How would you summarise the VeriEstate app and its unique value propositions?

Set to be launched soon in Dubai, VeriEstate is an innovative property inspection app. It provides prospective renters and buyers with accurate, unbiased, and comprehensive insights into the quality of the properties after checking for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) issues. Unlike conventional property inspection services, VeriEstate harnesses cutting-edge technologies like blockchain and AI to uphold its fiduciary duty and utmost transparency. VeriEstate’s unparalleled unique value proposition in the market is facilitating a single source of truth for both customers and sellers through real-time information on the app.

What is VeriEstate hoping to solve/address in the real estate market?

There is more to a building than what meets the eye. At times, it could be concealing structural flaws in MEP systems. Such problems don’t often present themselves early but become a cause for concern long after you move in and make a home. Therefore, buyers and sellers tend to perform ‘snagging’ — the process of checking a new property for faults before moving in. However, snagging, too, can be prone to biases and misleading information, especially if undertaken solely by one of the parties behind closed doors without transparency. That problem is more common in secondary markets, where sellers tend to be individuals rather than well-known developers with a reputation to protect. 

Please elaborate, with an example, how VeriEstate will bring transparency to snagging and property inspection.

As often as not, information in typical real estate transactions flows in sequences, from a buyer to acreate room for distrust between transacting parties, making deals tedious and causing unnecessary friction. For example, in snagging, an inspector might click pictures of a plumbing issue on a personal device and later send them to other persons and systems for final reporting. Such piecemeal approaches expose critical data to hackers. VeriEstate ensures that everything, from an initial enquiry to the final quality certificate, happens on the app and stays there, with just the key stakeholders privy to the events and outcomes. 

What are the technologies and processes that constitute the VeriEstate app?

The app is built on frameworks Laravel and Flutter for back-end and front-end, respectively, and is available on iOS and Android. To begin with, a customer places an inspection request on the app, which, in turn, notifies the seller via an email and seeks confirmation. After the seller confirms, inspectors in the proximity are notified. Following documentation, including NDA and terms and conditions related to confidentiality, all parties receive the inspection schedule on the app. VeriEstate’s 110-checkpoint inspection, undertaken through non-intrusive scientific methods supported by advanced sensors, imaging technologies, and AI, yields a credible report. The entire process, including the clicking of pictures, is facilitated by the app, hosted on AWS Azure Cloud, and registered on the blockchain’s immutable ledger, making it transparent and devoid of biases by design. 

What are VeriEstate’s implications for real estate transactions and the prevailing trust deficit in the market?

Technology and transparency often go hand in hand. In real estate transactions, where stakes are high, tech-led transparency can reduce the trust deficit, increase investor confidence, enable a seller to attract a premium by substantiating the quality and propel the market toward greater heights. Regulators in Dubai have been proactive in launching initiatives to enhance transparency in the real estate market. As a testament to their efforts, Dubai was ranked in the “transparent” tier for the first time on JLL’s GRETI 2022. The road to the “highly transparent” status will be paved with more governmental policies and the outcomes of pioneering apps like VeriEstate.