The expectations gap: why what you want moves faster than what you do

Tech is rewriting commercial real estate exponentially. Most coverage is news - who raised what, who bought what. This newsletter covers physics. Structural forces. Patterns before they’re obvious. Atoms and bits. Subscribe for updates →

the physics

My mentor used to say you know people by small things, not big words. Here’s a small market signal worth noticing: the widening gap between how commercial real estate professionals actually work and what they expect from others. For 30 years, these two things were identical. We could argue about the content, but never the format. Need data for analysis? Here’s a quarterly report. Need quick information? Call me. Talk a deal? Let’s do lunch.

That’s changing now. We’re lagging in how we work (input), but we expect far more from everyone else (output).

I think, however, this gap isn’t a bug, but the story of every major shift. The expectations (dreams for a better life, etc.) move first. Behavior follows. And that delay? That’s where the opportunity sits.

the signal

Here’s a case: at our data platform, we process information on thousands of commercial buildings. We update data directly with property owners in monthly cycles, their preferred timeframe to share availabilities and lease terms. Contact them too often and you’re pushy. Too rare and your data goes stale. 30 days seemed to be the equilibrium.

Things changed over the last year though. Professionals using the platform daily started pushing back. They wanted more frequent updates. Some even dropped ‘real-time’ into conversations with our customer success team.

This wasn’t about data quality - the 30-day cycle hadn’t changed. What changed was usage. When clients logged in twice a month, monthly updates made sense. When they started checking daily, monthly updates felt ancient.

The platform didn’t just give them information. It gave them new expectations!

the translation

For proptech founders: Pay attention to this input-output gap. The wider it gets, the bigger your opportunity. But it comes with challenges, yet satisfying ones. In our case - for example - if we want weekly updates instead of monthly, we need to handle 4x more database operations. Growth means operational complexity.

For real estate executives: Tech provides sparks and tools, but there’s no major change without executive buy-in. You influence how you and your peers work. You set expectations in business and with vendors.

The gap exists because people are ready before the tools are. That’s actually good news - it means the market is pulling the industry forward, not just founders pushing products into it.