Photo courtesy of Anshul Ruparell.
In a world where technological advancements are pervasive in many businesses, it’s shocking that the real estate industry still lags behind. Navigating away from this sea of complex and unchanging strategies, Anshul Ruparell’s Properly Inc. stands out, championing technology as a solution to making waves. An example of what the future of real estate can bring us, Properly promotes innovative ways to guide homebuyers to their future havens without the typical stress and confusion that comes with the process.
We sat with Ruparell to learn more about his real estate phenomenon that has even reeled in the hosts of Property Brothers, Drew and Jonathan Scott.
What inspired you to launch Properly Inc.?
I had a very personal connection to the industry and discovered a problem that nobody else was really solving — buying or selling a home is one of the most significant milestones in your life. Yet, the process remains stressful, confusing, and filled with friction. Things have been done the same way for decades, and there seems to be a really compelling opportunity to modernize and redesign the real estate process in a way that actually works for Canadians. So, I moved back to Toronto from New York and partnered with my co-founders Craig [Dunk] and Sheldon [McCormick], and we set out to create a more customer-centric real estate industry.
What does your company do and how is it changing the real estate market?
You can use our intuitive and free online tools to search for a home or track your home value, like [how] you would track the value of your stock portfolio. Once you’re ready to buy and sell, we’ll connect you with a team of experts — including top-rated real estate agents — to help you manage the purchase and sale.
With Properly, you aren’t just working with one person who’s doing everything. You have access to a team of specialists across all aspects of the buying and selling process, from home valuations to touring, negotiations, staging, and marketing, all at your disposal. You can also leverage our innovative products like a product called Sale Assurance that lets you unlock your home equity before you’ve actually sold. You can buy, move, and then sell. Those are the types of services clients can’t access anywhere else.
What are some of the challenges you’ve overcome in starting your own company?
I think building a company requires pretty thick skin. Every day is filled with a mix of euphoria and existential dread. I think that when you’re working to transform an industry, it means you’re upending the status quo. Today, everybody thinks that what Properly is doing is so obvious and makes total sense, but when we were starting out, most people doubted us. We heard a lot more nos than yeses in the early days, so it takes quite a bit of perseverance and perhaps a bit of naïveté to actually break through that.
What would you say are your greatest accomplishments as a leader?
It’s incredibly rewarding to see what was once this seedling of an idea have an impact on the lives of real people, of real Canadians, at scale. It’s really exciting and rewarding, and [it] feels like a big accomplishment.
But when I reflect back on the last four years of building Properly, to be honest, most of the things I’m proud of involve our team and the people I have a chance to work with.
Investing in and building a resilient and intentional culture has paid off quite meaningfully as we’ve scaled. It’s been amazing to see what can be built with people who have a similar set of values when they come together. Growing a team of smart, passionate, and motivated people that I learn from every single day is really what gets me up in the morning.
Tashon Daley | Staff Writer
