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End2End Solutions

A Single Point of Contact During the Eviction Process by Carole VanSickle Ellis When Barry Owens, founder and CEO of end-to-end default management servicer End2End Solutions, decided the time had come to solve the “evictions problem” in real estate once and for all, eviction processes were nearly at a standstill. That is because Owens started his company, which he describes as a “true one-stop-shop for the entire lifecycle of an eviction,” when 2020’s global COVID-19 pandemic was in the process of changing that particular element of real estate in lasting and dramatic ways. For example, between March and December 2020, eviction filings alone fell by 65%, and the actual number of evictions was even lower. Although many entrepreneurs might have paused their startup efforts in the face of numbers like these, Owens viewed the entire situation as an opportunity to solve a major problem for residents and property owners alike. “When we initially started the company, there were no evictions going on,” Owens said. “Ironically, that meant we were able to come in [to the space] fresh and go out and hire people whose talents otherwise might not have been available. The timing really played in our favor.” The founder’s first hire was Tonya Willis, a leading subject-matter expert on the eviction process and, today, COO of End2End Solutions. She was essential, Owens explained, because the biggest stumbling block in the eviction process was a lack of communication from one stage to the next. This opacity occurs naturally in the process because different specialists have traditionally handled different elements of eviction, largely in order to ensure that the rights of the resident are fully protected. Residents’ rights vary not only from state to state, but also from city to city, making it imperative that a lien-holder or landlord initiating the eviction process work with service providers familiar with local regulations. “It made it very hard to track things,” Owens said, citing one property owner who spent hundreds of dollars re-keying a lock only to find they did not have the right code for the door. “I sat down and looked at all the processes together and thought, ‘Wow, this is really broken,’” he continued. “That is when it dawned on me we could create one communication portal to be a single point of contact.” That portal concept, which ultimately became the End2End Solutions platform, essentially enabled the company to bring all elements of the eviction process in-house without sacrificing important “boots-on-the-ground” insight and experience. “I had been in mortgage servicing for my entire career to that point, and, in the early days, we were doing all of these things using index cards and phone calls,” Owens recalled. “In 2020, however, the technology was available that enabled us to make a change for the better.” Bringing the Right People & the Right Technology Together Owens and Willis got to work delineating every part and process that goes into an eviction, including elements revolving around resident welfare, such as helping tenants facing eviction identify resources that can support them through the process of identifying a new place to live. The two also laid out a detailed timeline of the eviction process and all the individual steps involved, including working with legal professionals, tracking court schedules, proceedings, and verdicts, coordinating with law enforcement, and bringing property preservation service providers on board quickly to protect the asset. “We knew how important it was to bring in the right people and build out the right technology at the same time,” Owens said. “We were very fortunate to land the best person in the eviction world [from a servicing perspective] when we hired Tonya [Willis], and then, during 2020, we had the time to build out an application that truly policed the entire process and made sure everyone involved in the eviction was on the same page.” By the end of the development stage, the company’s senior management team boasted more than 100 years of accumulated experience and End2End Solutions was ready to launch its suite of services. Those services included working with residents on “Cash for Keys” solutions, which became extremely popular during 2020 and afterward, legal evictions, property preservation, service of process, vacant property registration, and placement assistance. “We understood that fragmented processes within a multifaceted task [like eviction] lead to communication breakdowns, lack of continuity, and time management problems that resulted in financial losses for property owners,” Willis said. “When we entered the market, we did so with a total understanding of all default processes and in a position to eliminate the fragmentation.” The key to avoiding that perilous fragmentation is End2End’s communication platform, which places local providers in contact with each other and the owner of the asset associated with the eviction. End2End Solutions maintains a network of local vendors and subject-matter experts in all 50 states, enabling complete coordination of the entire process and incorporating feedback and updates for clients at the same time. “This is important in every market, but particularly in nuanced markets like Baltimore, Maryland, or the state of Massachusetts,” Owens said. “We use our system to corral information and make effective decisions about the eviction process very quickly because we know the nature of the market environments across the nation.” The company soon discovered that the concept of “remote work,” now ubiquitous, but, at that time, a foreign concept to many, would contribute significantly to its ability to achieve goals revolving around continuity and timely communication. “A big part of our success is we have people all over the country, working in all time zones, that have their ears to the ground and know what is going on politically, what types of changes may have occurred in the law, and how things are going in their local markets,” Owens said. Reworking the Process to Reduce Costs & Confusion One of Owens’s mantras in business is, “Just because we have been doing something a certain way for decades does not mean we have been doing it the

Regional Spotlight

Niche Markets

3 Specialized Markets & Sectors to Watch in 2025 by Carole VanSickle Ellis In late 2024, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released its annual forecast for “The Top 10 Housing Hot Spots” for 2025. Not surprisingly, most of these markets were located in relatively affordable areas of the country, had posted job growth in 2024 appearing likely to continue into 2025, and showed positive net migration into the area. NAR evaluated these and other markets based on ten performance factors relative to national levels, and the predictions were relevant, likely accurate for the most part, and, naturally, generally optimistic – particularly where retail homebuyers were concerned. “Home buyers will have more success next year,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. “The worst of the affordability challenges are over as more inventory, stable mortgage rates, and continued job and income growth pave the way for more Americans to achieve homeownership.” Interestingly, the association also predicted at the same time that national median home prices are likely to reach heights exceeding $410,000 in 2025 and observed, “The national housing shortage remains.” For real estate investors, most of this information is nothing new, which is why REI INK has decided to focus our 2025 forecast on areas of the market that are a little more, well, “uninspected” in today’s economic commentary. With the cost of labor and supplies pushing developers out of their traditional comfort zones and traditional fix-and-flip or rehab-to-rent investors to investigate new variations on historically tried-and-true strategies, the New Year is the perfect time to examine niche markets where innovation and creativity are still rewarded with solid returns. Niche Market #1Senior Living A little over a decade ago, the term “silver tsunami” began to emerge in real estate investing circles. At that time, the oldest Baby Boomers, those born in 1946, were nearing retirement age and entering retirement. Statisticians and economists avidly announced nearly 10,000 Baby Boomers would turn 65 ever day while innovative real estate investors began coming up with new types of senior living assets that would cater to a generation projected by the Federal Reserve data to be “the wealthiest generation that has ever lived.” Today, Baby Boomer movements and trends directly and dramatically affect the nature and health of the markets into which they migrate while their needs and preferences have a direct and significant impact on real estate trends. “Senior housing has ‘better-than-expected’ momentum [in 2025],” wrote The Street contributor Edward Fernandez in December 2024. He explained, “The decline in the construction of assisted living facilities since 2018 has resulted in an inadequate supply nationwide…. This imbalance underscores the investment potential in the senior housing sector, where investors can leverage the rising demand for investment in quality accommodations for seniors.” The shortage in senior housing options in many markets creates natural opportunities for investors, but that is just the beginning. Because Boomers are likely to live longer in retirement than earlier generations and have expressed not only the intention of “aging in place” but also demonstrated they have the financial wherewithal to do so; factoring in their preferences and desires when renovating existing assets or constructing new ones is an easy way to broaden your appeal to potential buyers. According to the SIMS Luxury Builders “What Home Buyers Really Want” report, senior buyers’ sentiments about [desirable and undesirable] features “tend to be stronger than other sub-populations.” This means, for example, the presence of outdoor living space, garage storage (vs. attic), and a full bath on the main level of a property can make or break a property’s appeal for this generation of buyers. Boomers also expressed a desire to purchase homes that enable them to live on a single level and aversion to two-story family rooms and properties with elevators. While not all investors are renovating properties with an eye toward appealing to senior residents, eliminating such a large portion of the population could be dangerous. Monitor senior migration trends in your markets of interest, and rehab with their preferences in mind if they are a major force in your area. For example, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and the surrounding Grand Strand area posted a 23% increase in its 65+ population in 2024, and that trend appears likely to continue in 2025. Analysts at the Wall Street Journal cited the presence of distinct (but “not extreme”) seasons, a coastal region that is not “all the way south,” and Myrtle Beach’s international airport as factors in the population growth. “There are multiple hospital systems and nationally ranked medical institutions within driving distance,” added local agent Melanie Hellmer. She also noted the market supports a variety of retirement lifestyles, including living near the ocean, golfing and tennis, and inland residences for “more privacy and space.” The market is also more affordable than many in retiree-inundated Florida, making it a good place to retire and representing opportunity for investors serving this population. Niche Market #2Airbnb “Refugees” are Turning to Mid-Term Rentals Since its debut on the market in 2008, Airbnb has disrupted the short-term rental (STR) market in a variety of ways. Criticized for alleged negative impacts on affordability and neighborhood quality of life, the company has also provided a life-changing opportunity for many real estate investors to diversify and grow their portfolios via vacation-rental strategies that would have been largely unheard of just a quarter of a century ago. However, that prosperity and success has become a double-edged sword, with Airbnb “hosts” recounting nightmare scenarios in which the platform has banned their user profiles and properties, sometimes with little warning or recourse, and devastated their investment portfolios. For these investors and others who may balk at the increasingly high fees associated with using the Airbnb platform or the unreliable nature of many guests, the “mid-term rental” could be a solid alternative to STR. “If you have a property on Airbnb that is a strong performer and is generating serious income, that property is likely generating far more revenue than it could as a long-term rental

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Rently

Leading the Way in Self-Guided Touring by Carole VanSickle Ellis It’s a tough world out there for rental owners and residents, and at no point is it tougher than when the two parties are seeking each other but have not yet met. The peril does not so much lie in the difficulty in finding affordable housing or locating a unit that meets a household’s needs (although those activities can be challenging) but, instead, in actually managing to lease a real home or apartment. Thanks to skyrocketing rental fraud that targets asset owners, managers, and residents alike, the rental landscape has become more challenging than ever. According to the FBI, incidences of single-family rental fraud began rising in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a 27% jump in reported cases between 2021 and 2022, and, in 2024, the FBI Crime Complaint Center (IC3) announced the cumulative reported losses related to real estate fraud had reached a sum in excess of $145 million. The center noted actual losses were probably much higher since many real estate scams go unreported due to victim embarrassment. The results of this burgeoning, troublesome trend run the gamut from rising rental rates to increased insurance costs and permanent damage to innocent victims and corporate brands that get caught in the crossfire when scammers successfully defraud victims using the landlord’s name or real assets. Rently, a self-touring smart-home technology company that combines hardware and software solutions to optimize leasing efficiency for landlords, believes its platform represents the best solution to this emerging threat. Company co-founder Clark Li, who currently serves as CTO and works on smart-home and smart-building solutions, said his company, which was created to improve convenience for would-be renters, now holds the cure for the “pain points” both owners and would-be renters experience when it comes to securely accessing units and keeping the entire transaction clear of con artists and fraud. “Merrick Lackner, our CEO and my co-founder, and I drew from our own difficulties related to housing searches when we started the company in 2011,” Li said. “We wanted to create a system that would immediately answer a potential resident’s two main questions: ‘Is it available?’ and ‘When can I see it?’” The result of their collaboration would be one of the original self-touring platforms and make Rently what Li describes as “pioneers [and] the undisputed leader in self-guided touring.” Thanks to the company’s head start in the space, Rently is uniquely equipped to combat the rising spread of issues surrounding security and rental fraud, noted director of business operations Sahil Farooqi. Farooqi joined Rently in 2017, when the company was expanding into smart-home technology designed to protect owners and residents while providing appropriate and convenient access to units when necessary. “It was so important, especially during the pandemic and continuing today, that good people continue to have the ability to view homes and rent properties,” Farooqi said. “We create systems that enable good actors to access properties while the bad actors are detected early, at the top of the ‘funnel,’ and owners and residents remain secure and protected.” “A Whole Array of Scams” Threaten Single-Family Real Estate Although both single-and multifamily real estate are under attack from increasingly sophisticated scammers, the single-family space, in particular, has reeled under an assault of elaborate hoaxes and cons that results in millions of lost revenue, the total annihilation of life savings in some cases, and the destruction of trusted corporate brands. “There is a whole array of scams in the SFR space,” Farooqi observed. “We see social engineering, wired money, vandalism, trespassing, tactical targeting of vulnerable and gullible potential renters, fake listings, and manipulation.” He explained the biggest weak point for many asset owners lies in the ability of scammers to create relationships with would-be tenants by posing as those owners or representatives of the owners and establishing trust before springing the trap and requesting irreversible, wire-transferred “deposits” or even installing tenants in homes. In the latter case, tenants often believe they are legitimately renting the space only to learn they are squatting illegally and must be evicted. This can lead to intense resentment of the owners and property managers as well as losses in income and monies paid. Rently, Farooqi said, stops this entire vicious cycle early in its tracks through verification methods that confirm for parties on both sides of the leasing equation that the other party is legitimate. “We provide property managers with I.D. verification and selfie verification technology,” he explained. These types of real-time verifications prevent the sorts of unauthorized access that can occur with traditional lockboxes, which may be broken and removed or “decoded” for unauthorized entry. Rently recently debuted another security feature that cross references with the Department of Motor Vehicles. The company prevents scammers from taking advantage of redundancy in tours and visits to break into additional properties by requiring real-time check-ins at each property. A selfie-check, for example, must show the person and the property they are entering and match with the documented appearance of the individual who scheduled the tour. Only then will the system permit entry. Of course, Farooqi conceded, “fraudsters are always evolving their tactics.” To address this issue, the Rently team developed a machine learning model to evolve right along with the most advanced scams. “Our security team manages this risk-scoring model and conducts a review on a daily basis to enhance the model,” he said. “It takes into consideration changing tactics of scammers and guides us toward places they might try to enter the platform. We detect the attempt proactively and stop them from entering the property.” Revisiting the Multifamily Angle As Rently’s prowess at preventing SFR fraud continued to strengthen and grow, more multifamily operators expressed interest in developing their own custom systems that would operate on the same principles. To assist in this, Jared East, Rently’s vice president of product & software, and his team began working on options that would meet large operators’ needs. “There are a lot

Regional Spotlight

Wichita, Kansas

A Window of Opportunity Could be Closing in the “Air Capital of the World” by Carole VanSickle Ellis Wichita, Kansas, has been a destination from its inception. Located near the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers, Wichita is named for the Native American tribe that inhabited the area before Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explored the area in the mid-1550s. Ultimately, the region was acquired by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase, and traders began to flock to the area and build small log structures to serve as hotels, a post office, and, eventually, homes for permanent residents. By 1872, the city had been nicknamed “Cowtown” thanks to the many cattle drives that ended there when the herds were taken onto newly built railways, and it also emerged as an entertainment destination thanks to a proliferation of saloons and brothels combined with a dearth of law enforcement. By the late 1800s, Wichita was firmly on the map. Today, of course, Wichita plays up other elements of the municipality than brothels and “light” legal adherence. The Wichita of 2024 proudly claims the title, “Air Capital of the World,” and the city is host to more modern business opportunities, including a vast aviation and aeronautical engineering sector, a substantial aircraft manufacturing sector, and a thriving healthcare industry. Wichita is also the birthplace of a number of iconic fast-food restaurants, including White Castle, Pizza Hut, and Freddy’s Frozen Custard. Not surprisingly, however, the biggest points of pride for local chambers of commerce are the more than 115 aerospace and aerospace-related manufacturers, including Textron Aviation (Cessna and Beechcraft), Spirit AeroSystems, Bombardier Learjet, and Airbus. The chamber also notes the presence of “a comprehensive network of over 450 precision machine shops, tool and die shops, and other aerospace subcontractors.” A “Return to Old Normal” The city’s strong economy is one factor contributing significantly to what Stan Longhofer, director for the Center for Real Estate at Wichita State University, describes as the market “coming full circle…to where we were 20 years ago [in 2004].” He argues that after the housing crisis and financial meltdown in the mid-2000s, the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on traditional models and market behaviors. This had a wildly detrimental effect on home construction, which ultimately led to the outsized demand and appreciation experienced nationwide during the global pandemic. For 2025, Longhofer and his research team predicted, “The broad theme…is something of a return to the old normal, and by that, I mean a place we haven’t been in maybe 20 years.” Longhofer explained in his October 2024 forecast at Wichita State University, “It’s been a very unusual two decades.” He continued, describing the years following the financial crisis as “an absolute cratering of new-home construction” during which levels hit their lowest point since World War II. Despite pre-housing crash overbuilding, “[new-home construction in Wichita] never recovered,” Longhofer said. However, with the pandemic largely in the rearview mirror and, thus, no longer threatening the manufacturing bases in Wichita, a slightly softening housing inventory, and relatively affordable housing costs, the city is poised to be both attractive and affordable in 2025. Unlike some markets where inventory volumes are rising so fast the appreciation from the past few years is at risk, in Wichita, it appears demand and a slow increase in listing volume are balancing each other out to keep home values strong. According to one local agent, this trend has been in the making for about 18 months already. “The number of homes that are for sale has increased, but slowly,” he told local news outlet 12News. “Home values are still increasing.” Although home price gains were more modest in 2024 (8%) compared to previous years, which posted double-digit appreciation (11% in 2023 and 2022, nearly 15% in 2021), they remain solid and are expected to come close to these gains again in 2025. With Low Home-Flipping Rates, Wichita Investors Focus on Buy-and-Hold All this appreciation has not led to as much fix-and-flip activity in Wichita as one might expect. In fact, according to ATTOM Data’s report on flipping activity released in 2023, just 5% of transactions in Wichita were home flips. This is one of the lowest rates in the country. Real estate investors in the area today report profit margins “are lower now than five years ago,” as local landlord Mike Heldstab told NPR this past August. Heldstab made headlines at the time for the longevity of his tenant relationships. Some have maintained leases with him for more than a decade. Heldstab’s model of rehabbing and then renting out properties often below market rate (a model he developed after finding the fix-and-flip model was not as effective as he had hoped) has worked for him, but he acknowledged he is also not currently raising rents as much as he said he “probably should,” explaining, “It’s tough for anyone to afford [rental rate increases] when their incomes maybe haven’t gone up.” Rental availability, like housing availability in general, is somewhat precarious in the Wichita area. According to HUD’s October 2024 “Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis Wichita, KS,” the rental vacancy rate in the area is “balanced” at just over 10%, but rental rates are increasing along with demand. HUD estimated there would be a demand for more than 3,100 new rental units in the coming year, but only 2,100 are currently under construction. For-sale housing inventory is likely to undergo starker shortages, with HUD estimating a pending demand for roughly 5,100 units and only 1,400 under construction. Despite this, HUD analysts noted, “[Wichita] remains among the most affordable areas to buy a home in the nation.” The area remains the 59th most-affordable market in the country out of 241 areas ranked. Local government is currently working with investors to incentivize the creation of new housing as well via the Wichita HOME Investments Partnerships Program and the Housing Development Loan Program (HDLP). These grants are intended to support development in areas classified as

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On the Cutting Edge of Efficiency

Fordham Enterprises is Taking 3D Printing Technology Mainstream by Carole VanSickle Ellis When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, Justin Fordham, founder and CEO of Fordham Enterprises, had to take a step back from his latest project of 20 three-unit residential homes, and reevaluate the situation. In New Jersey, where the project was located, most development contracts were pulled or frozen early in the pandemic, leaving investors and developers struggling to determine how they would complete projects or reenter the market. Fordham, however, did anything but flounder. He assessed the situation and ultimately decided cutting-edge technology and innovation would be the key to his market reentry. He founded Fordham Enterprises, a company that would take investors “from tech to title, helping to make homeownership a reality.” Fordham Enterprises describes itself as “a cutting-edge investment firm that combines 3D concrete printing technology and real estate development that is leading the way when it comes to bringing new methods of construction into the mainstream.” In addition to development and lending, the firm is the only private lender in the country dedicated solely to the 3DCP [3D concrete printing] industry. Fordham said, “Our commitment to innovation and social responsibility [3DCP residences are more affordable, faster to erect, and typically more energy efficient] fuels our relentless pursuit of creating sustainable communities.” Because 3DCP technology enables developers to “print” assets in layers, stopping only for the insertion of plumbing, electric, or other mechanical services, the timeframe for these projects is typically far more expedited than in traditional construction. “One of the problems we were having on the development side even before the pandemic was time,” Fordham said. He added, “The money was an issue as well because the cost of capital was already rising.” In early 2020, Fordham leveraged his time to research strategies for building and cutting margins without cutting the quality of the end product. He encountered all the “usual” solutions, but then, he encountered something even better: 3D printing. A developer himself, Fordham talked to the leading 3DCP manufacturers, lenders, and developers in this emerging space and developed partnerships with them. “They taught me about the process and how to implement it on a mainstream basis, and I, in turn, showed lenders how they can in most cases triple their ground-up funding by working with 3DCP developers,” Fordham said. Just four years later, Fordham Enterprises proudly states it is “the pioneering private lender dedicated to the 3DCP industry offering an unprecedented advantage with expedited ground-up funding for 3DCP projects.” Fordham noted, “Little did I know there were companies doing this type of development since the 1940s, but it is only just starting to be commercialized, disrupting the $10 trillion concrete industry in the process. Fordham Enterprises exists to help bring this technology and the affordable, high-quality housing it facilitates into today’s market.” A Long & Quiet History Concrete printing made a quiet debut nearly a century ago when inventor William Urschel used his “wall-building machine” to construct the first 3D concrete-printed building in history. That building, a basic structure composed of simple, concrete walls, was located behind a warehouse in Indiana. Since that time both concrete and 3D printing have come a long way; in 1998, high-strength concrete was used in the construction of high-rise buildings like Two Union Square in Seattle, and in 2006, “self-healing” concrete began to appear in construction. Self-healing concrete includes a “bacterial stimulant” that secretes limestone, enabling it to reseal cracks and minor damage. Today, 3DCP builds are weatherproof, fireproof, pest retardant and energy efficient. In 2020, the real estate space was ripe for the introduction of larger-scale developments and projects like Fordham’s due to housing scarcity and a national need for affordable residential options. “What we are really doing is pretty simple,” Fordham said. “We are utilizing A.I. and new machinery to help expedite the build process.” Fordham Enterprises is currently working not only on traditional single-family structures, but also larger buildings, including a four-story 3D-printed structure in New Jersey that will be the first of its kind when completed. “This building will have 21,000 square feet and 17 units,” Fordham said proudly. The mixed-use building is the largest 3DCP project in the country at this time and represents huge potential for expanding 3D printing opportunities in the multifamily, commercial, and industrial spaces. “U.S. inventory is behind by about 4 million homes,” Fordham said. “The only way we are going to make that up is if we transition how we build. We need to offload the work for humans and put the heavy work on machines so we can think better and work a little less.” He continued, “I love telling people to take a look at their six-to-eight-month process; I can do that same job in six to eight weeks.” 3DCP is largely impervious to weather conditions, making it ideal for areas with long rainy seasons. “We are able to tent the entire property and the machine itself, so rain and snow do not impede our development,” Fordham said. As 3DCP becomes more mainstream, Fordham said a misconception about the process has emerged around the idea that automating construction jobs will hurt employment in the industry. According to a 2019 study conducted by Oxford Economics, it is likely that systems like 3DCP and other manufacturing platforms could replace roughly twenty million jobs by 2030. However, according to the same study, automation and robotics also tend to increase demand for workers because these systems make more product available. In the case of 3DCP residential properties, that hypothesis holds true, Fordham said. He explained that historically, many people have expressed concerns about 3D printing putting developers and contractors out of business. In reality, he said, “It is actually the inverse. New technology coming to market opens up more jobs and opportunities because we can build more, build faster and build with better efficiency. We need to train more people, improve the relationship between lenders and developers, and educate investors to make the entire process easier.

Profile

Property Shield

Data Security Firm is Changing the Face of Fraud Protection by Carole VanSickle Ellis Property Shield is, by any definition, “new to the scene” of data security. In fact, the company launched in February of last year. However, said the company’s co-founder and CEO Alex Fahsel, the data security firm hit the ground running by tackling emerging issues around fraud, data security, cyber security, and even artificial intelligence. “As much as we love all this technology, it can be used for all sorts of nefarious things,” Fahsel said. “Property Shield specializes in using this technology for good and to stay ahead of scammers and fraud. Cybersecurity has historically been a ‘cat-and-mouse’ game where the good actors have always been a few steps behind. We started Property Shield to give those good actors the opportunity to stay ahead.” “We are basically the data police,” explained Luke Lind, co-founder and CTO of the company. “Our system is constantly monitoring the web for potential fraudulent listings, and whenever it finds one, we immediately notify whichever client owns the data.” At the same time as the notification is going out, Property Shield tackles the process of having the fraudulent listing removed from consumer access as soon as possible. “The combination of these two workflows helps reduce illegal activity at the physical property level,” Lind continued. “Because our system is able to identify and remove fraud listings within hours, we can effectively cut down on the threat they pose to the property.” That threat is growing exponentially larger every day as cyber criminals, already frighteningly internet savvy, add psychological manipulation to their roster of skills. According to the Boston Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), rental scams increased 64% between 2020 and 2021. Cumulative losses exceeded $350 million in 2021 alone. “The actual losses are most likely much higher,” the bureau added, “because many people are hesitant to report they were scammed.” “These are very sophisticated crime syndicates that push these scams and frauds,” Fahsel said. He explained that large syndicates of cyber criminals based in countries with low or no regulation on this behavior may run hundreds of variations on dozens of distinctly “stamped” scams, from romance scams to employment scams to rental fraud. When one strategy begins to work particularly well, the lessons from that strategy may then be applied across the board. There is a great deal of intense analytics involved. “Cyber criminals look closely for certain criteria to indicate if a certain geographical region or market is ripe for real estate scams,” Fahsel said. “When they home in on a market, they will check net domestic migration patterns, for example, to determine where a large volume of people is moving. Then, they tailor the scam to fit the mindset of the people moving into or out of those areas.” Because an individual moving into a new area may not have a clear idea about the nature of the rental landscape, they are particularly prone to falling for what Fahsel calls “too-good-to-be-true” offers. “Scammers compile data about properties, rental prices, images, and listings, then hire virtual assistants or even college students looking for part-time jobs to put together these offers and facilitate the exchange of security deposits, rent, or other funds,” he explained. This makes the entire process even muddier for law enforcement because there are often innocent parties involved in the middle of the process between the victim and the cybercriminal. “The ‘employees’ get scammed too, because they frequently never get paid,” Fahsel noted. The “salaries” for these positions are also often too good to be true; the Federal Trade Commission estimates in 2022, job seekers lost $68 million in labor, lost income, and fraudulent fees associated with fake jobs. Cutting Off Fraud at the Source Because most real estate scams are carried out by large syndicates running multiple scams and multiple variations on these scams in multiple locations around the country, identifying trends early and acting preemptively to identify and eliminate fraud related to an investment portfolio is one of the few ways to make a significant dent in the potential money, time, and opportunity lost when a real estate scam succeeds. There are multiple victims at every point in the scam, from the property owner to the “employees” and “interns” working unwittingly for the scammer to the renter hoping to establish a household in the property shown by the fraudulent listing. According to Georgia Legal Aid, an organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, which is currently a hotbed of rental fraud, the two primary types of rental listing scams actively deployed at present included renting properties that the scammer is not authorized to rent and creating property listings for properties that do not exist and soliciting deposits or application fees using those listings. However, this simple explanation barely scratches the surface when it comes to the ingenuity and brainpower cybercrime syndicates dedicate to this type of fraud, Fahsel said. “These are teams of people who wake up every day and think, ‘How do we scam these people? How can we hack the system and take advantage of it?’ If they put half the effort they do into pushing these scams into a legitimate business that would help people, they could do really well,” Fahsel explained. “Sadly, that is not the route they take, so Property Shield spends every waking moment thinking about how to stop them.” Lind added, “Our system stands out from other fraud-prevention platforms because we are using the same tools that the scammers are using to fight them. Machine learning is a critical component of our system, and we have been ‘training’ our models for a long time.” To “train” a machine learning model, the algorithm is “fed” data from which it can learn. The more training the model receives, the better it becomes at identifying threats and classifying them as such. Lind noted, “Our model is also multi-modal, meaning it can process multiple mediums of data, including text and images.” This enables Property

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