REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, AGENT
Businesswire | March 27, 2023
Cloze, an AI-based intelligence provider focused on the real estate market, announced today that Brown Harris Stevens (BHS), the premier privately held real estate brokerage, has successfully rolled out Cloze CRM as part of its market-leading BHSOne initiative. Within just six weeks, adoption of Cloze CRM has overachieved its initial targets, driven initially by a highly successful internal marketing campaign that itself used Cloze, and fueled further by agent-to-agent recommendations from early adopters.
“We looked at many different CRMs, and Cloze gave us three clear reasons why it was the only partner for us,” said Matthew Leone, chief marketing officer at Brown Harris Stevens. “First, there was no barrier to entry. We were amazed at how easy it was to log in, create an account, and get onboarded. Second, you can access all of its functionality through its mobile application—our agents are in front of their phones 100% of the time. And finally, the integration of artificial intelligence was a game changer. We’ve seen how it can as a virtual assistant suggest the proper prospecting steps and touchpoints with everyone in their sphere of influence leading to a higher engagement rate.”
In contrast to typical CRMs that expect agents to constantly update and log their activities and contacts into the system, Cloze silently manages that busywork in the background without disrupting an agent’s daily workflows. Through the insights extracted from agent communications, Cloze CRM flags action items and due dates and recommends how, when, and why to reach out to new and previous clients, highlighting special events, birthdays, or anniversaries, for example, or bubbling up contacts that could benefit from outreach.
“Cloze is by far the best CRM I have ever used,” described Holly Smith, an agent affiliated with BHS’ Palm Beach office. “The AI features are amazing. It reminds you each morning who you need to follow up with, logs and attaches all calls and emails to a contact, and even writes emails for you with AI.”
As part of an internal use case, BHS’ marketing team used Cloze to increase email engagement rates from 10-20% to 80-100% by delivering customized, relevant content to each of the brokerage’s 2,500+ agents. Such customization was made possible because Cloze combines a robust template library with automated processes and AI-generated insights, making it simple to provide highly customized content relevant to each recipient and to do so at scale. The result has been the ability to reach more people in less time with more authenticity.
“Our goal was to provide a tool that would make our agents and managers more efficient in communicating while helping them keep on top of tasks, even as they’re managing multiple deals at different points in the home-buying process,” explained BHS CTO Chris Reyes. “Cloze not only met those expectations, but exceeded them.”
For more information on how BHS agents are deriving value from Cloze CRM, check out the case study and video interview at https://blog.cloze.com/cloze-crm/cloze-the-ai-driven-game-changer-for-brown-harris-stevens/.
About Cloze
Cloze’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered real estate platform translates everyday communications into actionable insights that brokerages and their agents use to close more deals, drive higher revenue, and increase profitability. Cloze achieves this by strengthening relationships, reducing manual work, driving a more consistent lead-to-close experience, and improving both marketing ROI and overall closure rates.
Cloze’s full suite of real estate solutions includes Cloze CRM, Cloze Marketing, Cloze Leads, and Cloze AI Insights. To learn more, visit cloze.com.
About Brown Harris Stevens
Brown Harris Stevens (BHS) is one of the most prominent privately-held real estate firms in the world. Established in 1873, BHS has historically dominated the luxury, high-end market. With more than 2,500 agents across the East Coast, the company oversees the sale of marquee properties worldwide, including property management and new development marketing, from its headquarters in New York City and its offices throughout the Tristate area, Palm Beach, and Miami. Learn more at www.bhsusa.com.
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REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT, MORTGAGE AND LENDING
New American Funding | March 06, 2023
New American Funding, an independent mortgage lender, recently announced its partnership with Patch, the hyper-local news platform, to become its exclusive mortgage provider. Through this partnership, NAF will be featured prominently in Patch's weekly newsletters in more than 1200 communities worldwide and on the real estate and mortgage hub on each of Patch's community websites.
Patch offers unique news and information for over 1200 communities throughout the nation at present. By the end of the year, Patch plans to grow in a big way. With Patch, NAF is also a nationwide provider company, creating it as a natural partnership. By collaborating with NAF, Patch can offer its readers access to reliable mortgage services through a reputable provider. As Patch's growth continues, this partnership with NAF is poised to help both companies reach a wider audience and meet their business goals.
CEO and Co-Founder of New American Funding, Rick Arvielo, said, "As the way families find companies to work with evolves, so do the ways we can reach them," He also said, "This partnership will put our company in front of millions of people, giving us a great opportunity to educate them about the various loan options we offer and show them how we can help them achieve their dreams of homeownership."
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
About New American Funding
Founded in 2003 as an independently-owned and operated mortgage lender, New American Funding has 165 branch offices nationwide and a servicing portfolio of over 243,770 loans worth about $64.3 billion. J.D. Power in Customer Satisfaction in 2022 ranked New American Funding as #1 among Mortgage Servicers. Furthermore, in 2022, the company ranked 18th on Fortune's list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For®. The company provides its Loan Officers with cutting-edge tools to help them streamline the mortgage process and offers advanced career training. Based in Tustin (California), it is committed to providing impartial mortgage education to the broader public.
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AGENT, MORTGAGE AND LENDING
Knock | January 25, 2023
Knock, an innovative fintech company, announced on January 24, 2023, that agents and consumers would no longer have to choose between working with their local or national lenders.
The company informed that any lender or agent can now add a no-interest equity advance loan from Knock to almost any conventional or jumbo mortgage to increase the benefits of Knock Home SwapTM. In addition, homeowners can win their desired property and move on their timeline by matching Knock Home Swap Equity Advance with a purchase mortgage.
Knock Co-Founder and CEO Sean Black stated, "Since 2015, our mission has been to empower people to move freely, and we have continued to raise the bar when it comes to making the process of buying and selling homes simple, certain and cost-effective."
"Many companies offer home loans, but no one else offers the Home Swap. By partnering with lenders, we are making it easier for consumers to get the benefits of leveraging the equity in their current house to buy their dream home without any of the hassles that typically come with buying and selling, including the ability to avoid moving twice and living through repairs and showings," he added.
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
Before putting their current house on the market, a homeowner can use Knock Home Swap Equity Advance to make a firm offer, negotiate, and close quickly on the home they want.
Knock Home Swap Equity Advance loan can also be used to make up to a 30% down payment, buy down the mortgage rate, cover closing expenses, cover up to $35,000 in home preparation costs to sell the old house for top cash, and pay up to six months of mortgage payments on the previous house. Besides, Knock's Home Prep & Marketability Allowance gives access to its approved contractor network and pays all bills out of homeowners' equity.
About Knock
Knock was started in 2015 by founding team members of Trulia.com. Since then, it has raised more than $600 million in debt and equity from top investors. National Association of Realtors® is a strategic investor in Knock through its investment arm, Second Century Ventures. This means that Knock's homeownership solutions can be sold to its clients by its 1.5 million members. The company currently operates 72 markets across the country but wishes to expand to 100 by 2023.
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