Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Gary Keller takes some chips off the table in sale of stake in Keller Williams to Private Equity firm Stone Point Capital

Keller Williams takes on major investment from CoreLogic owner

“The news, which is expected to reverberate across more than 1,000 offices across the world, was shared internally with Keller Williams’ approximately 200,000 agents and associates in a call Monday morning, a spokesman told Inman.

“This is an exciting milestone for all Keller Williams agents and franchisees,” Gary Keller said in a statement. “We’ve built an incredible foundation and as we focus on each agent’s personal development and their continual sales growth, we welcome the partnership and backing from the team at Stone Point Capital.”

Well, I never thought I had much in common with Gary Keller, but it appears we both sold our companies to Stone Point Capital. Stone Point Capital also owns Lone Wolf. However, the headline is a bit misleading, as Stone Point Capital jointly owns CoreLogic with another private equity firm, Insight Partners.

I’ve written before that much (if not all) of KW’s success stems from its culture. Maintaining or growing a company’s culture isn’t exactly a strong suit of private equity firms. Time will tell.

But KW had to do something. Companies like eXp, real, and Compass are public, giving them greater access to capital. KW was on a path to going public but missed that window, and its revolving door of leadership hasn’t helped. For KW, private equity was really the only solution to help it compete in today’s real estate market.

The consolidation continues.

CEO Carl Liebert leaves Keller Williams

CEO Carl Liebert leaves Keller Williams effective immediately

“Major changes are underway at Keller Williams Realty International. In an email sent to Keller Williams employees and leaders Wednesday, Gary Keller, the chairman of kwx, announced CEO Carl Liebert was leaving the company, effective immediately.

Keller wrote Liebert was leaving his role at kwx to “pursue other opportunities.”

Another great scoop from Real Trends Inman. Somebody needs to grease up the revolving door at KW.

Smarter Agent shuts down

Keller Williams is shutting down Smarter Agent

“Smarter Agent, which was founded more than decade ago by brothers Brad and Eric Blumberg in Philadelphia, boasted on its website that it counted approximately 25 percent of the real estate industry among its clients.
That includes more than 3,000 brokerages and 300,000 agents, according to the company. If those numbers are accurate, the end of the platform would create a chasm in the real estate industry when it comes to mobile application services.”

I think this was only a matter of time. As Inman News correctly states this is par for the course when a franchisor acquires technology. Compass with Contactually, RE/MAX with booj and now Keller Williams with Smarter Agent.

Brad and Eric are two of the savviest businessmen and innovative vendors I’ve met. They were the first to give brokers and agents a white label version of mobile apps to help them compete with the larger real estate portals. They (still) own numerous patents on location-based search.

This also opens the door of opportunity for other companies. Homespotter is a good example as it offers not only mobile technology but also the workflow of generating leads. It seems gone are the days of stand-alone apps. Agents are now being pitched the entire solution.

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