RG 118 – How Will Technology Disrupt the Future of the Real Estate Industry? w/ Tim Manson
About Tim
- Tim is an Aussie expat
- Tim works in real estate technology
- Tim is the chairman of the Real Estate Sector Founders Network
Nuts and Bolts
Tim Manson is an Aussie expat who moved to San Fransisco from Sydney in 2012 and founded Property Connect which is now listed on the Aussie stock exchange. Tim is also the chairman of the Real Estate Sector Founders Network. Tim was co-founder and director of the real estate development company Manson Group in Australia before he left. He has also created the Founders 400 in the US which is a tech company focusing on property development in California. Tim made his first dollar during his school holidays working on construction sites for his dad. He left school and didn’t go to college and instead got an apprenticeship. He had always wanted to build so while he was an apprentice he got a builders license. He also dabbled in the stock market on the side so he got a diploma in financial markets when he was 18-19 years old. He saved all his pay checks and put these into the stock market where he made many mistakes but learned a lot.
The first land that Tim bought in Melbourne he got approval for a 750 storage unit complex then was then going to sell of each unit individually so he started pre-selling. He had sold the first half of the units in 2 weeks but then the development didn’t get the condo plan approval from the local council and he had to refund all of the deposits! He eventually moved to the US because he got bored in Australia as he’d done all the development he could manage. After the crash in 2011 he was really bored and started looking at tech in San Fransisco and started to talk to start-up technology people. They offered him lots of help but reminded him that 9 out of 10 start-ups fail in the first 3 years and that he couldn’t succeed if he only did this as a side-hustle; he had to go all in and live in the US. He gave himself 5 years to try and if it didn’t work he’d move home, his fear of not trying was greater than the fear of failure.
There have always been disruptors in the real estate business; Before listing services like Zillo and Trulia you had to go to a broker for options as they had access tot eh MLS. Then the disruptors came along and now everyone can see the market. Tim reckons brokers have a market on their back like taxi drivers had before Uber and as such they need to modernize or they will suffer. The tech wave is coming for real estate and this can be seen by the people who have started to invest in the tech area – people like Uber’s founder who has his own fund to invest in 3 areas, one of which is real estate. Tim advises that all people start getting involved in technology and see how you can help, for example if you’re a labourer can you advice tech companies on the best way to work with construction.
Top Tips:
- Most important habit – Trello
- Most influential person – his dad
- Most important tool – His phone and Slack
- contact – tim@founders400.com
