In 2012 a host of new technology companies began to emerge promising to use ‘technology’ to ‘disrupt’ the residential real estate marketplace. The business models outed their technological expertise and magically linked this to the possibility of greater profits for real estate investors to whom they also pitched fund products or transaction support.

Typically, the tech companies in the real estate space occupy one or more of the core functions that real estate agents rely upon to drive and close traditional real estate buy-sell transactions (marketing, lead generation, customer service, data aggregation and transaction management). I looked at one company in each speciality to try to determine how they thrived during the market boom of 2012 – 2018 and how they are faring in today’s slower market conditions.