
SmartRent, Inc. (NYSE: SMRT), the leading provider of smart home and property operations solutions for the rental housing industry, today announced the launch of its Community WiFi solution, built by multifamily experts for the multifamily industry.
Through Community WiFi, SmartRent is elevating renter expectations for wireless service at their communities in terms of connection speed, dependability, portability and affordability. It is also raising the bar for management teams by upgrading infrastructure and working harmoniously with major property management systems and existing tech stacks for smooth integration and implementation.
SmartRent is an established industry leader, specializing in smart home technologies, self-guided tours, access control, asset protection and IoT solutions. Broadly, the impact of smart technology has often been limited by the WiFi system deployed at the property level. Resident-acquired WiFi varies substantially from home to home, and bulk WiFi packages are still dependent on the signal strength and reliability of individual routers and modems in each home, common area and amenity space. After analyzing the needs of apartment communities and experiencing the challenges firsthand, SmartRent decided to help solve the long-standing industry issue. Through its development of Community WiFi, SmartRent strives to deliver dependable, accessible, community wide internet access to serve as the bedrock upon which rental housing communities can confidently build out their smart home and proptech systems.
“SmartRent’s Community WiFi is the culmination of years of discovery with our clients and a deep understanding of the pains associated with connectivity at the property level,” said SmartRent CEO Lucas Haldeman. “We are uniquely positioned to bring a truly game-changing WiFi solution to the market. Through our infrastructure upgrade expertise, vast hardware and software installation experience and intimate knowledge of smart home technologies for IoT, we have designed Community WiFi to power fully connected communities. Dynamic and reliable high-speed internet connectivity is not only one of the single highest demand amenities for today’s renters, but also the backbone of efficient, high-performing properties.”
Residents can initiate Community WiFi in a matter of minutes, with no need to set up an installation appointment, through the SmartRent app — the same platform used to manage smart home devices and smart access controls and receive calls from video intercoms. Featuring up to 1 GB connection speeds, the service is competitive with individual in-home WiFi plans. A consistent connection encompasses the entire community, including amenities, common areas and office spaces, so residents and on-site staff aren’t required to connect to various routers as they move about the property. The powerful, reliable connectivity also enables WiFi calling, making it essential in areas with marginal cellular reception.
As a marketable amenity, Community WiFi can be leveraged to boost lead conversions and resident retention. Through infrastructure ownership, operators can gain a direct NOI boost from a monthly connection fee per unit and an overall increased asset value through significant infrastructure upgrades. Community wide connectivity fortifies smart communities, providing stability for property technologies and smart home devices to enhance overall IoT performance.
About SmartRent
Founded in 2017, SmartRent, Inc. (NYSE: SMRT) is a leading provider of smart home and smart property solutions for the multifamily industry. The company’s unmatched platform, comprised of smart hardware and cloud-based SaaS solutions, gives operators seamless visibility and control over real estate assets, empowering them to simplify operations, automate workflows, benefit from additional revenue opportunities and deliver exceptional site team and resident experiences. SmartRent serves 15 of the top 20 multifamily owners and operators, and its solutions enable millions of users to live smarter every day. For more information, please visit www.smartrent.com.
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MARKET OUTLOOK, REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY
Businesswire | April 27, 2023
Turner Impact Capital, one of the nation’s largest real estate investment firms dedicated to social impact, has expanded its efforts to address the country’s urgent housing affordability crisis with the acquisition of its first multifamily housing community in the Minneapolis metropolitan area.
Acquisition of the 207-unit Urbana Court Apartments in Brooklyn Park, Minn., closed today as one of the final investments of Turner Multifamily Impact Fund II. The purchase enables Turner Impact to bring its innovative market-driven housing solution for low- and moderate-income families to a fast-growing Minneapolis community with convenient access to job opportunities, healthcare, and schools.
The Turner Multifamily Impact Funds have acquired, preserved, and enriched approximately $2 billion of critically-needed housing for working individuals and families located in densely populated, ethnically diverse metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. These investments represent nearly 13,000 units of workforce housing nationwide, serving residents earning up to 80% of area median income while generating strong risk-adjusted financial returns for its institutional investors. Residents include community-serving professionals such as teachers, police officers, healthcare workers and others who often earn too much to qualify for subsidized housing but struggle to afford higher-cost housing located near job centers.
“As rents rise and recession concerns mount, we must ensure that working families have access to stable, affordable, and high-quality housing in major metropolitan areas,” Turner Impact CEO Bobby Turner said. “We continue to expand our housing initiatives, and Urbana Court presents an opportunity to bring our successful model to one of the most dynamic markets in the Midwest.”
Urbana Court is a newly built apartment complex with a large community center, 24-hour fitness center, pool, pickleball courts, playground, and underground heated parking. The units feature a wide range of appliances and full-size washers and dryers, and as part of Turner Impact’s sustainability initiatives, the Fund has identified ways to reduce energy and water use.
Minneapolis has the largest metropolitan economy in the region after Chicago, where Turner Impact also has significant housing investments. Brooklyn Park is located just north of the city, near the largest health-technology cluster in the country, known as medical alley, and major employers such as Medtronic, Target, and Amazon, as well as easy access to jobs in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Turner Impact’s holistic approach to workforce housing also entails enriching residents’ quality of life with demand-driven essential on-site services in education, health, safety, and other areas that help build a sense of community. These include after-school tutoring programs, exercise and nutrition classes, community watch programs, and more.
“We are excited to expand our impact to greater Minneapolis and are actively pursuing additional investments in the market,” said Gee Kim, President of Turner Impact’s Multifamily Housing Initiatives. “We welcome and look forward to opportunities to contribute in a meaningful way to the housing solution in this key part of the country.”
Housing initiatives are a core component of Turner Impact Capital’s holistic approach to social impact investing. Since 2016, Turner Impact has raised more than $650 million in equity for its first two housing funds – Turner Multifamily Impact Funds I and II – and has recently launched a third fund, Turner Multifamily Impact Fund III. The new Fund is the firm’s largest to date, targeting between $750 million and $1 billion in total commitments. The Fund has already received strong interest from both U.S. and international investors and will build on the work of its predecessor funds to preserve and enrich workforce housing through the acquisition of existing affordable rental housing at scale.
Turner Multifamily Impact Fund III will also pursue the development of new affordable housing through public-private partnerships, as well as opportunistic investments in and recapitalization of workforce housing projects resulting from market dislocations.
Turner Impact has recently accelerated its expansion by hiring Gary Rodney, a national housing leader, as Managing Director for Housing Initiatives. Rodney joined Turner Impact from Tishman Speyer, where he launched the firm’s first affordable housing platform, and earlier served as Chairman of CREA, a national syndicator of low-income housing tax credits, as well as President of the New York City Housing Development Corporation.
About Turner Impact Capital
Turner Impact Capital is the nation's largest private equity real estate firm exclusively dedicated to social impact. Based in Santa Monica, California, the firm focuses on creating sustainable solutions for many of today's most daunting societal problems by developing and investing in community-enriching infrastructure in densely populated, underserved communities. The firm seeks to generate superior risk-adjusted financial returns by investing in markets with large supply/demand mismatches of core community infrastructure (i.e., workforce housing, public schools, and community-serving healthcare facilities) and a lack of institutional capital. Turner Impact Capital seeks profits with a purpose. Learn more at www.turnerimpact.com or @turnerimpact on Twitter.
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