Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

IRE acquires BoomTown

Inside Real Estate Announces the Acquisition of BoomTown

“I’m thrilled to welcome BoomTown to the Inside Real Estate family!” said Joe Skousen, CEO, Inside Real Estate. “I commend Grier and the BoomTown team for what they have built and accomplished with their clients over the past 15 years. Our companies share a common DNA that is focused on driving real results for every client, every day. Together, we will deliver an unmatched experience for every user from single agents, to top performing teams and mega teams, to robust national enterprise brands. Our #1 job is being a tech partner to our clients – this combination reinforces that commitment.”

This has got to be a huge deal. But I can’t help but wonder how much bigger it would have been if they closed a year ago.

Housing Wire acquires REAL Trends

HW Media Acquires REAL Trends to Combine Two of Real Estate’s Most Powerful Media Outlets

“HW Media, publisher of HousingWire, FinLedger, and producer of Engage Events, today announced it has closed on the strategic acquisition of REAL Trends, the residential real estate industry’s leading report that ranks the performance of the top U.S. brokerage firms.

REAL Trends will continue to publish the REAL Trends 500, The Thousand, and Website Rankings reports on an annual basis, as well as produce the Gathering of Eagles and DealMAKERS events. Together with HW Media brands HousingWire and FinLedger, the company will reach over 11 million real estate, mortgage and fintech professionals each year”

Looks like Steve will continue with his M&A advisory business. So far I’m not such a big reader of Housing Wire (although I am a subscriber), it has a lot of focus on the mortgage industry and less on the residential real estate space, but I have seen that start to shift a bit.

I can imagine it’s hard to get that mix of news right. I do hear good things about HousingWire’s CEO Clayton Collins and I can imagine he is thinking a lot about this. I know from my perspective that I have little interest in what’s happening in the mortgage banking or title industry, and I think that is the same for the majority of real estate agents. But as new business models evolve it might be more important for company leaders to be educated on all facets of the real estate transaction.

Congrats to Steve, I can’t remember a time when there wasn’t a REAL Trends, and it’s great to see his legacy survive.

Deal to acquire CoreLogic gets sweeter

CoreLogic Target Of Takeover Effort, Gets New, Bigger Offer

???? Developing…

Elm Street Technology Secures Strategic Investment

Elm Street Technology Secures Strategic Investment By Aquiline Capital Partners

“Elm Street Technology offers a simplified platform called Elevate, for real estate technology and marketing services, that aims to provide a single vendor and point of contact to maximize business leads. The Elevate platform is currently used by tens of thousands of real estate agents, teams and brokerages across the United States. It offers a variety of seamlessly integrated tools including IDX websites, lead generation services, CRM, email, social, text and blog marketing automation, recruiting and retention campaigns, and more, all backed by zealous support and education teams.

“Aquiline is the perfect partner to help Elm Street Technology accelerate its growth strategy,” said Prem Luthra, President and CEO of Elm Street Technology. “With Aquiline, we will be able to broaden and accelerate our sales and marketing capabilities, enhance product development and increase our focus on strategic acquisitions that will allow us to better service the increasing demand for technology to automate and streamline the day-to-day activities of the busy real estate professional.”

Still a lot of appetite for real estate technology companies out there. Congrats to Prem and his team as they continue to grow.

FMLS signs exclusive deal for appraiser members

FMLS Reaches Exclusive Agreement to Provide DataMaster as a Free Member Benefit to Georgia Appraisers and Reduces Appraiser Membership Fees

“DataMaster is considered the gold standard for appraisal data management, and FMLS is the only MLS in the state with this exclusive partnership,” explained Jeremy Crawford, President and CEO of FMLS.

“We’re also going to reduce appraiser membership fees for accessing tax data, and add free, state-approved CE classes for appraisers. In addition, FMLS is expanding appraiser access to statewide tax data in all 159 counties and reducing lockbox key fees while removing the requirement to pay fees in person,” Crawford concludes.

Sounds like a great deal for appraisers. Congrats to DataMaster and FMLS.

REColorado to provide white-labeled version of MLS-Touch to members

REcolorado To Provide Brokers New Premium Mobile App

“MLS-Touch is more than just mobile access to the MLS. It’s a complete toolbox with live market stats, hotsheets, comparables, and a unique feature called ‘’Brand and Share’’ that allows brokers to add their own brand information including logo and matching colors, and share the REcolorado app with their clients,” said Staci Wood, vice president and chief product officer at REcolorado. “It also includes Realist tax data and has powerful contact and client relationship management features.”

Upon launch, the REcolorado app will be available to REcolorado subscribers at no additional cost and with no upselling. Looking forward, the app offers the ability to integrate listings from additional MLS organizations.

REColorado

There are so many great solutions out there for MLS organizations now. Congrats to REColorado and Prospects Software.

MoxiWorks/Vector Capital acquire Imprev

MoxiWorks Acquires Imprev, the Best-in-Class Marketing Automation Service

Robert Amen, Managing Director of Vector Capital, said, “We are pleased to support MoxiWorks’ acquisition of Imprev as it continues its relentless focus on its customers, client satisfaction, and deep, cross-industry relationships. Imprev enhances MoxiWorks’ technology and product offering and furthers the company’s ongoing mission to make real estate technology more automated.”

It looks like a classic roll-up strategy from Vector Capital. They first acquire MoxiWorks and now bring Imprev into the fold. I’m just glad no puppies were harmed.

I’ve known Renwick Congdon, CEO, and Founder of Imprev, for a very long time. Renwick is a principled and smart leader and has built an incredible company and team. Imprev’s Renwick’s first software application was as a real estate flyer program for Macs back in 2000 1994 (we were booth neighbors at NAR Annual 1996…time flies). He was one of my first guests on the Listing Bits podcast. Cheers my friend.

Restb.ai joins CoreLogic Alliance Network

I’m a big fan of Restb.ai. The work they have done on image recognition is amazing. I interviewed Dominik Pogorzelski, Restb.ai’s VP of Product and Operations on my Listing Bits podcast.

The use of image recognition for compliance in a listing input isn’t new. MRED did it first. I saw Chris Haran, CTO of MRED, demo this awhile back. It’s a great use case for this type of tech. But, the applications for image recognition in real estate are endless. Excited to see where this goes.

————————————————————————————–

Full Press Release Below:

— Computer Vision Solution Provider Restb.ai Joins CoreLogic Alliance Network —

CoreLogic Adds AI Photo Inspection to Listing Compliance Solution

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 6, 2019—CoreLogic® (NYSE: CLGX), a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today announced that Restb.ai™ has joined the CoreLogic Alliance Network and will integrate its AI image recognition technology with CoreLogic Listing Data Checker, the foremost data quality assurance and compliance solution for multiple listing organizations. The Alliance Network is an assembly of recommended third-party applications that are deeply integrated with CoreLogic Real Estate Solutions (RES).

The industry’s leading computer vision solution, Restb.ai uses artificial intelligence to automatically scan, identify and classify images containing a range of privacy and policy violations. Under the agreement,Restb.ai technology will be fully integrated with Listing Data Checker and offered as an optional photo compliance module that saves time and effort and can detect violations that humans miss.

“In the past, real estate listing photos had to be manually reviewed by staff for compliance with multiple listing rules,” said Amy Gorce, principal of Business Development for CoreLogic RES. “Listing Data Checker clients can now use AI-powered image recognition technology to automatically detect photos containing prohibited content, including people, license plates, yard signs, phone numbers, email addresses and more. It’s the ambitious, logical next step for our class-leading compliance solutions.”

“Images are an integral part of the listing and until now, image compliance has been an expensive human cost” said Dominik Pogorzelski, VP of Product for Restb.ai.  “We’re excited to work with CoreLogic to bring our AI technology to Listing Data Checker creating a complete listing compliance service and reducing the time and cost to get listings online and working for members and clients”.

“We’re very pleased to add Restb.ai to the Alliance Network,” said Chris Bennett, executive for CoreLogic RES. “CoreLogic is working with several leaders in the AI space to enhance the speed and accuracy of our solutions. AI is an important part of our strategy for real estate, and this is just the beginning.”

For more information, visit www.restb.ai.

About CoreLogic

CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), the leading provider of property insights and solutions, promotes a healthy housing market and thriving communities. Through its enhanced property data solutions, services and technologies, CoreLogic enables real estate professionals, financial institutions, insurance carriers, government agencies and other housing market participants to help millions of people find, acquire and protect their homes. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.

CORELOGIC and the CoreLogic logo are trademarks of CoreLogic, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

Tom Ferry partners with Contactually for the “Tom Ferry CRM”

Via Inman News…

Real estate coach Tom Ferry launches ‘The Hub,’ a CRM and tech suite

“Ferry’s new set of products is called The Hub. The suite includes the new CRM, a referral network informed by an algorithm, video role plays to practice different situations in real estate and tools for business planning and activity tracking.

The main innovation of Ferry’s CRM — appropriate for his role as chief real estate coach — is that it allows real estate coaches to log on and see a version of the CRM with personal client information stripped away to track how their real estate agent clients are doing.

That anonymized view allows coaches to directly see what their agents are doing instead of relying on what agents tell them.

Besides that, the Tom Ferry CRM shares most of its features with Contactually’s other CRMs.

“We’ve been providing the system, the tech part of it. Now what this does is marry that with the coaching side of things,” Contactually CEO Zvi Band told Inman.”

Really, really smart. By blending what Tom Ferry does so well with what Contactually does so well they have created a truly unique experience/product.

The issue that companies like RE/MAX and Keller Williams are going to face is that real estate software is getting better. And franchisors are going to have to compete with solutions like this. With adoption of franchisor provided technology hovering between 8%-10%, and 3rd party software getting better, I don’t care if you call yourself a “technology company” or not, adoption is going to be tough battle.

Congrats to Tom Ferry and big congrats to Zvi and the amazing team at Contactually. Love the innovative thinking behind this effort.

RE/MAX acquires booj

RE/MAX Takes Bold Step to Provide Best-in-Class TechnologyGlobal Franchisor Acquires Leading Technology Firm booj

The acquisition exemplifies a new approach for RE/MAX that goes beyond adapting third-party vendor products to fit broker and agent needs. Moving forward, RE/MAX will leverage the capabilities of booj and other strategic partners to deliver core technology solutions designed for and with RE/MAX affiliates. The objective: technology platforms that create a distinct competitive edge for RE/MAX brokerages and agents and complement other tech products they choose to use.

So its apparent the this “tech enabled brokerage” is a thing now. It’s now going to be a bunch of chest beating to show who has the best tech. RE/MAX appears to be taking a more open approach by still working with “strategic partners”, rather than the more closed approach of KW.

In a letter to agents, new RE/MAX CEO Adam Contos stated,

“It will mean an upgrade for the RE/MAX technology suite – a complement to other Approved Supplier products you choose to use.”

A far cry from the paranoid rant of Gary Keller,CEO of Keller Williams last week.

booj is an interesting company. Their pitch has been they only had a few “select” clients and a waiting list. Plus they would never work with any firm that was acquired by a Franchisor. Well it seems that philosophy has changed big time. It will be interesting to see how their current clients react. An opportunity for some, I’m sure. I hope Ido and John got a nice payout.

I’m also curious if this will effect RE/MAX’s relationship with Homes.com, which now powers the remax.com website. RE/MAX started that relationship with eNeighborhoods back in 2004, and have kept it going after eNeighborhoods was acquired by Homes.com parent, Dominion Enterprises.

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