MARKET OUTLOOK,REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Origin Investments and Kovitz | January 09, 2023
Focus Financial Partners Inc., a leading partnership of independent, fiduciary wealth management firms, recently announced that it entered into a definitive agreement enabling Origin Holding Company, LLC, a Chicago, IL-based private real estate fund manager, to join forces with Focus partner firm Kovitz Investment Group Partners, LLC.
The firm will continue to provide its real estate funds under the Origin brand while retaining its leadership and investment team. The deal is anticipated to conclude in the first quarter of 2023, subject to the fulfillment of customary closing conditions.
Origin is a prominent manager of private real estate funds specializing in multifamily residential assets. The company manages multifamily property funds to provide investors with tax-efficient income, capital appreciation, and portfolio diversification. Its funds have more than 3,000 individual investors, many of whom were referred by other high-net-worth organizations. Its performance places them in the top decile of 2022's best private real estate fund managers, according to Preqin, an alternative investing data provider.
This strategic transaction will significantly expand the footprint and scale of Kovitz's private real estate fund solutions for clients, building on the company's long history of real estate investing success. Through this agreement, Kovitz will make its operational capabilities and wealth management know-how available to Origin and its investors.
Meanwhile, Berkshire Global Advisors served as Origin's primary financial advisor in this transaction.
David Scherer, Co-CEO of Origin, concluded, "In evaluating strategic partners, our objectives were to preserve and promote the continuity of our well-established brand while also gaining access to additional resources to help us better serve our funds' investors and grow our business."
About Origin Investments
Origin Investments provides best-in-class real estate solutions to HNWIs, family offices, and RIAs. It manages multifamily real estate developments in fast-growing U.S. markets. Since 2007, the company has accomplished $2.5 billion in real estate transactions, while its principals have invested $60 million. Alternative investment data source Preqin says that the company's performance is in the top 10% of the world's best private real estate fund managers.
About Kovitz
Kovitz Investment Group Partners, LLC (Kovitz) is an SEC-registered investment adviser that serves individual and institutional customers. It connects HNWIs, institutions, and financial professionals to asset management and advising methods. It offers long-term investing options backed by rigorous research. The organization approaches financial planning and wealth management as active activities, helping clients make the right decisions.
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MARKET OUTLOOK, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
The Agency | February 09, 2023
On February 7, 2023, Global real estate brokerage The Agency announced the opening of a new franchise office in Lisbon, Portugal. This marks the company's second office in Europe, following The Netherlands, which opened in 2022. The office joins the brokerage's expanding network of over 70 locations throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, Europe and the Caribbean. The Portugal office will be overseen by Ayres Neto, an industry veteran and Managing Partner.
Over the past year, The Agency has rapidly extended its global footprint, making it one of the world's fastest-growing luxury boutique brokerages. The independent brokerages owned by The Agency are integrated and refered to as true global partners. Every Managing Partner, whether from corporate or independently-owned offices, functions as one true global network.
The Agency's global partners have the same access to marketing, leadership, training, public relations, resources, and technology as its corporate offices instead of merely employing brand likeness in their marketing. The Agency has exhibited remarkable global growth since 2022, launching 27 new corporate and independently-owned offices, including the new office in Portugal, with even more openings imminent.
Ayres Neto, a highly successful, award-winning, top-ranked agent, will serve as Managing Partner of The Agency Portugal, leading and mentoring a diverse, multilingual staff of real estate experts from over a dozen nations who speak thirteen languages.
The Agency's well-known brand has been featured on worldwide television programs such as The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles, and Buying Beverly Hills, which premiered on Netflix on November 4, 2022. The Agency has spread to more than 70 corporately owned and franchise offices worldwide, making it one of the world's fastest-growing luxury boutique brokerages. The Financial Times recognizes The Agency as one of America's Fastest Growing Firms and has ranked among Inc. 5000's list of the country's fastest-growing private companies for six consecutive years. The Agency is poised for future development with like-minded partners in essential areas.
About The Agency RE
The Agency is a full-service luxury real estate brokerage and lifestyle firm that represents customers all over the world in a variety of segments, including residential, new development, resort real estate, residential leasing, and luxury vacation rentals. Since its establishment in 2011, it has reinvented the real estate business, modernizing and expanding the industry by developing a partnership culture in which all customers and listings are represented collaboratively by all its agents. The company has closed over $8.62 billion in real estate transactions and has established itself as a dominant player in the luxury real estate market, representing several of the country's most visible and high-end properties.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, MORTGAGE AND LENDING
Lower and Opendoor | January 19, 2023
The financial services company Lower recently announced the launch of its brand new mortgage-as-a-service (MaaS) platform, which makes it simple for consumer brands to provide mortgage solutions to clients.
After conducting a successful test of the service, Opendoor, the industry-leading e-commerce platform for residential real estate transactions, has decided to outsource all its mortgage fulfillment to Lower.
Setting up an in-house mortgage lending operation has been a time-consuming task for many companies in the past. Lower's MaaS platform allows the consumer finance, banking, and real estate industries to offer a digital-first home financing experience quickly and easily, with white-labeling possibilities. It is possible to integrate it into the customer journey of the partner by using APIs and other no-code methods.
Opendoor's early adoption of Lower demonstrates that the service's distinctive combination of human skill and technology has proven successful for the Lower team.
Chelsea Wagner, newly appointed as SVP of Partnerships to oversee the new platform, remarks, "Nearly every proptech and fintech company we talk to has some version of home lending on their roadmap. It's a natural value add, but until now there wasn't a solution. Our infrastructure and expertise make us uniquely positioned to accelerate a new mortgage offering.” She further added, "We believe the demand will be high for this product as a new, easily implemented product offering for companies."
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
In context to the new platform, Co-Founder and CEO Dan Snyder continued, "We've taken our years of mortgage experience and processes, and allowed any business to offer mortgage to its customers. This is a big step for brands that have captive audiences but not the means or experience to offer such products. It allows companies like Opendoor to stay focused on what they do best, while adding a new product that lives up to their brand promise and expand their reach."
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
The MaaS solution enables businesses to immediately offer home finance choices to their customers while increasing their lending presence to more than 93% of the US population. Customers will get access to Lower's full array of products, which will allow them to personalize lending solutions to their unique needs.
About Lower
Lower's multi-channel financial platform assists clients in building wealth through homeownership, regardless of where they are in life's path. The company's mortgage, banking, insurance, and real estate solutions offer customers a straightforward environment to simplify their homeownership aspirations, whether it's their first or last house.
About Opendoor
Opendoor, founded in 2014, empowers everyone with the freedom to move. The company wants to create a digital, end-to-end customer experience that makes purchasing and selling a home simple, certain, and fast. The company has developed a varied staff to serve more than 100,000 houses it has bought and dealt with, as well as the consumers who have trusted it to handle one of their most significant financial transactions.
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