Brokers Testing Bricks-and-Clicks Technology for New Deals

A number of leading Austin commercial brokerage firms have agreed to list space with RealCentric, a company that uses the “power, reach and speed” of the Internet to lease space, GlobeSt.com has learned.

Tom Stacy, president of T. Stacy and Associates Inc., which owns and manages one of the largest portfolios of office space in Austin, is one of the latest to sign with RealCentric.”RealCentric’s Web site is a powerful marketing tool that we couldn’t afford to create on our own,” Stacy says. “It’s something that we have wanted to do for a long time. The virtual tours will save a lot of time. It will make the process much more efficient.”

Headquartered in Los Gatos, CA., RealCentric connects businesses to property owners through its Web site, enabling businesses to find space quickly and property owners to get a direct line to their market.

The RealCentric site supplies businesses with the tools necessary to find, lease, outfit and operate a space. The commercial property owner then can provide information about multiple properties in key cities, including virtual tours. Property owners and brokers are able to deal with customers who not only have actively entered the market, but also have identified the exact properties to meet their needs.

In addition to state-of-the-art technology and virtual tours, Dick Anderson, partner of Hill Partners, anticipates saving time with RealCentric. “In the current process, we advertise in trade publications and distribute fliers just to let people know that space is available,” explains Anderson. “Then it takes two or three phone calls to get the information to the potential tenant. With RealCentric, the information is delivered to the tenant directly.”

RealCentric currently links business tenants with suppliers or representatives of space including Trammell Crow, CarrAmerica, Colliers Oxford Commercial, Endeavor Real Estate Group and Lincoln Property.