Three years ago I got together with My colleague Krishna Malyala, a REALTOR® from New Jersey, with the intention of teaming up to improve the home buying process. Krishna and I initially met through a technology-focused group called CyberProfessionals led by the late Linda Davis, a real estate legend. Krishna had become an agent over a decade ago after trying to buy a home, and like many, was frustrated with the process and lack of available answers as to the cost of living. A former VP of Innovation at Citi, Krishna assembled a team and began the process of building TLCengine, a double nomenclature of tender love and care and the true cost of living.

TLCengine was originally software you could subscribe to that allowed an agent to provide a home search to their clients, but eventually found its way into listing portals with a direct integration. Whenever a user looks at a property detail page, they would have the ability to enter their own financial information into a widget that would calculate their cost of living in that particular home using AI and predictive analytics. The above video is a full demo of the tool.

I can’t tell you how many times I get the question; “How much are utilities?”. It’s a great question and all, but I’m not exactly sure what temperature you like on average, and what the bill looks like for this particular house. Oh, and by the way, the seller never really feels like digging through old bills to provide it to you either. The cost of living tool takes the number of people in your household, looks at the square footage of the property in question, and then connects to the energy company directly to estimate what the heating and cooling looks like for you on a monthly basis. What other piece of technology does that?

Of course it’s so much more than that. Interest rates change constantly, and your income, credit score, and tax bracket are going to make your monthly financials look very different to the next home buyer. This software makes those calculations for you, and provides the basis for a buyer to make good financial decisions using your own data. Krishna set out with the mission of building cost transparency into a real estate purchase, and I was very intent on giving My clients that value.