CaveHunt is a real estate agency that specializes in managing rental housing units in the United States. The business operates over 500 rental houses in the country including both residential and commercial spaces. The firm agrees with property owners to help in the management of their units, for instance, in servicing the houses, collecting rent, finding tenants, and handling all landlord-tenant disputes with the help of legal personnel. Therefore, the core objective of the organization is to create the ideal business relationship between the tenants and the property owners. More so, the company also seeks to optimize the rental spaces available while offering the best services to potential clients across the country.
Statement of Problem
The real estate industry is growing fast as the demand for both commercial and domestic property increases. Therefore, it is expected that the use of technology will help the service providers and the clients to access and process critical information quickly. A study by Cilluffo et al. established that the number of households renting their houses increased from 34.6% in 2006 to 43.3% in 2016 (1). Many young people in the United States are today finding it hard to own a home and opt for a rental apartment or house. The same research found that 65% of adults aged 35 years and below live in rentals and only 21% of those aged 65years and above live in rented houses (Cilluffo 1).
The above statistics suggest that the demand for rental houses is on the rise across the country. Young people prefer to live in urban areas where they have to rent a living space as opposed to the rural areas where most households own their houses. Sakaria and Stehfest argue that millennials tend towards being adventurous in their lives, they love exploring the world by moving from one job or place to another in their lifetime (3).
The 2008 economic crisis also discouraged many people in the United States from buying homes, leaving them with the option of renting (Aalbers 41). Aalbers explains that the economic downturn was partly caused by financial institutions that offered unsecured mortgages to clients (44). Most of them defaulted, and the banks faced serious problems that affected the entire economy. The fear of taking mortgages implies that individuals would prefer to live in rental houses that are safe and reliable. More specifically, people have severe challenges with credible information on the rental spaces available in a given place. Those who are looking for a house for residential or commercial use have to take time visiting numerous websites and physical sites before they settle for an ideal unit. Gibler, Black, and Moon agree that even in the Internet era, people find it difficult to find a right rental place (241). A prospective tenant has to make numerous calls to agents before getting a good rental house, especially in the major cities in the country. In most cases, the adverts are outdated, and the rental units displayed are not available by the time a client calls to make an inquiry.
Objectives of the New System
Based on the analysis of the problem, the new proposed system will offer fast, accurate, and reliable information to people seeking rental units in the major urban centers in the United States. The system will consolidate the information available on the rental houses open within a specific region and display the data to prospective clients on a portal accessible using a mobile phone application and website. The core goal of the new system would be to enhance the communication between the real estate agencies and their clients. It will imply that prospective tenants do not have to go through numerous adverts looking for an ideal house to rent. The data collected from the real estate agencies in a specific city will give updated and accurate information on the units available as well as their costs and features.
Additionally, the new system will improve the communication between the real estate companies and their existing clients. It will reduce unnecessary paperwork and physical visits for both parties. The applications will serve as a customer relationship management system. Lee explains that a CRM system is critical for modern businesses (649). The system offers a two-way communication channel that enables clients to send feedback to the company, and the organization also sends essential information to the customers.
Most importantly, the new system will save the cost of operation for real estate agencies. The fact that it aims to consolidate data and connect clients implies that the companies will spend less on workforce and marketing functions. Rahimi, Liu, and Andris assert that information technology systems may be expensive to set up but have long-term cost-cutting benefits (7).
Alternatives Considered and Solution Selected
The real estate business in the United States is privatized, but with oversite from the government authorities. The prices of rental units are subject to the market forces of demand and supply. Therefore, an initiative to develop solutions for the public has to come from the private firms and other stakeholders.
The first alternative for CaveHunt considered was to develop and implement the new system independently. The move implies that the company will invest in the development and marketing of the system across all the regions it operates. The system will help CaveHunt to interact with its customers, and it can only have data that appertains to its portfolio of housing units for rental. The advantage of this option is that the company will reap maximum returns from the venture. It will also have the opportunity to customize the system with its brand symbols and messages. However, the firm will also bear the loss alone if the system fails to break-even by saving advertising costs. More so, since CaveHunt does not have sufficient housing units, it will not offer clients the variety they need when searching for rental spaces.
The second option will be to collaborate with other registered real estate agencies in designing and implementing the new system. All the willing agencies will contribute to financing the new system and will have equal opportunities in uploading their data on the platform. The real estate agencies will also use the new application to contact their current clients. Therefore, the system will not only be the public platform for searching the available rental spaces, but also a portal where customers can have confidential communication with their respective agents. The advantage of this option is that the cost of investment as well as losses will be shared. Most importantly, the real estate agencies that will upload their data on the system will give users a wide array of housing units to choose from. The agencies will also help in marketing the new application to a broader audience resulting in more significant benefits for the industry.
Therefore, the company selects the second option in the implementation of the new system. Incorporating other agencies in the venture will give the system credibility and help in achieving its objectives. It is evident that CaveHunt cannot satisfy the increasing demand for rental spaces in the major cities in the United States. Instead of having many rental houses applications from each agency, it is prudent to have a unified system that allows the public to have access to big data on real estate rental spaces across the country. The centralized system will also lock out the unregistered companies that are likely to defraud users by advertising non-existent rental houses, spaces, or apartments.
Details Concerning the Solution – Technology and People
The solution involves the development of a mobile application system and website that will offer quick, accurate information on the rental units available in a specific urban center. Therefore, the application will have localized information availed to the users based on their GPS positioning or their search keywords (Moshir, Moshir, and Shafiezadeh 12). Additionally, the application will also give the rental agencies the ability to manage their existing clients by communicating with them directly. The details about the proposed new system are as follows:
a) Targeted people
The management and employees of real estate companies dealing with the rental unit will be critical users of the new system. The firms will be the primary sources of data for the system that the public will rely on to get accurate and valid information about rental units in urban centers in the United States. The agencies will also design and maintain the system. The system will offer readily available information to the public through the freely accessible mobile phone application and website. People looking for rental spaces for either business or homes can log into the system, search for their preferred features, and see options from the real estate firms subscribed to the system. Tenants of the companies incorporated into the system will have individual accounts on the application and website that will enable them to communicate directly with their agents. They can request for bigger or smaller rental spaces, report repair works needed, and give notice of lease termination.
b) Technological system
The system will use advanced SQL database management software that enables efficient organization and processing of information. The use of the high-speed database system will allow quick processing if users search from the data deposited by the back-end users. The database will also have multiple secured accounts that will allow all the companies subscribed to the deal to upload their data simultaneously. The application will have a user-friendly interface that will enable people to operate without any difficulties. Even the back end of the system will have an easy-to-operate display that will ensure accurate and quick uploading of data by the real estate agencies. The servers hosting the data for the rental information system will be accessible using Internet connection only. The respective users will need HSPA or 3G internet connection, or higher speeds, to connect to the servers and process their search requests. Therefore, those who install the mobile applications do not need to worry about space usage as the servers are remotely connected.
c) Information
The core of the rental system will be the exchange of users’ critical reports. Laudon and Laudon (23) assert that at the heart of any MIS system is the need to disseminate information seamlessly. The application will provide details about the size of the house, the cost of renting, the terms of the lease, location, and pictures of the unit. Therefore, a user can contact the agency that is managing the property and book it online before the physical visit. Hence, any housing unit that is reserved will not be available via search unless the prospective tenant fails to pay within three days of booking. The system will also have digital maps that will help users to locate rental properties using GPS technology. Thus, there will be no need for physical visit, the digital map will show the exact location of the property, including the neighborhood facilities such as schools, hospitals, and access roads.
The real estate companies on the other end of the system will also collect information from the users such as their names, contacts, and location. They will identify the number of people interested in a given property based on search engine data. The system will compute statistics on a daily basis on the number of people from a specific location who have logged in and details of their activities or searches.
Implementation
a) Phase 1
The first stage will commence with the recruitment of key players including all the registered real estate agencies in major cities of the country. CaveHunt will sell the idea to other companies and allow them to become partners with equal status. All the firms that agree to develop the system will then appoint representatives that will design the system. A team of software engineers will work with the representatives of the enterprise to ensure that all their needs are captured by the application. The designing team will also collect views from members of the public to establish what they need to be included in such an application. According to Coppit, understanding the needs of users is imperative in designing sustainable and effective information systems (64). The use of bottom-up approach allows the designers to analyze the problems of the targeted users and develop a system that will offer viable solutions (Thomas and McGarry 12).
b) Phase 2
Once the system’s design is complete, the next stage will be piloted for six months. The testing will be piloted in five urban areas in the United States selected purposively. The companies will feed the data and inform the members of the public about the availability of the service. The aim would be to ensure all the features of the application and website operate as intended. All the users will submit feedback to the developers, which will help eliminate all the errors in the design and functioning of the system. The real estate agencies in the partnership will participate in the piloting phase by feeding the system with real data on rental spaces available. The companies will also offer feedback on the suitability of the system for their work.
c) Phase 3
After the performance of the system is optimized, it will be launched across all the major cities in the country. The final implementation stage will need substantial marketing budget that will raise sufficient public awareness. The awareness program will educate the public on the use of the application and the website. The campaign will also seek to bring on board other real estate agencies that were skeptical before the designing of the system. The aim is to ensure all the major urban areas of the country are covered, and all the registered rental agencies are part of the project.
As the system is being implemented countrywide, the developers will also be continuously evaluating the performance and improving it. Pearlson et al. note that the need for regular updating is a critical element of information systems (141). The fact that the team tested the system before full implementation does not imply it is perfect. There will be regular updates that seek to optimize user experience and eliminate any identified problem.
Cost-Benefits
The implementation of the new rental information system would be costly, but it would revolutionize the industry. In particular, the new system would spend considerable amounts of funds to pay the software developers, hire the servers to host the database, and market the platform to the public. There will also be other numerous overhead costs in the implementation process. However, in the long term, the real estate agencies and the general public will benefit from the new information system. The following are some of the notable benefits of the rental information system.
1. The public will find it easier to identify ideal rental spaces for residence and commercial use within their locality.
2. The real estate companies will spend less advertising for rental properties because clients will be finding them using the application.
3. The firms will also spend less on human labor because the online system will enhance customer relations functions.
4. Tenants will have a more accessible and efficient way of communicating with their housing agents using the application.
5. The real estate companies will collect valuable information on the needs of the market based on the search data from the application.
Conclusion
It is evident from the report that the proposed rental information management system proposed by CaveHunt will change the real estate industry for the better. Young people are increasingly seeking spaces to rent, and they are capable of using online technology to make the process easier. Therefore, the collaboration between the rental agencies will help in gathering the information on one database accessible through mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops. The fact that the demand for housing units exceeds the supply implies that real estate agencies will work together as opposed to unnecessary competition.
Works Cited
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