Stop Managing Rentals With Spreadsheets: AI Automation for Real Estate Investors

Richard Eaton (00:00)

this is probably one of the best times to do it because technology is changing. And I believe as AI keeps progressing, so will homes. Homes are becoming more digitized. And so we constructed Slicktify to address those challenges. So as the market is gonna grow, so will Slicktify, because we’ve already built the back end algorithm to understand smart homes, sensors, IoT technology.

so we’ve already been pretty much baking that cake so that way we’re prepared for the future.

Scott Bursey (01:57)

Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros Podcast powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Scott Bursey. Glad you’re with us. And today we’re thrilled to be joined by Richard Eaton, an innovative real estate investor who has entered the flipping and short term rental space just over two years ago. Recognizing the pain points of fragmented tools, Richard developed Slicktify, a cutting edge SaaS operation intelligence platform designed to replace spreadsheets and simplify property management at scale. Listeners, you can expect to learn how automating rent collection, bill payments, and asset oversight can streamline operations and unleash portfolio growth. Richard, welcome to the show.

Richard Eaton (02:39)

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Scott Bursey (02:40)

It is great having you here and to help our listeners get up to speed. Please give us the ninety second highlight reel of how your career ignited and where you’re pouring your fuel now.

Richard Eaton (02:49)

So I started on my career in the cybersecurity industry, IT, with application development for other companies that I’ve worked for in the past. about two years ago, I was getting into short term rentals, as you said, and flips, and discovered that there was a operational gap in that space, and I began storyboarding an application that today we call Slicktify.

Scott Bursey (03:09)

Thank you for sharing that background with us. And Richard, what really caught my attention about you was the way you’ve been able to transition from hands-on flipping and short-term rentals into building a software platform that eliminates messy spreadsheets for real estate operators. And expanding on that, curious to know, what do you consider Slicktify’s biggest operational strength in helping property managers eliminate fragmented spreadsheets?

Richard Eaton (03:35)

The biggest thing is giving back people time, analytical dashboards that show you what needs your attention, and also your renters or people in your short-term rentals being able to send you notifications in lifetime. We’re also building in AI that will also help you understand the data that you have.

Scott Bursey (03:53)

Appreciate you breaking that down for us and intrigued to find out what has been the most challenging bottleneck while preparing Slicktify for its upcoming deployment into the Apple marketplace?

Richard Eaton (04:04)

that’s a good question. Apple has certain policies that you have to meet. So they have what’s called TestFlight. And when we were in TestFlight, we’ve actually had to go through 38 iterations of our code before we can submit it to the approvers to approve the app. And right now we are already in that stage and we’re waiting for their approval.

Scott Bursey (04:24)

What steps are you taking specifically to ensure seamless user onboarding despite that technical hurdle?

Richard Eaton (04:31)

So we have a universal import tool. So if you have a spreadsheet or coming from another software, we have a universal import tool that will import that spreadsheet and populate the data within the platform. very good API that we’ve developed that will also help get that data in.

Scott Bursey (04:48)

Looking at your journey, Richard, where do you see the largest growth opportunity once your new features for rent collection and bill payments go live?

Richard Eaton (04:57)

So right now, we’re a brand new company. The web browser has been live for about 90 days. So we are looking for five individuals to join our founder program that can help actually me and my developer understand how to break the tool and give us feedback on where we need to go. Right now we have a lot of the integrations that you would expect for collecting rent, bill pay, and all though all of those things. and we are also working with an agentic AI provider. So if you are a short-term rental owner that we’ll say you own 800 homes and you’re paying 4,000 bills a month, that could be pretty taxing on a person. So we are developing this agentic AI checkout process so that way all of that can be automated. And ultimately this gives an operator back time.

Scott Bursey (06:30)

How do you plan to expand those features as asset management needs evolve over time?

Richard Eaton (06:36)

So our backend algorithm is already designed for all of that. as I said, I own a few homes and I own a pizza franchise. So when we were building the algorithm for the problems I was experiencing, what we didn’t realize is that when we were done kind of baking the cake, the program ended up solving a lot more problems than we expected. So we started off with a small idea. And it we had that snowball effect and now the application solves a much greater problem than we first expected.

Scott Bursey (07:04)

Love seeing where the journey is heading. And taking a step back, what do you see as the biggest threat or obstacle when convincing traditional investors to move away from legacy software tools?

Richard Eaton (07:17)

there are other tools out there and we are just getting into the industry. But the thing is is I’m not just I didn’t build this from a theory. I built this from a problem I was experiencing. And so talking through to other operators, going to seminars and hearing what people with their pain points and what they were experiencing, took all of those notes down. And as I was building Slicktify, we took into account all of those things that we heard, and we want to give operators what they ask for.

Scott Bursey (07:44)

How is Slicktify proactively mitigating those security and adoption risks heads on?

Richard Eaton (07:49)

I’ve been in the IT industry for roughly 30 years in the cybersecurity industry for 16. And so we have identified, Slicktify what it is. We have reduced our attack surface profile by working with the major integrators in the market, like Stripe and Plaid. and so by reducing our attack surface profile, we have made Slicktify a pretty well tool. I’m not gonna sit here and say that no application is unhackable, but if Slicktify was hacked, we are taking full responsibility and doing everything we can to understand what happened and further reduce that profile. We do monitor the program and consistently making iterations to the code to make sure that we stay abreast with the market.

Scott Bursey (08:32)

Appreciate that, Richard. And with everything you’re building, what internal advantage enables Slicktify to adapt faster than older market incumbents?

Richard Eaton (08:41)

It’s a SaaS platform. and it’s something that I’m very versed with being in IT myself for, as many years as I have been. You know, Fortune 1000. So I’ve taken everything that I’learned and developed a good pipeline so that way updates come fast.

Scott Bursey (08:58)

What advice do you have for operators operators wanting to modernize their tech stack right now?

Richard Eaton (09:46)

this is a the probably one of the best times to do it because technology is changing. And I believe as AI keeps progressing, so will homes. Homes are becoming more digitized. And so we constructed Slicktify to address those challenges. So as the market is gonna grow, so will Slicktify, because we’ve already built the back end algorithm to understand smart homes, sensors, IoT technology. so we’ve already been pretty much baking that cake so that way we’re prepared for the future.

Scott Bursey (10:12)

For our listeners, what is the very first thing that you would want them to know about Slicktify?

Richard Eaton (10:18)

First off, it’s gonna give you back time. we have analytical dashboards that are bubbling up what’s most important. and it gives their renters and and tenants a quick way of reporting problems. And if you’re at dinner, and you have the app on your phone, there’s no need to run back to your house to get on your laptop, you’re gonna see the problem on your phone and you’re gonna read about it respond in lifetime.

Scott Bursey (10:39)

That’s really fascinating. And Richard, if you could take us down the path of what does your professional network look like right now?

Richard Eaton (10:46)

So my professional network mainly consists of people in the IT industry around cybersecurity. I’ve spent most of my life in IT and working for Fortune 10. so most of my network are people who are, we’re we’re the computer geeks.

Scott Bursey (11:02)

Have you found that being in the right room with the like minded individuals has been beneficial to your career over the years?

Richard Eaton (11:11)

being in the right room has been always v very important and networking with the right people has also been a a key advantage.

Scott Bursey (11:17)

And diving into the core a bit, what operational shift yields the highest return for real estate investors aiming to scale asset management without burning out?

Richard Eaton (11:28)

it’s really understanding what you’re getting into. I have gotten into a flip once and we had the inspection done, we had everything done and once we were into the flip for about 90 days, the and this was on a Pier and Beam. all of the plumbing started going bad. And we had another plumber come in go underneath the house and check out all all the plumbing. And they told us that the glue that was used was wrong. and so, having an operational cushion will always help an operator get into a situation that is unforeseen and allow them to navigate correctly.

Scott Bursey (12:00)

Pure wisdom right there. And Richard, you have given us a lot of wisdom when it comes to Slicktify here today. Is there any additional words that you could leave with our listeners?

Richard Eaton (12:11)

as I mentioned, we’re we have a founder program. We’re working to get five people into the program. and I would exclusively be helping them get their assets into the tool. And what we’re looking for is people to help us, kick it around, break it, tell us what’s working, what what’s not, so that way, we know which way we need to go.

Scott Bursey (12:27)

Thank you for that, Richard. And for those of our listeners that want to keep this conversation moving, stay in your lane or collaborate with you on future deals, what is the best way for them to reach you?

Richard Eaton (12:36)

It would probably be my email first, which is richard@slicktify.com

Scott Bursey (12:41)

Richard, thank you so much for joining us today on the Real Estate Pros Podcast.

Richard Eaton (12:45)

you’re welcome. Thank you.

Scott Bursey (12:47)

It’s been a pleasure. And to our listeners, we appreciate you. If you receive value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ll be filling your tanks with a lineup of elite guest, just like Richard Eaton, who are accelerating and setting the pace for the rest of the industry. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.