MARKET OUTLOOK, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
PRweb | March 29, 2023
Global real estate brokerage The Agency proudly announces the launch of its first franchise office in Ontario’s York Region. The new locale, which will be known as The Agency York Region, is the firm’s 16th office in Canada, joining the brokerage’s growing network of more than 75 offices in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe. The York Region office will be led by industry veterans Katia and Steve Bailey, and Niusha Walker who will serve as Managing Partners, and Adolphe Khouri who will serve as Managing Director.
“Our brand new office in Ontario’s York Region is an exciting next chapter for The Agency as our brand continues to expand throughout sought-after regions in Canada,” said Mauricio Umansky, CEO and Founder of The Agency. “We’re delighted to partner again with Katia and Steve Bailey, as well as Niusha Walker and Adolphe Khouri, who are all well-respected leaders and innovators in our industry.”
The Agency has rapidly expanded its presence across the globe throughout the past year, making it one of the fastest-growing luxury boutique brokerages in the world. The Agency’s independent-owned brokerages are referred to and integrated as true global partners. Every Managing Partner, from both corporate or independently-owned offices, operates cohesively as one true global network. Rather than simply using brand likeness in their marketing, The Agency’s global partners enjoy the same access to leadership, marketing, public relations, training, tools, and technology as our corporate offices. In Q1 of 2023 alone, The Agency has launched seven new offices, including the new office in the York Region, with more on the horizon in the coming months.
“Our strategic expansion in Canada has been exceptional as we continue to seek like-minded partners who embody The Agency brand,” said Jim Ramsay, Executive Vice President of Franchise Sales at The Agency. “We’re thrilled to continue our work with Katia and Steve Bailey, as well as Niusha Walker and Adolphe Khouri as we debut our new office in the York Region, bringing our world-class offerings to buyers and sellers throughout the area.”
Katia Bailey serves as Broker of Record and Managing Partner of several of The Agency's Canadian offices including Waterloo Region, Oakville, Muskoka, Brantford, Toronto West, and now York Region, bringing a true passion for real estate and an authentic, people-forward approach to running the brokerage. Since launching her career in real estate operations and marketing over 17 years ago, she has successfully managed a team that has produced more than $1 billion in sales. Katia’s accessibility to her agents and their clients, expedient work ethic, keen attention to detail and love for the nuanced processes that take place behind the scenes of every transaction make her an essential resource. Katia’s passion lies in making genuine connections and creating and delivering cutting-edge and strategic marketing. As the former Operations Manager for The Bailey Team, she helped her husband and business partner, Steve Bailey, grow the team to more than 20 agents and multiple administrators. The Bailey Team ranked #9 in Canada and #21 in the world for RE/MAX before launching at The Agency, overseeing more than a billion in sales and thousands of transactions.
Steve Bailey, Broker and Managing Partner of multiple Agency offices, including Waterloo Region, Oakville, Muskoka, Brantford, Toronto West, and now York Region, is a seasoned real estate professional who has achieved more than $1 billion in sales over his decade-and-a-half-long career. Steve’s diligence, forthrightness and authenticity have made him an in-demand real estate advisor for clients throughout Canada. Prior to joining The Agency, Steve earned numerous awards for sales achievements and career excellence during his tenure at Re/MAX. A skilled communicator and world-aware market expert, Steve has a degree in Business from Wilfrid Laurier University. Though Steve has a broad-reaching knowledge of the local real estate landscape and can serve a range of clients, he is particularly passionate about luxury real estate and guiding clients through the sale of their homes.
“With each Agency office we open, we’re reminded of the brand’s dominance and the burgeoning demand for it throughout Canada - our new office in the York Region is no exception,” said Katia and Steve Bailey. “We’re looking forward to ushering in a new era of real estate to the area with The Agency’s groundbreaking offerings, blue-chip service, and incomparable marketing power.”
An award-winning real estate professional with nearly a decade of experience in property investing, Niusha Walker holds a vital leadership role at The Agency York Region, where she serves as Managing Partner. Specializing in assisting buyers, sellers, and investors within the Greater Toronto Area. Niusha adeptly provides highly personalized, white glove service to her clients while closing record-setting sales with poise and ease. In addition to achieving more than $40 million in sales in her first two years as an agent, Niusha has been presented with the Diamond Elite and Ruby Elite Awards from her previous brokerage, Engel & Völkers, which awarded agents who reached a specific gross commission income. Niusha is also a Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist and Certified International Property Specialist. Raised in Richmond Hill, Ontario, which is located in the York Region, where she still resides, Niusha is deeply familiar with the area’s unique neighborhoods and stays up-to-date on its ever-evolving market trends. Among Niusha’s many talents are her meticulous attention to detail, her ability to use thoughtful cross-market strategies to showcase exceptional homes to exclusive audiences, and negotiating powerfully to best serve her clients.
“The Agency is making its mark across prominent destinations throughout Canada, and our office in the York Region will further differentiate the brand from other renowned brokerages in the area,” said Niusha Walker. “As a long-time resident of the York Region, I am thrilled to be leading a team in one of the most special markets in Ontario.”
As Managing Director of The Agency York Region, Adolphe Khouri effectively and compassionately mentors teammates and guides clients through every aspect of today’s real estate market, leading with enthusiasm and confidence rooted in more than nine years of extensive industry experience. A highly respected top producer, Adolphe was named a Rising Star by The Agency in 2020 and is co-founder of WA Monteiro Group, a real estate group within The Agency that he founded alongside his life partner Woodrow Monteiro. Adolphe is passionate about every aspect of the home buying and selling process. Known for his unflappable work ethic and professional demeanor, Adolphe first entered the real estate realm as a manager of a more than 75-unit luxury corporate rental building in Downtown Toronto. Raised in Windsor, Ontario, Adolphe attended the University of Windsor and graduated with a dual degree in sociology and communications studies.
With solid infrastructure, The Agency has a renowned brand that is featured on international television shows including Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and Buying Beverly Hills, which debuted on Netflix on November 4, 2022. The Agency has grown to more than 70 corporately owned and franchise offices across the globe, making it one of the fastest-growing luxury boutique brokerages in the world. Poised for further expansion with like-minded partners in strategic markets, The Agency is noted by The Financial Times as one of America’s Fastest Growing Companies and has ranked among Inc. 5000’s list of fastest-growing private companies in the country for six consecutive years. Recently, The Agency ranked 21st on the 2022 RealTrends 500 list, and led the top 50 firms in average sales price by sides with a $2.5 million average sales price. In August 2022, Inman named The Agency Luxury Brokerage of the year.
The Agency
The Agency is an agent-first, tech-driven boutique luxury global brokerage representing clients worldwide in a broad spectrum of classes, including residential, new development, resort real estate, luxury leasing and vacation rentals. Breaking away from the traditional brokerage model, The Agency takes a collaborative approach to the business, fostering a culture of partnership in which all clients and listings are represented in a collaborative environment. Agents and clients benefit from the shared resources and networks of the entire global team, including in-house creative, public relations and cutting-edge technology divisions. The Agency has closed more than $57 billion real estate transactions since 2011, comprising over 70 offices in ten countries, and counting, as one of the fastest-growing boutique, luxury real estate brands in the world. Watch The Agency on Buying Beverly Hills, a new real estate occu-soap highlighting the high-stakes world of luxury real estate in Los Angeles, currently streaming on Netflix.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, BUYING/SELLING
PRnewswire | April 06, 2023
Rently, the leader in self-touring and smart home technology solutions, is pleased to announce a partnership with TURSS, a subsidiary of TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) to provide single-family property managers with an automated leasing application that helps eliminate rental fraud, streamlines business operations, and ensures quality tenants.
Rently's "3-in-1" rental application uses multi-layer security features and innovative AI technology to instantly verify renter ID, income, and credit history. Using information provided by touring renters, Rently's application can be pre-filled up to 30%, connected immediately to bank accounts and TransUnion for financial verifications, and approved within hours.
"Rently is excited to expand our portfolio of smart leasing tools with an innovative product that helps our clients find the best possible tenants," said Merrick Lackner, Rently CEO. "Rently's 3-in-1 rental application continues our commitment to creating real value for our customers."
"TransUnion's TruVision™ Resident Score was specifically created for the rental housing industry to provide the most predictive benefit of reducing bad debt through lower evictions and skips," said Maitri Johnson, vice president of tenant and employment screening at TransUnion. "We provide a comprehensive view of each applicant to help property managers choose the most qualified tenants, while remaining fully compliant with the Fair Housing Act."
In addition to providing renters with a superior experience, Rently's application also saves renters money because it can be transferred across multiple homes under the same management company and used by multiple renters applying as roommates. Renters can also avoid unnecessary application fees by using Rently's iQual+™, a feature that helps them avoid applying to homes they may not qualify for.
Rently's application seamlessly integrates with its popular touring and smart home platform, and managers can view listings and applicants from the same desktop portal. Because it can be easily added through open integration, Rently's application is ideal for clients looking for a flexible "plug and play" solution.
About Rently
Rently is the leader in self-touring and smart home technology. We offer best-in-class proptech solutions for the rental housing industry. We combine top-tier hardware with an innovative software platform that allows real estate operators to optimize their leasing efficiency and expand revenue opportunities. Rently.com
About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)
TransUnion is a global information and insights company with over 12,000 associates operating in more than 30 countries. We make trust possible by ensuring each person is reliably represented in the marketplace. We do this with a Tru™ picture of each person: an actionable view of consumers, stewarded with care. Through our acquisitions and technology investments we have developed innovative solutions that extend beyond our strong foundation in core credit into areas such as marketing, fraud, risk and advanced analytics. As a result, consumers and businesses can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good® — and it leads to economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for millions of people around the world. https://www.transunion.com/business
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, MORTGAGE AND LENDING
Globenewswire | May 19, 2023
Voxtur Analytics Corp. (TSXV: VXTR; OTCQB: VXTRF) ("Voxtur" or the "Company"), a North American technology company creating a more transparent and accessible real estate lending ecosystem, is pleased to announce the signing of an exclusive platform agreement with The Mortgage Collaborative (“TMC”), America’s largest independent cooperative network for the mortgage industry that includes both community banks and non-bank lenders. Voxtur will make available to over 250 TMC members its complete digital ecosystem to support the mortgage lifecycle. More specifically, Voxtur’s mortgage asset trading platform, Blue Water, will deliver a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution to facilitate the purchase and sale of mortgage assets, including first mortgage agency whole loans, mortgage servicing rights, second liens, and non-QM mortgages. The Blue Water platform facilitates pricing, trading, reviewing, transferring, and funding of mortgage assets and portfolios in the secondary market.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Voxtur, TMC, and its members,” said Gary Yeoman, CEO of Voxtur. “Our mortgage asset trading platform is built to deliver high volume trading and create efficient liquidity. We have successfully deployed similar platforms and I am confident that TMC and its members will realize value.”
As the market recovers, lenders need increased revenue and liquidity. For mid to small sized lenders with small servicing portfolios, operational friction and high costs result in reduced investor demand and opportunities. Further, smaller portfolios command lower proceeds which naturally disadvantages many originators and prohibits optimum liquidity. TMC can now provide its members with the most sophisticated, efficient, and unique platform for trading asset portfolios of any size. Blue Water’s all-digital trading solution verifies critical loan data, conducts a high-level review of underwriting and investor eligibility, and offers real-time exception remediation management to minimize underwriting risk and avoid costly rep and warrant claims. Blue Water’s data transfer application does not use sampling, but instead verifies every loan file, and does so at an attractive price point.
“This is a compelling use case for our members, and I expect that we will see meaningful adoption," said David Kittle, Chairman of TMC. "These have been difficult times for so many of our members and this type of platform will provide tremendous value to support them in driving revenue and solving for liquidity needs at scale.”
The Blue Water-TMC platform is expected to go live within the next few weeks with a soft-launch at the Mortgage Bankers Association Secondary and Capital Markets Conference and Expo in New York early next week.
About The Mortgage Collaborative
Based in San Diego, California, the Mortgage Collaborative was founded in 2013 to empower mortgage lenders across the country with better financial execution, reduced costs, enhanced expertise and improved compliance, as well as helping members access the dynamic and changing consumer base in America. The cooperative is managed by its founding members, John Robbins, CMB; David Kittle, CMB; Gary Acosta, CEO of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP); and Jim Park, former chair of the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA). Robbins and Kittle are former chairmen of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.
About Voxtur
Voxtur is a transformational real estate technology company that is redefining industry standards in a dynamic lending environment. The Company offers targeted data analytics to simplify tax solutions, property valuation and settlement services throughout the lending lifecycle for investors, lenders, government agencies and servicers. Voxtur's proprietary data hub and workflow platforms more accurately and efficiently value assets, originate and service loans, securitize portfolios and evaluate tax assessments. The Company serves the property lending and property tax sectors, both public and private, in the United States and Canada.
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