In our latest real estate tech interview, I’m talking to Steven Senter of ReelAgent. Without further adieu, here’s a bit more from his own mouth…

What do you do?

I am the founder of ReelAgent.com, a recently launched online profile database featuring Real Estate Agents which is filterable upon geographic location, Agent specialties/experience, and possibly most important… Agent personality.  How we make these profiles usable and valuable is within the referral platform we have created around them.  Our system allows one Agent to search (or invite) and evaluate local Agents in a given target area.  Once located, the ability to connect and create a referral agreement is achievable all within the application.

Why do you do what you do?

We have a simple conviction that people do business with people they know, like, and trust.  To increase their businesses, Agents need to sell themselves first, their services and expertise second.  This includes ‘selling’ to other Agents.  In an industry where it seems like so many new tools are trying to replace or remove Agents from the process, we believe software can’t replace and impact the real estate transaction more than the knowledge and service offered by a hyper local Agent with the skills and experience necessary to serve the particular client.  Bottom line, the value IS the Agent.  NAR reports only 5% of all transactions in the US are the result of Agent to Agent referrals.  Considering 89% of all transactions involve an Agent, only 5% is pretty embarrassing and the process stands to be overhauled.

What are you most excited about right now?

The use of video in real estate.  Not only in property listings and community tours, but in the Agents themselves.  It is written and if true, 1 minute of video is worth 1.8 billion words, then the industry could be warming up to a massive shift from the antiquated text based platforms to new and exciting video based ones.

What’s next for you?

We are remaining focused on listening to our early customer’s feedback on ReelAgent.  We subscribe to Jeff Bezos’s direction to build a great product before worrying about the marketing of it.  Our job is to build a great product, one that truly helps the Real Estate Agent make more money.  As for the in between times, I personally am looking forward this year to taking the Airstream to picturesque locations while enjoying some of the incredible, little known areas of this great country.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

For me, I am big supporter of local and national food banks.  And of course these come in all shapes and sizes.  I personally like Feed MY Starving Children because, not only are there efforts in place to supply food, but also efforts in terms of local educational programs and new commerce opportunities to help ease the situation.

Thanks to Steven for sharing his motivations and current projects. If you’re interested in connecting with him further, you can find him on Oh Hey World and LinkedIn.

We’ll be featuring other real estate tech entrepreneurs in the coming weeks. If you are an entrepreneur in the real estate vertical (past or present), and want to be profiled, please follow the steps outlined here. Remember, you can always discover other people in the Geek Estate community here.