REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Businesswire | May 09, 2023
EasyKnock, the first technology-enabled residential sale-leaseback platform, today announced its acquisition of Ribbon, a pioneer of powerbuying and cash offer solutions. The transaction is a major milestone for the real estate industry, bringing together homebuying, homeselling, and agent solutions into one unified and simplified experience.
“We are thrilled to bring Ribbon and EasyKnock’s cutting edge financial products together under one roof to provide more options and a competitive advantage to consumers and industry partners nation-wide,” said Jarred Kessler, CEO and co-founder of EasyKnock. “This marks the beginning of a new wave of innovation in the real estate sector, the advent of PropTech 3.0. By combining these product suites and offering solutions for every stop along the homeownership journey, we are better positioned to responsibly empower more families with the financial flexibility and control they need to achieve their goals.”
In bringing the teams together, EasyKnock is accelerating the development of its marketplace planned to launch later this year; a new, more fulsome suite of products and services that will offer consumers alternative ways to buy and sell, finance new homes, and utilize their equity in one place. Recognizing that a new way is needed, the marketplace will benefit everyday Americans with convenience, cost savings, and the competitive edge afforded by the combination of multiple services, positively impacting not only existing and prospective homeowners, but the industry altogether.
“Making homeownership achievable has been Ribbon’s mission and guiding light since its inception. EasyKnock and Ribbon share a vision of enhancing consumer choice in the industry, facilitating its success and enabling a more simplified buying and selling experience.” said Shaival Shah, CEO and co-founder of Ribbon. “We are thrilled to come together with EasyKnock and their pioneering sale-leaseback offering to provide solutions to more and more people. Combined with Ribbon’s award-winning homebuying solutions and network of 90,000 agents and lenders, we are motivated to empower consumers across the country.”
Both EasyKnock and Ribbon have forged strong partnerships in residential real estate by using best-in–class technology that connects consumers with loan officers, real estate agents, and other participants in the homebuying and home selling experience. Following the acquisition, the EasyKnock and Ribbon teams will work with strategic partners to bring their expanded product suite to key markets with an eye towards national expansion.
Goodwin Proctor, a global law firm, acted as legal advisor and Temple View Capital, a Bethesda, Maryland-based business purpose lender, provided financing on the transaction. Terms were not disclosed.
About EasyKnock
EasyKnock is the first-to-market, technology-enabled residential sale-leaseback company in the U.S. Through innovative and accessible solutions, American homeowners who sell their property to EasyKnock can remain in their homes as renters while still getting the cash they need to pursue their financial goals. Headquartered in New York City and founded in 2016, EasyKnock has team members nationwide working to help homeowners unlock their financial freedom through non-loan programs so they can pay off debts, buy their dream home, fund a venture, and more - all while maintaining the ability to stay in their homes and communities. For more information, please visit www.easyknock.com.
About Ribbon
Founded in 2017 in New York and Charlotte, Ribbon is on a mission to make homeownership achievable. Ribbon allows everyday families to compete on a level playing field with high-net-worth individuals and institutional buyers by upgrading their offers to winning RibbonCash Offers. As the leading real estate technology platform, Ribbon empowers agents, brokerages, and lenders to create a world-class experience for homebuyers and sellers through powerful financial products and digital workflow software.
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MARKET OUTLOOK, REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY
PRnewswire | May 04, 2023
Zillow announced today the launch of the Zillow ChatGPT plugin, which gives users a new way to discover real estate listings.
Users who enable the plugin can use conversational language to ask about specific property listings or share the types of for-sale and rental homes they are interested in, including location, price range, and bedroom and bathroom count. The Zillow plugin then retrieves relevant information from Zillow's extensive database of real estate listings.
The plugin will be accessible to a select number of ChatGPT users today, with broader access anticipated in the future.
"Generative AI is changing the way people search for information. At Zillow, we've been embracing AI and machine learning starting with the Zestimate® in 2006, and later introducing personalized recommendations and natural language search – which means we're well-equipped to help customers search and find homes in this new way," said David Beitel, chief technology officer at Zillow Group. "As the first major residential real estate marketplace to bring advanced, AI-powered search to the home-shopping experience, we understand its immense potential, and we look forward to developing more tech innovations with OpenAI technology in the future."
Zillow is building a housing super app that offers customers a seamless, connected experience across all their real estate needs: buying, selling, financing and renting. It launched natural language search queries on its apps and sites in January, and this ChatGPT plugin is the latest example of how Zillow is using technology to make it easier for customers to find and get into their next home. AI capabilities show up throughout Zillow's products and services, most recently in advancements in the neural Zestimate, computer-vision-powered rich media experiences and AI-generated immersive floor plans.
The Zillow ChatGPT plugin is currently in its alpha phase, providing an opportunity for Zillow to refine and enhance the experience based on user interactions. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has implemented safeguards to minimize inaccuracies and prevent inappropriate responses, but users should keep in mind that at times the experience might not work exactly as expected.
About Zillow Group
Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG) is reimagining real estate to make home a reality for more and more people. As the most visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow and its affiliates help people find and get the home they want by connecting them with digital solutions, great partners, and easier buying, selling, financing and renting experiences.
Zillow Group's affiliates, subsidiaries and brands include Zillow®; Zillow Premier Agent®; Zillow Home Loans℠; Zillow Closing Services℠; Trulia®; Out East®; StreetEasy®; HotPads®; and ShowingTime+℠, which includes ShowingTime®, Bridge Interactive®, and dotloop®.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, MORTGAGE AND LENDING
Newswire | May 31, 2023
Pineapple Financial Inc. (PAPL: Reserved), the tech-focussed mortgage brokerage with an integrated network of partner brokerages and agents across Canada, is pleased to announce it will now be offering mortgage services in Western Canada via their alliance with Pineapple Canada Lending House. Pineapple is excited to provide more Canadians with its revolutionized approach to mortgage services through this market expansion.
"Our goal at Pineapple has always been to give as many Canadians as possible the opportunity to purchase a home," said Shubha Dasgupta, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pineapple. "To achieve this, we've simplified the journey through data-driven processes and intelligent technology, all while strategically and sustainably expanding our presence in the Canadian market. Thanks to our alliance with Canada Lending House, Pineapple will be able to provide more homebuyers and brokers across Canada with the best experience and products the industry has to offer."
Since its inception, Canada Lending House has offered brokers an established system of training and extensive support services to accelerate their success rate by eliminating time-consuming processes. Pineapple Financials' innovative, automated and digitalized technology approach will supercharge the Canada Lending House system to provide their brokers with a streamlined approach that will free up more time to focus on result-driven tasks and building relationships.
"We are thrilled to join the Pineapple network and bring the future of mortgage brokering across British Columbia," said Harbir Dhillon, Managing Broker at Pineapple Canada Lending House. "Our focus is dedicated to providing small-town brokers with the most advanced, digital tools that are not often available. Our partnership with Pineapple Financial will improve on delivering that experience and augment our proven system of time-saving processes designed to accelerate a broker's career." Harbir continued by saying, "After our brokers complete the Pineapple training program, they will be able to focus 100% of their attention on the things that matter most - providing superior customer service and deal-generating activities."
The expansion into Western Canada is proof of Pineapple's ambition to build momentum and drive its growth. The company is expanding its business presence nationwide, all while modernizing the Canadian mortgage industry. Even as the real estate landscape has changed significantly over the past 12 months with higher interest rates and turbulent conditions, Pineapple has continued providing mortgage-seeking Canadians nationwide with the best service and solutions to meet their needs today and into the future.
"We are honoured to partner with Canada Lending House," said Christa Mitchell, Chief Strategy Officer at Pineapple. "This partnership is key to unlocking Pineapple's national expansion and delivering on our commitment to provide the best service and mortgage solutions to borrowers across Canada."
About Pineapple
Pineapple is a leader in the Canadian mortgage industry, breaking the mould by focusing on both the long-term success of agents and brokerages and the overall experience of homeowners. With approximately 700 brokers within the network, Pineapple utilizes cutting-edge cloud-based tools and AI-driven systems to enable its brokers to help Canadians realize their ultimate dream of owning a home. Pineapple is active within the community and is proud to sponsor cancer charities across Canada, where proceeds from every transaction go to improving the lives of fellow Canadians touched by cancer. Visit www.gopineapple.com for more information.
About Pineapple Canada Lending House
Pineapple Canada Lending House is a trusted and established Mortgage Brokerage in British Columbia, Canada, with over 20 years of experience serving the community. They have built a reputation for providing their clients with industry-leading solutions, world-class customer service, and access to a wide range of mortgage products and services. They bring a new flavour to mortgage brokering and are proud to offer big-city perks to smaller communities across BC.
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