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New York-based brokerage Douglas Elliman Realty is launching a complimentary personal assistant platform to help guide homebuyers through the move-in process for a more streamlined, high-touch experience, the company informed Inman.
Howard Lorber | Douglas Elliman
The new platform “Elliman Showroom” is powered by MoveEasy, a portfolio company by Douglas Elliman Inc.’s proptech investment arm, New Valley Ventures. Elliman Showroom, offered at no additional charge to Douglas Elliman homebuyers, will combine the services of a live personal assistant with a dashboard of recommended vendors to help clients with the move-in process including shopping around for things like internet, home insurance or home security and connecting with moving companies, designers or contractors.
Douglas Elliman agents will be able to invite their clients to Elliman Showroom through a personalized link. The client’s designated personal assistant will not only provide homebuyers with the resources to schedule their own home services, but will also schedule and/or execute those services for the client when possible, the brokerage’s CEO Scott Durkin clarified to Inman via email.
“Moving into a new home is one of the most exciting parts of the real estate journey, but it can also be overwhelming,” Howard M. Lorber, executive chairman of Douglas Elliman, said in a statement. “We created Elliman Showroom to make the experience as seamless and trouble-free as possible for our clients and customers.”
Screenshot of the Elliman Showroom dashboard | Douglas Elliman Realty
New Valley Ventures was launched in March 2021 by Douglas Elliman’s former parent company, Vector Group. Douglas Elliman spun off from Vector Group and became a publicly-traded company in December 2021.
Scott Durkin | Douglas Elliman
“The best real estate professionals understand that helping a client buy a new home is often when the real work — and joy — of being an agent truly begins,” Durkin said in a statement. “Elliman Showroom enables clients to stay in touch with their agents and continue to tap their knowledge, networks, and trusted guidance long after closing. It’s just another way we enable our agents to continue to build their businesses.”
The platform is the most recent in a line of tech advancements the brokerage has created to help agents provide more value in their businesses. In May 2021, Douglas Elliman launched a more agent-focused tool called “MyDouglas,” which integrated all of the brokerage’s agent resources into one place in the cloud.
Dan Sachar | New Valley Ventures
“Real estate is fundamentally about relationships built on trust and experience,” Dan Sachar, vice president of enterprise innovation at Douglas Elliman Inc. and managing director of New Valley Ventures, said in a statement. “Elliman Showroom exemplifies the extent to which digital tools and technologies can make interactions between agents and clients not only more efficient, but also more human.”
The new platform will become available to consumers, via an invite from their Douglas Elliman agent, nationally, as of Tuesday.
Update: This story was updated after publishing with additional details about how Elliman Showroom’s personal assistant services work and when they would be available to consumers.
