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RealDesk.AI, Zūm Rails digitize real estate payments

Tuesday, November 26, 2024 — 12:16:45 (EST)

MONTREAL, Quebec and MIAMI, Florida (December 4, 2024) – RealDesk.AI (formerly Datz Solutions) and Zūm Rails today announced their work to equip Canadian real estate brokerages including RE/MAX, Century 21 and Royal LePage with their own payment processing capabilities. RealDesk's real estate management platform provides a digital alternative to the manual, paper-heavy processes that dominate the home buying and selling process, including contracts, reporting and agent/broker communications. Working with Zūm Rails, the company will now add payment processing to these capabilities, enabling brokers to power the entire transaction lifecycle themselves and speed up the payment process by as much as 80%.

With digital payments now making up the vast majority (86%) of total payment volume in Canada, real estate brokerages are working to transform their internal operations to meet this demand. Doing so has traditionally required working with multiple third parties payment providers, such as card companies, banks and wire services, depending on the type of payment and where it’s going. This means integrating and managing multiple digital payment tools to facilitate various transactions from deposits to closing costs, agent commissions and legal fees. The result is a heavily fragmented process that requires significant administrative oversight.

Working with Zūm Rails, RealDesk is now embedding payments into its AI-powered transaction management platform that brokerages including RE/MAX, Century 21 and Royal LePage are already using for their day-to-day operations. Rather than working with various third parties to request and process deposits, rental payments, agent commissions, brokerage fees, refunds, closing funds and more, brokers can now process all of these transactions themselves directly in the RealDesk platform. Zūm Rails’ omni-rail capabilities additionally mean that brokerages can offer a variety of digital, real-time payment options including Visa, Mastercard WEB Debit, Interac or PayPal for each transaction, depending on the receiver’s preference.

“Real estate brokerages have struggled for too long with disconnected, manual payment processes,” said Marc Sykes, CEO and founder of RealDesk. “They deserve a seamless, automated solution. By partnering with Zũm Rails, we’re accelerating and streamlining transactions, freeing brokers to focus on what matters most—growing their business and serving clients.”

With Zūm Rails powering its payment capabilities, the RealDesk platform automates the transaction journey from beginning to end. Starting with the initial earnest money deposit, brokerages can send home buyers a secure invoice link that populates their payment balance with the option to pay via their preferred method. Payments are then processed directly through the RealDesk platform—within minutes via electronic funds transfer (EFT) or Interac. While most third-party payment processors only notify brokers when invoices are sent and when payments hit their account, RealDesk provides real-time visibility into the status of each transaction.

"Payments and invoicing are the lifeline of any business. But more often than not, facilitating these processes in a seamless, efficient way creates unnecessary challenges for businesses and their customers,” said Miles Schwartz, CEO and co-founder at Zūm Rails. "RealDesk is the only platform solving these challenges for real estate brokerages across Canada.”

In addition to payments and invoicing, Zūm Rails provides multiple risk management capabilities. For example, by using open banking to conduct know-your-customer (KYC) checks, companies can be sure that a payer’s bank account information matches the information provided to a business before accepting their transaction, reducing the likelihood of fraud.

About Zūm Rails

Zūm Rails is the company merging open banking and instant payments through an all-in-one payments gateway. The company’s multi-rail approach to payments enables businesses and their customers to utilize the payment rails that best fit their needs in the fastest, safest and most efficient way possible. Zūm Rails works with financial services companies like Visa, Mastercard, Fiserv and MX to support the entire payments journey—all from a single API. The company is backed by Arthur Ventures and headquartered in Montreal, Quebec and Miami, Florida.

Learn more at Zūmrails.com

About RealDesk.AI

RealDesk.AI is on a mission to eliminate inefficiency in real estate. Designed to empower real estate professionals, RealDesk frees up valuable time so that agents and brokers can focus on growing their businesses and building client relationships. Its AI-powered platform automates key tasks and combines transaction management, compliance tracking, financial processes, and collaboration tools into a single, intuitive solution. RealDesk is setting a new standard in real estate innovation, reshaping brokerage operations to meet the needs of a rapidly evolving industry.

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Source: Company press release.