Lead-generation brokerage Triplemint is looking to break into the new development game.
The six-year-old firm, which uses predictive analytics to generate buyer and seller leads, will be applying its technology to condo sales, co-founder and CEO David Walker said.
Until now, Walker said, Triplemint has been fine-tuning the process for resales. “Now that we feel like we’ve done that, we can go to more audiences — developers being one of them,” he said.
For its debut project, Walker said the firm has been hired to market D10 Group’s Alexandra, a 25-unit building at 23-43 31st Road in Astoria. The building will be comprised of one- and two-bedroom units, with prices ranging from $625,000 to $1.3 million. Triplemint’s Gina Ko is handling sales.
Since 2013, Triplemint has been developing software that predicts who is most likely to buy and sell real estate, based on things like when the owners purchased and other factors. It also scrutinizes the searching behavior of users registered on its site to generate buyer leads.
“When we sell a listing, we can proactively drive buyers to a property,” Walker said. “We have this firehose of buyer demand essentially…. We can do the same thing for a building.”
To date, Triplemint has raised $7 million in venture capital funding. The 140-agent firm does not disclose sales volume.
But Walker said the startup has more than 300,000 users signed up to use its proprietary platform — meaning those users have entered their information, allowing Triplemint to track their search patterns. Last year, users searched 500,000 properties on the site.
Walker said the Alexandra, which is set to be complete by the end of the year, will bring Manhattan-like amenities to Astoria. The building has a doorman, fitness center and a landscaped roof deck; half of the units have private outdoor space.
D10 Group is led by Kevin and John Danzig, who previously developed a 13-unit condo called the Adriaen at 23-37 31st Road.
Developers have flocked to Queens in search of affordable land. Last year, condo plan filings reached levels not seen since the financial crisis. Between January and May 2018, developers filed 37 plans with the New York Attorney General’s office — more than the annual total for both 2016 and 2017, according to an analysis by The Real Deal.
With an influx of inventory to move, the stakes are high for developers — and competition among new development marketers is stiff. Many firms are having to do more with less. Facing pressure from lenders and investors, developers have upped expectations.
Walker says that’s where Triplemint’s machine-learning comes into play.
“They’re looking for maximum exposure,” he said, “particularly because you have a lot of inventory that’s similar, so you really need a high volume of buyers.”