PropRise, a San Francisco-based data analytics company, has introduced a new service named Primer designed to automate data entry for commercial real estate transactions. The platform uses artificial intelligence to extract information from deal documents, aiming to save acquisition teams several hours of manual work on each property evaluation.
Key Takeaways
- PropRise has launched Primer, an AI-powered service to automate data entry for commercial real estate deals.
- The system extracts data from documents like offering memorandums and rent rolls, populating a custom Excel file.
- Primer aims to save acquisitions teams two to four hours per transaction by delivering a completed file in under 90 minutes.
- The service is targeted at brokerage and acquisition teams that underwrite 10 or more properties monthly.
Automating the Underwriting Process
PropRise's new service, Primer, addresses a common bottleneck in real estate acquisitions: manual data entry. The system is engineered to eliminate the time-consuming task of transferring figures from various documents into spreadsheets for financial analysis, a process known as underwriting.
Users can forward relevant deal documents directly to the Primer service via email. The platform accepts a wide range of formats, including offering memorandums, self-storage rent rolls, unit-mix reports, and even exports from accounting software like QuickBooks. According to the company, handwritten notes can also be processed by the system.
Once the documents are received, Primer's artificial intelligence gets to work. It identifies and extracts key data points and then funnels this information into a proprietary Excel file. The company states that a fully populated spreadsheet is generated and returned to the user in less than 90 minutes.
Significant Time Savings
According to PropRise, the Primer service can save professional acquisition teams between two and four hours of manual data entry for every transaction they evaluate. This efficiency gain allows analysts to focus more on strategic decision-making.
Focusing Analysts on High-Value Tasks
The primary goal of Primer is to shift the workload of skilled real estate professionals away from clerical tasks and toward strategic analysis. Company CEO Jean-Michael Diei explained the motivation behind the service's creation.
“We watched talented analysts spend their evenings copying numbers from PDFs into Excel. That's not analysis, it's tedious data entry. These professionals went to top schools to evaluate deals, not to spend hours copying and pasting. Primer handles the mechanical work so they can do what they're actually good at—making investment decisions.”
By automating the data extraction process, firms can empower their teams to analyze more deals and make more informed investment choices. The service is specifically designed for high-volume clients, such as acquisition and brokerage teams that underwrite 10 or more properties each month.
Implementation and Company Background
Getting started with Primer involves a one-time setup process. PropRise works with each new client to create a proprietary, AI-compatible Excel model tailored to their specific underwriting needs. The company describes this as a “white glove” configuration and assures clients of complete confidentiality during the setup.
To mark the launch of the new service, PropRise is offering a promotional incentive. The company announced that the setup fee will be waived for the first five firms that sign up for the Primer program.
About PropRise
Founded in 2023 by Jean-Michael Diei and Matthew Krager, PropRise specializes in using artificial intelligence to assist self-storage investors. The company's platform provides data-driven insights for acquisitions and development opportunities. Its database tracks over 55,000 facilities and provides weekly rental statistic updates for more than 35,000 properties across the country.
The Growing Role of AI in Real Estate
The launch of Primer is part of a broader trend in the property technology, or "Proptech," sector. Companies are increasingly leveraging AI and machine learning to solve long-standing inefficiencies in the real estate industry. These technologies are being applied to various aspects of the business, from property search and valuation to transaction management and market analysis.
Tools that automate repetitive tasks like data entry are becoming particularly valuable. They not only increase operational speed but also reduce the potential for human error. As real estate firms face pressure to analyze deals faster and more accurately, AI-driven solutions are positioned to become a standard part of the industry's toolkit. The self-storage sector, a key focus for PropRise, is one of several commercial real estate niches where data-intensive analysis is critical for success.
