Doorify MLS Partners with CubiCasa: Making Compliance Easier with Jeff Allen

Agents know how hard it is to keep up with listing compliance while juggling client demands. This new partnership is about to make one key part of the process much easier.

In this episode, I sit down with Jeff Allen, President of CubiCasa, to talk about what this new collaboration really means for Doorify MLS subscribers. Jeff shares why floor plans are no longer a luxury add-on, they’re becoming a baseline expectation. We get into how easy the CubiCasa scan process is, how it supports compliance with North Carolina Real Estate Commission standards, and why it’s a win for agents, appraisers, and consumers alike. 

Jeff also clears up some common myths about floor plan accuracy and public records. If you’ve been hesitant to try floor plans, this one’s for you.

This partnership is more than a tech integration, it’s a shift toward smarter, simpler compliance. Tune in to hear how you can start using CubiCasa today, straight from your Doorify dashboard.

Specifically, this episode highlights the following themes: 

• Why floor plans are becoming a standard expectation in real estate
• How agents, appraisers, and inspectors are all using CubiCasa in their workflow
• The real impact of easy-to-use tech for agents and MLSs

Links from this episode:

• Get to know more about Jeff Allen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffnallen
• Learn more about CubiCasa: https://www.cubi.casa
• Learn more about Doorify MLS: https://www.trianglemls.com

1ae5b43598204883b524f061d4880e6d10fca88c (for podfollow.com)

Transcript

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Allan Nielsen [00:00:08]:
Welcome, everybody, to the Doorify podcast. I'm Allan Nielsen. I'm the VP of MLS Systems, and we're here today with CubiCasa and Jeff. Welcome, Jeff.

Jeff Allen [00:00:20]:
Thanks, Allan. Glad to be here.

Allan Nielsen [00:00:22]:
Good, good. So we are quite excited at Doorify because we are just about to launch with you guys. We are very happy about having this partnership going and what it will mean for our subscribers. But before we really get into it, let us know who you are.

Jeff Allen [00:00:36]:
Thank you. My name is Jeff. I'm the president of CubiCasa. I've been involved in either the MLS world or the mortgage world, so kind of related for my entire career. Been with Kubacasa for about 3 years now and just really love what we're doing with our team and our mission to try and get a floor plan on every listing. It's an epic mission. It's a hard mission to achieve, but with great partnerships like the one we were about to launch with Doorify, you know, we're hopefully on our way and.

Allan Nielsen [00:01:04]:
I think we'll talk a little bit more about a floor plan on. On every listing. I think it's a great goal to. To have. But for our listeners who are not familiar with CubiCasa just yet, in very simple terms, what. What do you guys do?

Jeff Allen [00:01:18]:
So we're the world's easiest to use lore plan creation technology. And essentially, with the smartphone you already have in your pocket, you can walk around a property without doing any work. No training required, no extra hardware required. Takes you about five minutes. Scan the house with your smartphone, and we deliver back a floor plan. So with a technology that's that easy to use, you know, the agent themselves can use it. The agent's photographer that they work with can use it. Inspectors can use it, appraisers.

Jeff Allen [00:01:50]:
It's. It's really quite democratic. And so with that, we've kind of rallied the company around. Hey, we've got this mission. We want to. We think there should be floor plans in every listing to the benefit of consumers. And so that's really what we're focused on.

Allan Nielsen [00:02:03]:
Why do you think floor plans are becoming such an important and critical part of the listing? We have seen floor plans over the years, but not very widespread. And we're seeing it that certainly more and more of our colleagues around the country are signing up for services like with. With CubiCasa. So what do you think that that is that that kind of causes this interest for floor plans now?

Jeff Allen [00:02:26]:
I think that the consumer interest in floor plans has always been there, like NAR has been doing this survey of buyers and sellers forever, probably 10 plus years or more where they ask buyers and sellers, hey, what real estate website features are you most interested in? What adds the most value for you? And floor plans are always the single most asked for add on on a listing by consumers in that survey after the standard photos and listing data. So it always goes photos, property data, floor plans. So I think consumers have always wanted them, but historically it's been hard to produce them in the US in other countries around the world. You probably know this, Allan, I'm sure is floor plans have actually been kind of like ubiquitous on close to every listing for like maybe a decade or more. Like Finland, where our company is from, great example. They're, you know, the properties are much smaller and than they are in the US and there was this like government registry of floor plans available. So because it was so easy to create floor plans In Finland like 20 years ago, they moved towards floor plan on every listing because the consumers really see the value. So I think what's changed in the US now is the ease of use of creating it has caught up to the consumer demand for it.

Jeff Allen [00:03:45]:
Right. So our properties are larger. So it was like. And there's not a government access, you know, easy access database of all these floor plans you could just redraw. So we kind of had to start from scratch and that's where we've, we've tried to fill the void with how easy we are to use.

Allan Nielsen [00:04:00]:
Yeah, yeah. And it's true. I mean I've, I've been looking at, at homes in, in Denmark here and you can't find a listing without a floor plan. Every single listing has one.

Jeff Allen [00:04:11]:
Yeah.

Allan Nielsen [00:04:11]:
And I will say it does make it easier. So you were talking about, you know, NAR system research and there's been other research happening about floor plans. Can you talk a little bit about what the impact of a floor plan is on a listing?

Jeff Allen [00:04:27]:
Yeah, I think what we sort of feel, and I think if you ask consumers, they'll say something similar is what really is helpful about a floor plan on a listing is it's the digital asset that best explains to a consumer at a glance if this house might be the right fit for them. Right. Because you can really quickly tell if you've got a floor plan with the measurements on it. Okay, is my furniture going to fit in here? Do I like the flow or you know, are my kids bedrooms right next to the kitchen? Is there a weird layout? Like you can really, really make sense of those things and so just adds a lot of value to the consumer search experience and makes them more informed.

Allan Nielsen [00:05:06]:
Would it be going too far to say that a floor plan in that sense is almost equally as important as square footage?

Jeff Allen [00:05:15]:
Personally, I think so. I mean, square footage is really important, of course, because it's a big driver of value. But you know, to your point, it's like, how is the square footage actually laid out and usable? You know, you could have two houses that are both 2,000 square feet and if the layout of one is, you know, has tons of functional obsolescence and weird stuff going on in it, that's going to get way less of a sales price than one that has a better, more usable flow.

Allan Nielsen [00:05:43]:
So with Glorify, like with any other mls, we have a good mix of subscribers. We have sales agents, we have property managers, we have appraisers, inspectors, and so on and so forth. Could you talk a little bit about how floor plans can benefit the these different segments of our subscribership?

Jeff Allen [00:06:01]:
Yes. So I think for agents it's pretty obvious, you know, you, you can generate an asset that you can use to market the listing, reduce the time on market, increase the flow of informed buyers that you're showings who already know the place and know, hey, this is a great fit for me. For inspectors, we actually do see a decent amount of usage from inspectors. We track customer types. When people sign up, we ask people to identify what kind of user they are. And we actually have a, a pretty good number of inspectors that sign up, which is great. And what we've heard from them is often what they're using it for is to a, validate the square footage so that they can kind of get a sense for the kind of the, the flow of the place. But then b, they're actually making it more of like a value added service that they offer to their customers.

Jeff Allen [00:06:47]:
So in addition to my inspection report, I'm going to give you a floor plan and that sort of thing. And then appraisers, actually we have a really good number of appraisers using us for their own assignments to do appraisals. Primarily the time savings, especially on larger properties that are more complex in terms of maybe they've got weird angles or like lots of stuff you have to hand measure that can be really challenging. So appraisers are mostly using us for the time savings in their reports.

Allan Nielsen [00:07:17]:
Yeah, makes a lot of sense. And you know, we have talked with our subscribers and all segments of them about floor plans in leading up to this agreement and us focusing more on bringing floor plans into the listing compilation. And every now and then there's some skeptics out there that question the accuracy and stuff like that. Could you maybe address some of the myths or misunderstandings that are out there about technology like you guys are using?

Jeff Allen [00:07:50]:
Yeah, totally. I think the first misperception out there amongst agents that is the hardest to move them off of, but is the most important misperception out there related to floor plans is that public records is not bible truth. Okay. If public records says it's 2,500 square feet, you have no idea when that measurement took place. You don't know who did the measurement, what method they used, did they use ANSI standards? Does it align to the measurement requirements of, you know, different standards that are out there? So it's. We often have to educate folks on like just because public records says 2500 square feet and the Kumba Casa technology produced, floor plan generated, you know, 2,600 square feet, it doesn't mean, you know, we're wrong. Right. You, if anything, we're able to provide a visual audit and way to calculate back how we got to 2,600.

Jeff Allen [00:08:44]:
And you can't get that from public records. So that's certainly one misperception just to add to that.

Allan Nielsen [00:08:50]:
Yeah, right. Because that's one of those things with the real estate commission that we have in North Carolina. Right. They're very precise in what their expectations are in terms of square footage. And certainly public records is not really an approved way of getting that data. And from our point of view, and one of the reasons why we love to be engaging with you guys is that this will actually help agents be more compliant.

Jeff Allen [00:09:15]:
Yes.

Allan Nielsen [00:09:16]:
So which is, which is one of our strategic objectives as well.

Jeff Allen [00:09:20]:
Yeah, exactly. And the key is that we've got the visual proof and calculation of how we arrived at our number. And that number is aligned to the NC REC requirements. Right. We think of it as being like the equivalent of using us to satisfy that need is equivalent to hiring a professional appraiser to measure. Now the appraiser would certainly tell you that there's a, you know, benefits of having IT hand measured and validated and we wouldn't try to pretend that there's not. But when you're talking about the NC REC requirements, we meet those. We actually met with NC REC probably two years ago with their IT director just understood our, our product and how it worked and that prompted them to send out a memo.

Jeff Allen [00:10:04]:
Again, I think it was about two years ago where they kind of clarified for the whole state, you can use technology to support this requirement.

Allan Nielsen [00:10:12]:
Yeah, I remember that. And that was a great indicator for us to try to move a little bit forward. The fact that it still took two years is a different story. But I'm glad that we are finally here where we are about to launch.

Jeff Allen [00:10:25]:
Yeah.

Allan Nielsen [00:10:26]:
So you talked a little bit about one of the reasons why it is becoming more popular is because it's easier to use. And I think you addressed a little bit or talked a little bit on this. But for your fire subscriber who wants to use CubiCasa for the first time, what's the experience like for them? What's the process for them as they get started with that?

Jeff Allen [00:10:47]:
It's really easy. We're available in the Apple and Google Play app stores. So if you search Kubukasa, you'll find us. And you simply download the app, create an account and then if you're an agent or an appraiser, again we ask your customer type. When you sign up, you then are presented with the option of affiliating yourself to a local mls. And Doorify is one of the partnered mls. It's. That appears so, yeah.

Jeff Allen [00:11:12]:
Essentially it's super simple. By downloading the app, creating an account and affiliating yourself to Doorify, then you would get kind of the extra benefits and features that we have through our partnership with Doorify.

Allan Nielsen [00:11:26]:
Right. So how easy is CubiCasa to use for whether it's an agent, appraiser or photographer? Do they need any special equipment to, to. To do this? Do they need to take any extensive training or what's the process?

Jeff Allen [00:11:42]:
No, it is not hard and I don't need training. So we definitely offer webinars and we have all sorts of inflow training and advice. But the experience we have is that really anyone can do it. You don't need a tripod, you don't need to buy like a 360 camera and you don't need training. It's just as simple as you download the app, press record to start scanning and walk and just scan what you see and go through the whole house. So it is really, it's even easy enough that homeowners themselves can do it in half.

Allan Nielsen [00:12:14]:
Yeah. And when, when I was trying it, it, it even helps you as you walk the property. It will tell you if you're too close and stuff like that. And I really liked how, how it did that. And another thing, I know you, you, you touched on this, but I think it's, it's worth stating this Again, so what is it about CubiCasa that make it accurate and kind of live up to the standards? And like we talked about the NC REC and their requirements, what is it about Koobicasa that makes that possible?

Jeff Allen [00:12:43]:
So first and foremost, even though our product is AI generated, so we use really advanced proprietary AI algorithms to convert the scan content into the floor plan. We also have a QA process to make sure that all the walls connect, things seem roughly aligned, things are correctly placed. And that's like our quality standard is like we, we hold ourselves to a really high standard that the output is delivered in a way that we believe best represents the property. So that's number one. Number two, we do generate an optional product that provides the kind of like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac approved ANSI appraisal GLA calculation and that's automatically generated from the stand so you don't have to think about, hey, is this supposed to be square footage or not? For those who don't know, ANSI is this very specific measurement standard that is defined, defines what is the living area and what is non living area. And we had to build that in collaboration actually with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to support some of our appraisal customers. And that is what we would recommend using for the NC REC requirements because it shows tons of these calculations of like, okay, this room is living area and here's why this room is not, and here's why not. Right.

Jeff Allen [00:14:03]:
And if you disagree with the calculations or you think they came out wrong, you can always edit and adjust. Right. So it gives you a lot of tools to fulfill that requirement.

Allan Nielsen [00:14:12]:
Okay, so that's interesting. So there is actually an interface where an appraiser or an agent can go in and say, well, this is actually not heated, it should not be included that functionality.

Jeff Allen [00:14:23]:
That's exactly right. So yeah, like once you complete the floor plan, you can go into our system and we have like an editing tool where you have those controls.

Allan Nielsen [00:14:32]:
Wonderful. So you were mentioning that getting those measurements and DLA and that stuff is an add on. So maybe we should talk about the different services that you guys provide. And so with Doorify, every agent will be able to create an unlimited amount of listing floor plans. Or is there a better term for, for those.

Jeff Allen [00:14:54]:
I think that's perfect. Yeah, just like the black and. Black and white and visual. Yes.

Allan Nielsen [00:14:57]:
Yeah, no measurements, just the outline and that stuff. So that will be part of the subscription to Doorify because of the agreement that we have with you guys. From there they can upgrade to additional functionality Tell us a little bit about those levels.

Jeff Allen [00:15:14]:
Yeah, the free floor plan. Just if you want a visual for your listing, totally free, and we believe in the idea that that can just be used on a listing. If you just want it for marketing purposes, which honest, for a lot of folks is enough, then we have optional upgrades. So our plus package, which you select at the time of ordering if you want the free version or the plus version. The plus version comes with a lot more detail. We actually will place all the fixtures, we'll add room measurements, we'll add the square footage calculations that you can turn on or off. So there's just a lot more functionality to the floor plan. And it also comes with our virtual tour product where you can upload photos to our system and we'll automatically generate a virtual tour with an interactive floor plan showing kind of where the photos are on the floor plan.

Jeff Allen [00:15:59]:
So that's a cool product. And then optionally, the. Is that GLA that I mentioned? That's a separate, separate add on and that's $15. And so is the plus floor plan that I, that I mentioned. The GLA can be ordered from the free product. So, you know, if you wanted that GLA floor plan, you can do that for that $15, basically.

Allan Nielsen [00:16:19]:
Any additional work for the agent?

Jeff Allen [00:16:21]:
No.

Allan Nielsen [00:16:22]:
Nope. Fantastic.

Jeff Allen [00:16:23]:
Same same scan that you do for the free listing version. It's just when you're done, you just say, give me the gla.

Allan Nielsen [00:16:30]:
Wonderful. It sounds easy. We. We love easy at Doorify.

Jeff Allen [00:16:34]:
Yes.

Allan Nielsen [00:16:36]:
So we get around to conferences and as a Doorify staff person, we, we take that opportunity to toggle to other mlss and get a feel for what they're doing. And obviously you guys have contracted with a bunch of mlss at this point. What's some of the feedback that you're getting from these mlss and importantly maybe their subscribers?

Jeff Allen [00:17:00]:
Yeah, yeah. So I think feedback from the MLSS is great. I think our team tries to work really hard to provide a lot of support to the mlss. We provide marketing content, webinar material, all sorts of stuff. So that's been great. But yeah, to your point, more importantly from the subscribers, what we hear frequently is that we are the partnership for an MLS that agents bring up the most as opposed to some of the other tools that an MLS might offer because it's. We're a fun product to use. It's kind of like magic when you use it.

Jeff Allen [00:17:30]:
You kind of, as you do a scan, you're thinking like, I have no idea. This is not going to work. There's no reason this is going to work, but then it does. But I think, you know, agents are kind of, when they have that experience, they like to talk about it, so it's been great.

Allan Nielsen [00:17:43]:
And also in our conversations with other MLs we're hearing that some of them have taken the next step, which is to require floor plans on listings. So for those MLS's that are doing that, I think we are two, three, as far as I know of that is taking that step. What are you hearing from them? And in those conversations about whether to take that next step, what are some of the pushback that you have heard?

Jeff Allen [00:18:09]:
MLSs are often hesitant to implement anything as a standard, and understandably so I think some of the pushback is, you know, brokers say, well, you know, I already do floor plans, so why would you, you know, require my competitor to do the same thing when it's. It's a way that I, you know, I'm choosing to set myself apart. So that's certainly a pushback we hear from. From those in the brokerage community. I think ultimately for the MLs that have pursued it, they've been able to get those folks comfortable and essentially say, like, look, we want the MLS strategically to be the central source of critical information for the market. And floor plans, while they are fantastic, serve really more of a purpose to make the consumer more educated and the listing content more standardized and robust than it does for you to steal business from another broker because you offer a floor plan. It's not really like a really major competitive driver for a broker. So, you know, like, I don't think a consumer is going to choose to work with one broker because they offer floor plans.

Jeff Allen [00:19:13]:
I hate to say it. So really the value is like, how do we make the MLS and the brokerage rules around the MLS as robust as possible to deliver value to the consumer?

Allan Nielsen [00:19:24]:
I think it would reflect very well on the industry as a whole, the easier we make it for the consumer. And certainly as a buyer, having that floor plan makes the process easier. And, you know, for the agent representing the buyers, this can save them a ton of time because it could be a deciding factor on whether to actually go see a property or not.

Jeff Allen [00:19:47]:
Right, Exactly.

Allan Nielsen [00:19:48]:
I think there's huge, huge value in that. Now Doorify. We're not quite ready to take that step yet, so it will be understood when we launch, but I think it's definitely a conversation that we will be had and we can't wait to kind of see how this will impact the number of floor plans. On our listings, we obviously expect a significant increase there. So if again, we have many agents that have never done floor plans, we see that on our listings. Obviously getting into an agreement with you guys and making this more readily available for agents is a good reason for them to try it out. But why else? Why should agents start using floor plans?

Jeff Allen [00:20:35]:
Number one, it is maybe that one of the easiest ways to show value to the consumer. Right. You know, especially in kind of current state in the industry, I think agents really need to do a lot of work, more so than they did, you know, 15, 20 years ago, to really prove their value and the relevance in the transaction. And so really one of the easiest ways to do it is not only to get a floor plan, but to pay for a professional photographer to do your listing shoot. And we have a ton of photographers that already use us and you can get a floor plan through them too. Right. But either doing the floor plan yourself or having a photographer do professional photography the way the high quality photographer does and have them include a floor plan, again, it's like it's a no brainer way to, to show especially a seller. I do more than the other agents.

Jeff Allen [00:21:27]:
You know, somebody who's an agent who does their own like cell phone photos on an Android phone and they got them weird angles and they don't do a floor plan, that agent has to do a lot more harder proving of value and relevance than the agent who takes the better route.

Allan Nielsen [00:21:43]:
Yeah. And I think, you know, one thing we hear from agents sometimes is that I'm too busy. I can't start worrying about a new product. So they don't. I think CubiCasa is such a good product that just try it out. Right? Just give it a shot and very quickly I think they will realize the value. So as we launch CubiCasa here, we will obviously have a nice CubiCasa tile on our dashboard. What should the user expect once they click on that tile?

Jeff Allen [00:22:15]:
So we've created a Doorify specific landing page connected to that tile that provides a ton of information about the product, how it works, the special benefits and discounts that Doorify subscribers get, which is the 25% off all of our products, and then just quick, easy instructions for how to download the app. So you should have everything you need there to get started. There's also a list of some photographers in the market who use our product so you can find access to photographers if you use a professional.

Allan Nielsen [00:22:45]:
I think we're getting to the end here, Jeff. So I want to give you the last opportunity here to just. If you should sum it all up, why should agents care about this agreement we have with you guys and FOIL plans?

Jeff Allen [00:22:57]:
I think it's just another example of Doorify creating value for their subscribers, number one. But number two, it's just like it is one of the easiest things you can do to help the consumer and prove your value. So give it a shot. You'll be blown away. I think the word that a lot of people use when they first use it is magic. So I'd encourage you to just give it a shot.

Allan Nielsen [00:23:20]:
Wonderful. And we will have some launch events. We will have a product showcase where there will actually be demos and stuff like that taking place. That will come in later this month. And in January we will have a session there as well. So for everybody, please make sure you join in for for that again. We are very excited about finally bringing CubiCasa to our dashboard. So look forward to this collaboration, Jeff, and thank you so much for joining us for this podcast.

Jeff Allen [00:23:50]:
Thanks, Allan. Great being here today and it's awesome working with the Doorify team.