Commercial real estate is in an uncertain place. With persisting supply chain problems, work culture shifts, and increasing interest rates, retail, office, and industrial properties have certainly been under pressure for the last few years.
However, even as our current commercial real estate market becomes ever more precarious, one Dallas proptech startup has made it its mission to help investors stay competitive. In September, we covered how the all-in-one asset management platform, Dottid, unveiled its next iteration with Asset OS. Now, we’re excited to see how this software is helping investors navigate our not-so-confident commercial real estate market.
Recently, Kyle Waldrep, CEO and founder of Dottid, sat down with daltxrealestate.com. We discussed the state of the market and how Asset OS arms investors with efficiency and insight.
Post-COVID Commercial Real Estate Market
“Commercial real estate looks much different than it did 12 to 18 months ago,” said Waldrep. “It certainly looks different than it did before COVID. COVID brought on a dynamic shift in hybrid work, which technology has made viable long-term as well.”
While Waldrep views this as a good thing, there is an adjustment period in commercial real estate as a result.
“There’s been a slide of value especially in the office space sector,” said Waldrep. “On one hand, we’re seeing class A, highly amenitized buildings leasing for incredible rental rates. Then, you’ve also seen where value-add investors are taking opportunities to purchase and add those amenities to lower class A or class B office assets.”
However, on the capital markets transaction side, Waldrep doesn’t see a lot of activity. This is due in part to the Fed’s aggressive interest rate increases of the last year.
“With all the uncertainty, there’s not a lot happening and there’s not a lot of buildings changing hands,” Waldrep said. “This is because debt and equity markets don’t have a great purview into the next four to eight months. There’s actually tons of capital just waiting to transact. It’s just sitting on the sidelines as we await more clarity from the Fed.”
Though many are quick to paint office properties with a negative brush, Waldrep doesn’t see it that way. To him, even the bleakest markets leave opportunities for those willing to take some risk.
“Does it look different? Yes. Is there going to be some reset in value? Absolutely. But there’s opportunity there,” said Waldrep.
Asset OS Provides The Answer
As a first-of-its-kind, all-in-one asset management platform, Dottid’s Asset OS is an intuitive way to arm investors with the information and agility they need to move on any market.
“When office starts to look different like it does now, and when there’s less capital markets activity, that really means that most people in the business are playing asset management roles,” Waldrep said. “What Dottid does is come alongside and enable those people. That’s the great thing about Asset OS.”
With a comprehensive, consolidated platform, Asset OS provides users with everything they need to manage everything from capital projects to property debt.
“By tying in debt, capital expenditures, leasing, even valuation integration,” said Waldrep.
As we look to the future of commercial real estate, products like Asset OS will be key in determining whether investors have the ability to jump on opportunities or whether the economy alone will influence markets. Thankfully, the team at Dottid is bringing us one step closer to a more adaptable and advantageous market.
“We’re really enabling those asset managers to manage great assets and have great tenants,” Waldrep said.
