For many, purchasing real estate is one of the biggest decisions they will make in their lifetime.

It goes without saying that you want as much information and data as possible when making the decision to buy.

When Josh Fraser, CEO and founder of Kelowna tech startup Data Nerds, went to purchase his first house he noticed a surprising lack of data was available to him.

“I had worked for Carfax in the past and realized that an in-depth online database for consumers didn't exist for real estate,” said Fraser.

“Real estate data and analytics seemed to be an area with a big lag in the industry and it was ripe for more and improved technology.”

For someone with an expertise in analytical data, it was an issue to trust a realtor to help research the purchase of a half million dollar house without the proper data offering the finer details of a property.

To fill this information gap, Fraser started Data Nerds and created Estated which is an online real estate data base similar to CarFax for property buyers.

Photo Credit: Contributed.

“Data Nerds allows people to research all kinds of information regarding a property. Data on property taxes, past assessments, previous homeowners, any titles pulled on the house, lending debt, mortgage information, neighbourhood safety score or even just how far it is to the closest Whole Foods and Starbucks,” explained Fraser.

Having access to in-depth data without dealing with a realtor has proved to be a popular resource in the real estate world, although the program is only currently available in America.

“When it comes to Canada, data is a lot tighter regarding the parameters that you have to follow when you’re dealing data and reselling it to consumers,” explained Fraser.

“These parameters have led us to avoid the Canadian market due to the fact that we think there would be more legal issues and also looking at the population difference and how much technology is used in America compared to Canada would make it more difficult.”

The global nature of the internet is what allows Data Nerds' property program to flourish in the United States while being based on Leon Avenue in Kelowna.

Photo Credit: Contributed.

“I grew up in Edmonton and then in 2014 I decided to move on from the previous company I was at. I drove up to Kelowna just to see what it was like and never ended up leaving,” laughed Fraser.

“It was really random that I ended up here, but it doesn't feel like an accident. Accelerate Okanagan was a great resource for Data Nerds and the lifestyle factor in Kelowna has become an excellent perk for our recruiting efforts.”

In a few short years, Data Nerds has already seen several successes. In 2017 they were accepted into Boulder, Colorado’s prestigious Tech Stars, which is one of the biggest accelerators in the world and only accepts 1% of the companies that apply.

Being accepted into Tech Stars has been the company's greatest success to date, but also growing a technology company in Kelowna, which is a hard thing to do, has been very rewarding for us." 

For young entrepreneurs, Fraser's advice is to trust your intuition, follow your inspiration and to ask for advice from peers when needed.