[NE Coffee Chat] Jung Donghoon, CEO of Terapie: "We Will Build a Trust Infrastructure for the Entire Real Estate Contract Process"

Aiming to Build a ‘Trust Infrastructure’ for Real Estate Contract Management
Tailored Analysis Solutions for Individuals, Enterprises, and Institutions

"Terapie helps users review scattered information before signing a lease agreement and make better choices. We aim to establish a trust infrastructure covering the entire real estate contract process—not only for residential but also commercial properties."

Donghoon Jung, CEO of Theraphi

There are far more items to check before entering into a lease contract for a home or business than most people expect. It is essential to verify whether the security deposit can be recovered, whether the landlord has any history of delinquency, the existence of prior claims, provisional seizures, or violations related to the building. Terapie is a startup that operates the real estate contract diagnosis and management platform Safe Homes. The goal is to ensure that users do not miss potential risks before signing a contract, rather than relying solely on the experience of real estate agents. Terapie has been focused on developing technology that analyzes cumulative public auction data gathered over 20 years to assess the prospects of deposit recovery.

Jung Donghoon, CEO of Terapie, explained, "In real estate contracts, the parties involved—the contracting parties, brokers, banks, and guarantee institutions—all assess risks using different data and criteria. We examine landlords, properties, prices, rights, and contract conditions together to determine the likelihood of recovering security deposits and loans."

Jung founded Terapie in July 2021. After handling software and infrastructure work for about ten years at Army Headquarters, he decided to pursue his entrepreneurial dream and retire from service. Being very interested in real estate investment, Jung purchased an officetel building in Busan in 2021, but soon discovered that a victim of a rental fraud was living in the property. His firsthand experience in dealing with a tenant as a landlord became a catalyst for developing services to prevent rental scams. "Tenants need to assess if the deposit amount is appropriate, how much information they can obtain about the other party, and whether there are problems with the registry or building," Jung said. "It's difficult for tenants to get expert help, so we developed a service that provides clear decision criteria and connects users to the necessary actions."

Safe Homes. Theraphy

Terapie offers its residential 'Jeonwolse AI Guardian' service through Safe Homes and Woori Bank's mobile app. When users enter the address and security deposit for the property in question, the service calculates the probability of deposit recovery based on expected auction prices. It also checks for the landlord's accident or delinquency history, title registry rights, property usage, violations, and more. It can even confirm if deposit insurance is available, so the number of intermediary users has been steadily increasing, along with tenants. The user base consists of 300,000 tenants and about 3,500 real estate agents.

In September, Terapie plans to launch the commercial 'Sangga Office AI Guardian' service targeting store operators and distributors. This service will inform users about property usage and whether required facilities have been declared or approved. Jung said, "Compared to residential properties, commercial spaces entail fragmented regulations for mandatory facilities and purposes by business type, making it inconvenient to check each item individually. We plan to provide this solution to both store owners who want to open a business and companies developing commercial properties."

The core of Terapie's service is 'Decision OS,' an engine that analyzes property prices, legal rights, and contract terms. It aggregates various data including market prices and registry details, identifies what information is missing, determines whether protective measures are necessary, and guides users accordingly. Decision OS also helps companies and institutions screen contracts according to their own standards before proceeding. It tells users whether a contract should move forward, what actions are needed if it does, whether professional review is required, and presents the rationale for its conclusions. It even provides alerts for post-contract risks such as the need for additional collateral. Jung stated, "Financial institutions and companies can use this system to quickly process routine cases while referring only the questionable ones to staff. By documenting the basis for decisions, uncertain cases can be flagged for human review."

Jung added, "Tenants currently have to navigate up to four layers of consultation in the contract process: brokers, financial and guarantee institutions. If we standardize criteria in line with actual institutional guidelines and realities, it will be much easier for end users to conduct checks. Our long-term goal is to establish the industry standard for lease contract criteria."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.