REA Group Limited (ASX: REA) has just invested in another tech platform which could be a future earner for the property technology business according to reporting by the Australian Financial Review.
You may be aware that REA Group is already invested in a number of real estate related businesses including realestate.com.au, realcommercial.com.au, Spacely, Flatmates.com.au, Smartline, Hometrack and 1form.
It has now taken up a 28% stake of 'Managed', which is an online platform designed to help property managers, tenants and landlords arrange repairs & maintenance.
With all of the large apartment buildings and unit complexes, there's an opportunity for technology to help the growing rental market become more efficient in its processes.
Through the Managed app, tenants can pay rent and request maintenance & repairs which will immediately notify the property manager and landlord. Tradies are also immediately paid by the Managed system.
How does any money get generated? It's free for the real estate agents, Managed takes a small fee of each trade job done with over $60 million of work done through the app. Over 5,000 tradies have signed up with 105 real estate agencies also using the system.
One of the people involved in Managed, Alex Whitlock, said to the AFR "We're similar to Airtasker but we take a much smaller clip of the ticket. We won't have to do a capital raising for the foreseeable future."
Foolish takeaway
The REA Group share price has gone up 53% over the past year with a number of positives going for the online portal business including the rising property prices in Sydney and Melbourne. Managed could be another string to REA Group's bow in the coming years.
