Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

CoStar acquires Matterport (as predicted)

Matterport soars 187% after CoStar to buy company in a $1.6 billion deal

“The transaction, which is expected to be completed during the year, has been unanimously approved by the MTTR board.

“CoStar Group and Matterport have nearly identical mission statements of digitizing the world’s real estate. I look forward to welcoming Matterport to the CoStar Group family and believe that we will be stronger together, in pursuit of our common mission,” said CEO and founder of CoStar (CSGP) Andy Florance, Founder and CEO of CoStar Group

MTTR is headquartered in California and has ~440 employees, with FY revenue of $158 million.”

Sinchita Mitra, Seeking Alpha

Rob and I predicted this on a November 2022 Industry Relations Episode.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend

Top portal rivals show mutual support for buyer agency

“In a LinkedIn post, Zillow Co-founder and CEO Rich Barton drew attention to Eales’ “valuable thoughts” in the Wall Street Journal op-ed, but also reminded the industry that Zillow had previously launched its own effort — “Real Estate Rights for Consumers” — to show support for transparency in the industry and for buyer agency. “

AJ LaTrace, Real Estate News

Shocking. Two companies that sell buyer leads to agents agree that buyer’s agents are important.

No Equal

😢 Sad anniversary

The RESO kids are alright

Yup! I’ve been having major FOMO this week seeing all the posts of the Spring 2024 RESO Conference in Alabama. Even live band comprised of RESO members! But I think this shirt that Dan Troup, new CEO of BPP, is wearing perfectly captures that RESO vibe.

Trackxi chosen for NAR REACH program

Second Century Ventures Announces 8 Companies for 2024 REACH Scale-Up Program

“Companies accepted to the 2024 REACH program are as follows:

  • Chirpyest(link is external): a social commerce marketplace that empowers real estate professionals to earn cash back when they shop and share their curated finds.    
  • Final Offer(link is external): a consumer-facing, agent-driven negotiation platform for residential real estate, delivering clear, real-time offer alerts to all interested parties.
  • Kukun(link is external): a real estate data, analytics and applications platform for homeowners and the industries that serve them.
  • Notable(link is external): simple pay-at-close financing for everything a client needs to prep their home for sale and get the most out of it.
  • Purlin(link is external): AI tools that convert client conversations into transactions by simplifying business dealings among real estate agents and settlement service providers.
  • Scout(link is external): helping agents find and engage homeowners with AI-driven automated personalized email outreach. 
  • Trackxi(link is external): a collaborative deal and task tracker for real estate agents, teams, clients and consumers.
  • Unlock(link is external): helping consumers unlock the power of home equity without interest charges or monthly payments.”
NAR REACH

No small feat. Out of 1000+ companies considered, 100+ applications, Trackxi is among the final 8 companies chosen for this great opportunity. Congrats to Vijay and his team! Good things ahead!

CubiCasa hits 15% milestone of US floor plans

CubiCasa Surpasses Key Milestone with Floor Plans Included on 15% of New Listings in the US

“More than 15% of new listings in the U.S. now include a CubiCasa floor plan, a mark that is more than 700% higher than the 2% mark they recorded just two years ago when the company’s mission was in its infancy. Additionally, the number of CubiCasa scans performed for U.S. real estate customers in 2024 is nearly triple the rate it was during the same period a year ago.”

CubiCasa

700% higher in two years is amazing! I’ve been writing about CubiCasa and floor plans for years now. I think floor plans are the next aerial photos/maps. As Jeff Allen said in the press release.

“Floor plans are the single-best digital asset on a real estate listing because they provide consumers with a clear understanding of whether the home is the right fit for them,”

Jeff Allen, President of Cubicasa

If you add CubiCasa’s success to the Zillow and other portals efforts to “showcase” listings you can see a tipping point coming soon. Congrats to Jeff and his team.

Paragon Connect [Sponsor]

My thanks to Paragon Connect for sponsoring this month’s Vendor Alley. Paragon Connect is the latest and greatest version of the popular Paragon MLS system. In my podcast with Lucie Fortier at ICE we talked about how they started by adopting the Material UI design system, created by Google, and reimagined an MLS system. Check out the video below for a peak of its clean interface.

Learn about Paragon Connect’s new all-in-one dashboard, power and near me search, and many other features at this website. My thanks again to Paragon Connect.

This is a teenager

You gotta check this site out. Just start scrolling when you get to the site. Love this blending of storytelling, data analysis. I would love to see this type of data visualization be used when we talk about housing.

Mythbusters: Bright MLS Edition

Dispelling Myths 
 About Real Estate 
 Commissions 
and the MLS

“There are many assertions being made about the homebuying process in the wake of the draft settlement agreement. For instance, some assert that real estate agents “steer” buyers away from properties with low offers of buyer-agent compensation and that high commissions drive up home prices. Bright MLS researchers conducted an analysis of more than one million home sales transactions that took place in the Bright MLS service area1 to analyze some of the claims about the residential real estate industry. We ultimately found many statements being made in the media and by others are simply not supported by market data.”

Lisa Sturtevant, PhD, Chief Economist, Bright MLS

Blown away by the analysis here and can’t pretend to understand the math behind the research. It’s amazing how, based on this data, the DOJ narrative on steering and price are pretty laughable. From the report on regarding commissions and home prices:

“The correlation between compensation percent and list price is negative, indicating that higher offers of buyer compensation are actually associated with lower list prices for similar homes.”

Lisa Sturtevant, PhD, Chief Economist, Bright MLS

🎤 ⬇️ Great job Bright MLS.

T3 Technology Summit dates announced

T3 Technology Summit Unveils the Future of Real Estate Technology and Marketing

“The T3 Tech Summit is where innovation converges with opportunity, creating a dynamic ecosystem for marketing and technology leaders. Our commitment to fostering meaningful connections and providing valuable insights ensures that attendees leave equipped to shape the future of our industry,” said Michael Phelan, senior vice president of technology consulting at T3 Sixty.”

T3 Sixty

Dates are Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, 2024, at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel in New Orleans. Early bird pricing is super reasonable. This event seems to get better and better every year.

Sponsored By Paragon Connect