“News of the negotiations between the companies was notable because it would represent a shift in strategy from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomeration. HomeServices is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a company silo that otherwise exclusively includes energy production and transmission companies. Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. also holds other ancillary real estate services and the insurance company GEICO.”
I could make the case of Stone Point Capital buying Keller Williams and Rocket buying Redfin as an optimistic view for the industry. Meaning, “big money” thinks real estate is going to pretty much operate as it has in the past. Which is good for organized real estate
“On Friday, Feb. 2, HomeServices of America filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court for a “writ of certiorari,” asking the court to review an August ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirming a lower district court ruling that HomeServices can’t enforce arbitration agreements signed by seller clients of its franchisees because the contracts the sellers signed were not directly with HomeServices.”
Andrea Bramila, Inman News
Interesting angle. Doesn’t really go to the heart of the case, but more that they, (HSofA) shouldn’t be included in the case at all.
This is a head-scratcher. I’m not sure I fully understand what is going on here but I’ll try and explain. From the video, HowardHanna.com appears to be leaving IDX. Currently, they are showing only HH listings and you must register to see more.
So is Howard Hanna pulling out of IDX? Is there some sort of selective listing opt-out mechanism? Mr. Hanna also says they will “still be partnering with the national portals, and figuring what the strategy will be with them.” I can’t for the life of me figure out how since most of the national portals use an IDX feed. Can you blend an IDX feed with a direct feed from a broker?
Genius or bat-shit crazy? I don’t yet understand the strategy fully until some of these questions are answered. I guess if they are super dominant in that market then it might make sense.
But if I’m a listing agent in Ohio that is competing with Howard Hanna the first thing I would bring up at a listing presentation is something to the tune of, “Howard Hanna won’t promote your listings on all websites, I will”.
I’ll be hosting a Twitter Spaces on this subject today at 1PM PT. Join us!
“Wilcox moves to the helm of BHGRE after holding several prominent leadership roles spanning real estate technology, brokerage, and transaction services. She brings a proven track record of developing and growing unique brands in the industry, having served as Head of Industry Marketing and Relations for Trulia, an online real estate marketplace, where she focused on marketing innovation and digital engagement. Early in her career, Wilcox developed an award-winning online real estate brand and brokerage, Marin Fine Properties, which was honored as a finalist for the Inman Innovator Awards for most innovative real estate website, as well as a finalist for the National Association of REALTORS® Center for REALTOR® Technology Spotlight Awards.”
Dan and I started W+R Studios in 2008, at the very start of the GFC. Which is a crazy thing to do if you think about it. The whole world wide economy is crashing around you because of real estate and you are starting a software company focusing on real estate.
That same year I remember being at Inman Connect and seeing Sherry Chris launch Better Homes & Gardens. Holy crap, I thought. Here is this women launching a real estate company, in a time like this, just like us. And Sherry did it in the most fun way, announcing via Twitter and other Social Media networks. The optimism! The chutzpah! The balls! Ever since then I’ve held an affinity for Sherry and the BH&G brand. It was mixed emotions seeing the announcement of her retirement. No one in the industry has matched her class and style.
So it’s great to see one of my favorite people in the industry take on the top leadership role at BH&G, Ginger Wilcox. Another women I respect so much. After leaving Trulia Ginger spent a lot of time in the fintech space but now I’m happy to see her come back to the ORE space. Can’t wait to see her at the next event and raise a glass to her new gig. Congrats to Ginger, Sherry and BH&G!
“In today’s market, the largest proportion of homebuyers — Millennials, comprising a full 43 percent of the homebuying population — are seeking homes that are ready for them to move in today. The latest research shows that 70 percent of Millennial home buyers will choose a smaller home that’s move-in-ready over a larger home that needs some attention.
Revive, the most complete presale home renovation solution for sellers, and NextHome, the No. 1 real estate franchise in the country in owner satisfaction, are joining forces to deliver more move-in ready homes to more than 5,500 NextHome agents in 610 offices across 48 states.
Revive’s concept is super interesting. Going beyond just “carpet and paint” can yield a huge potential upside on many properties. As someone who goes to open houses for fun I’ve seen many houses where one bad bathroom, or ugly tile in the kitchen makes the whole house a stinker. And, I’m sure many NextHome agents have seen tons more than I have.
“RE/MAX first acquired first acquired booj, then a tech startup, in 2018. About a year and a half later, RE/MAX launched its booj platform, which was meant to be an end-to-end solution that would streamline the experience of its agents. At the time of the launch, then-CEO Adam Contos described it as “a landmark moment in the long history of our company.”
We are now seeing the consequences of the “we’re a technology company” rhetoric in the broker/franchisor space. What many brokers, franchisors, and MLS organizations are beginning to realize, this shit is hard.
Former Keller Williams CEO Mark Willis is poised to join eXp Realty in an undisclosed executive role, a major revelation from an 11-page bombshell countermotion eXp World Holdings filed on Monday to dissolve Keller Williams’ temporary restraining order against Willis. Willis helped grow the Texas-based behemoth from a regional firm in 1991 to a worldwide force with more than 112,000 at the time of his departure in 2014.
I tweeted about this being a possibility but to be honest the “Mark” I thought was jumping name ended with a “c”, not a “k”.
But the story is still crazy good and has everything. It’s almost like a Greek drama. Student outshining the master. Jealousy. Payback. Grudges. Betrayal. And lots, and lots of money.
Love this tidbit…
“Sanford and Keller’s relationship allegedly turned sour in the early 2000s when Keller reportedly snubbed Sanford, then a top-producing team leader, by not including him in an elite company group. The tension between the two remained in the background until 2018, when Keller dismissed Sanford’s earlier praise of his leadership.
“Love it, great. Good for him,” Keller told Inman Founder Brad Inman onstage. “I don’t care.”
“I’ll show them” has gotta be the single best motivator in anyone’s life.
And this…
“A source familiar with the matter backed up eXp’s claims and told Inman kwx Founder Gary Keller “went ballistic” when Willis, who’d spent 25 years helping KW rise to the top of the industry, said he wanted to sell his interests and join eXp.
Despite Keller’s personal feelings, eXp said Keller Williams’ interference in its recruitment of Willis is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black, as Keller Williams hired former eXp President of Operations Stacey Onnen on Feb. 4.
Keller Williams is naming Carl Liebert, a retail, financial services and industrial services veteran, as CEO of the newly created KWx, a holding company that encompasses all of the Keller Williams brands, including, Keller Williams Realty, Keller Williams Worldwide, Keller Mortgage, Keller Covered and Keller Offers. As part of this large-scale leadership facelift, current CEO and co-founder Gary Keller will shift from CEO to the role of executive chairman of KWx. Josh Team — who previously led KW Labs as chief innovation officer prior to being named president — will stay on as president of Keller Williams Realty, the senior-most role of the franchise business, which will no longer have a CEO. Keller’s CEO duties of the franchisor arm will be transferred to Team.
Some are reading a lot of drama into this. But my guess is they are simply preparing for an IPO. I’ve always been super curious about their revenue makeup and if they go public all this information with be accessible.
“In addition to marketing automation, the branded marketing center powered by Imprev is a one-stop marketing shop for agents that includes an extensive library of more custom content. It completes the full marketing cycle by offering agents simple ways to promote their brand and nurture clients outside of marketing their listings.
“We looked at a number of different solutions in our journey to create Emma. Imprev is the best service we found! It’s an easy-to-use, unified solution with best-in-class technology that met all our goals. It’s exciting to see how we’ve been able to streamline our agent’s marketing experience while adding a brand-new dimension of service that they’ve never seen before,” shares David Schmid, vice president of product development at Edina Realty.
“Edina Realty is crafting an amazing experience for their agents by tapping into the power of new, powerful technologies,” says Renwick Congdon, CEO of Imprev. “A brokerage is in the unique position of having a high-level view of all its listings and pinpointing marketing trends, successes, and challenges. That means brokerages like Edina Realty can effectively enforce marketing best practices for agents through automation, which sets workflows in place that implement the best practices of the best agents across the entire business. Offering that type of value to agents is powerful, and we see it lead to greater success and more revenue for everyone.”
The value proposition for Imprev’s platform is huge for franchisors and any large brokerages. Although Edina’s choice of the name “Emma” did have me confused with a popular email service, “emma” I’ve used in the past.
““Today is a special day in our history, but also just like any other day in building a great company,” eXp World Holdings CEO Glenn Sanford said in response to a question about eXp Realty’s $1 billion milestone. “Our team is super focused on helping our agents, and our agents are staying super focused on working with their clients. I am really excited about where things have the potential to go as we mature as an organization and continue to scale.”
For comparison, Re/Max has a market cap of $944 million, Redfin is at $1.83 billion, and Realogy is at $3 billion.”
