Real Estate Technology
PR Newswire | October 17, 2023
JPAR, a leading name in real estate, is proud to announce a groundbreaking partnership with CubiCasa, a pioneer in floor plan technology. The partnership marks one of CubiCasa's first partnerships with a residential real estate brand. The companies have joined in executing a vision to bring a floor plan to every listing.
In a survey by the National Association of REALTORS®, it was revealed that 67% of home buyers consider floor plans "very useful" in their property search, yet this essential feature is often overlooked in listings. Following photos and listing data, a floor plan is the most coveted data asset for consumers.
"We want every interaction with one of our agents and listings to be a quality experience for consumers. This partnership empowers our sales professionals to meet the demands of modern buyers by providing them with the information they need to make some of the largest decisions in their lives," said Daniel Butbul, VP of Operations at JPAR's Affiliated Network. "Our goal is to have floor plans available on 90% of JPAR listings by the end of 2024," added Butbul.
Effective immediately, agents may now register for a JPAR-sponsored CubiCasa account, accessible through the JPAR® OneStop HUB.
"It's incredibly exciting to work with JPAR® on this project. They share our vision of a better real estate search experience powered by floor plans being attached to every listing, and our technology is the world's single-easiest and most-scalable solution to creating floor plans," according to Jeff Allen, President, CubiCasa.
The CubiCasa app streamlines the process of creating floor plans for listings, requiring just 5-10 minutes to scan the property using almost any mobile device. Agents can then upload the scan on-site or at their convenience. CubiCasa's advanced AI technology transforms the scan into a professional-grade floor plan, which is delivered within 6-24 hours, available with and without measurements.
About JPAR - Real Estate
JPAR – Real Estate is a full-service real estate brand and franchise platform offering a highly competitive transaction fee-based model and agent-centric culture. The JPAR® platform provides agents seven (7) days-per-week support, a comprehensive tech stack, marketing, lead generation, training, and mentoring. JPAR® affiliated owners benefit from compliance review, 1-on-1 consulting, recruiting support, and a peer network of influential industry leaders. The company boasts more than 4,000 agents operating in 65 offices across 27 states, Washington, D.C. and closes over $8B annually in sales volume.
About CubiCasa
Headquartered in Oulu, Finland, CubiCasa is the global market leader in mobile indoor scanning and is known for its fast and easy-to-use floor plan app on the App Store and Google Play Store. CubiCasa's technology is used in 160 different countries and has helped create over 1 million floor plans to date. CubiCasa provides technology for the real estate, appraisal, and mortgage industries and is on a mission to digitize real estate.
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Real Estate Technology
Flyhomes | September 12, 2023
Flyhomes, creator of the world’s best home buying and selling experience, has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase certain assets from Innovative Holdings, LLC, doing business as Home Sale Assured, a leader in the field of ‘buy before you sell.’ Founded in early 2022 by Eric Meadow, Home Sale Assured’s flagship product is the Guaranteed Backup Contract, which empowers existing homeowners to buy their next home before closing on the sale of their current one. As part of the deal, Flyhomes will be acquiring the Home Sale Assured brand, and Meadow will be joining Flyhomes in a senior executive capacity where he’ll report to EVP of Mortgage & Closing, Dan Richards.
“Eric is a seasoned mortgage professional who has built something really special with the Guaranteed Backup Contract,” said Tushar Garg, co-founder and CEO at Flyhomes. “Its ability to remove friction from the buying and selling process, while adding assurance, flexibility, and customer-centricity, aligns perfectly with our core tenants here at Flyhomes. This deal strengthens our offerings and gives us more tools to serve more customers looking for a better way to buy and sell a home.”
Following the close of the deal, lender and realtor partners will be able to continue offering their customers access to the Guaranteed Backup Contract through the Home Sale Assured brand at Flyhomes. Understanding the importance of the customer-agent relationship, Guaranteed Backup Contract was designed to enhance the role of real estate agents and lenders. This ensures everyone moves in unison toward the common goals of seamlessly transitioning the customer into their new home and selling their prior home for maximum value.
“We’re thrilled to be adding Eric and the Home Sale Assured brand to the Flyhomes family of products,” said Dan Richards, EVP of Mortgage & Closing at Flyhomes. “Eric brings 25 years of mortgage industry experience, from his time as President of Celebrity Home Loans (at the time a national multi-billion dollar retail lender) to his recent success as an entrepreneur at Home Sale Assured. His deep operational knowledge and network of relationships will play a key role in extending our portfolio of products nationwide.”
“It’s an honor to be joining Flyhomes at such a critical point in residential real estate,” said Eric Meadow, CEO and founder of Home Sale Assured. “There remain far too many obstacles to home ownership these days, be it first-time home buyers, or in the case of Home Sale Assured, current homeowners trying to move. Consumers, agents and lenders are all looking for practical solutions to overcome these institutional challenges and Flyhomes has been at the forefront of this category. I’m ecstatic to now be able to leverage their advanced infrastructure and resources to bring the Guaranteed Backup Contract to more customers.”
Benefits of the Guaranteed Backup Contract:
With a valid purchase offer, a lender is able to apply standard agency guidelines to remove the departing debt obligation from the consumer’s debt to income ratio. Thus allowing the lender to approve the loan on the new home before the consumer closes on the sale of their prior home.
The consumer is able to close on and move into their new home and take up to 90 days to close on the sale of their prior home.
The consumer can work with a real estate agent to list their prior home for sale during this 90-day option period. If the consumer receives a better offer, they can cancel the Guaranteed Backup Contract and sell their home to the higher offer.
About Flyhomes
Flyhomes is building the world’s best homebuying and selling experience. Launched in 2016, Flyhomes has reinvented the homebuying and selling process at every step, making the process smoother and simpler for consumers with offerings like the Flyhomes Cash Offer and Buy Before You Sell. They back these services with a unique guarantee that gives both buyers and sellers certainty and peace of mind that is unheard of in real estate. To date, they’ve helped clients close on more than $6 billion worth of homes at prices ranging from $150,000 to $7 million.
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Real Estate Advice
PR Newswire | October 25, 2023
Zillow is launching a big update to the look and feel of for-sale property listings on its website, improving home shoppers' experience with a more intuitive and simplified layout.
The enhanced design of for-sale property listings on Zillow.com offers a wider, single-scroll format, making it easier for home shoppers to find key information, such as square footage, the Zestimate feature, lot size and home type. The new layout also introduces a media section at the top of the page that better showcases photos and 3D tours. By clicking on a photo, the media section expands, providing a full-page, magazine-style layout for seamless navigation through the rest of the home's photography.
"The new design delivers a fun and efficient way to browse homes on the Zillow website, making it easier for home shoppers to navigate and process information," said Jenny Arden, chief design officer at Zillow. "We introduced a wider layout for images, larger fonts for the most important facts and a clearer articulation of what makes the home special to help our users quickly understand if the home is right for them."
Zillow's app updates: Navigate with ease and simplify financing with the Home Loans tab
In addition to the redesign on the Zillow website, for-sale property listings on the Zillow app (iOS) are also receiving an update. This new look minimizes excessive scrolling by allowing users to more easily find the information that matters the most to them, whether that's home facts and features, a cost calculator or the Zestimate history.
When viewing a for-sale listing on the app, users will see a new look that presents the home details categorized into sections such as "What's Special,"' "Market Value," "Monthly Cost" and "Neighborhood." Users can click into particular sections of interest to find more details. This new look will be available before the end of the year on the Zillow iOS app.
Zillow is also introducing a new "Home Loans" tab on the Zillow app to help shoppers become buyers. Users can now easily figure out their budget, connect with a lender, get prequalified with Zillow Home Loans℠, and track their loan status — all in one place.
"Financing is a critical part of the home-buying process, and 60% of buyers say setting their budget is their first step when buying a home. With this update, we're helping the millions of people browsing the Zillow app better understand what they can afford within their budget and see a clear path toward getting the mortgage they need," said Matt Daimler, senior vice president of product at Zillow. "We're already seeing an impact: Customers are saying it's easier than ever to access and use our financing tools and get prequalified with Zillow Home Loans."
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