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 Technology
REcolorado | September 28, 2023
Today, in partnership with proptech leader SkySlope, Colorado’s largest real estate multiple listing service, REcolorado, announced they will co-develop an innovative product called Offer Insights. Scheduled to be released first to REcolorado subscribers in early 2024, Offer Insights harnesses the power of machine learning and market data to alert agents of opportunities and potential errors as they are completing real estate forms. This feature streamlines processes and boosts compliance by delivering market-aware suggestions to agents, using real-time data to signal when any information entered on a form falls above or below accepted industry standards.
“When co-developing Offer Insights, we wanted to improve compliance, but we also wanted to provide REcolorado subscribers with essential market visibility,” said SkySlope CEO Tyler Smith. “Offer Insights will provide key indicators of what’s happening in the local market. Agents who use it will have access to beneficial information that’s not available anywhere else.”
REcolorado is dedicated to engaging with their subscribers to gain a true understanding of their ever-evolving needs, which gives the company the ability to develop technological solutions that address those needs while also advancing the industry. By participating in co-development partnerships like this, REcolorado’s expertise can be leveraged to build meaningful solutions that give brokers and agents the ability to serve their clients as a trusted advisor.
“Our subscribers trust us to listen and understand their needs so we can deliver the data, services, and insights that can be used to serve their clients and advance their businesses,” explains REcolorado President and CEO Gene Millman. “With their ability to transform data into powerful solutions that help brokers and agents work efficiently by making transactions move more smoothly, SkySlope is an ideal partner for us.”
The REcolorado-SkySlope partnership underscores the ongoing movement among MLSs to evolve their services. By embracing collaboration with technology partners and brokerage leaders, MLSs are identifying agent pain points and actively participating in the development of tech-forward solutions that empower their subscribers to serve their clients efficiently and effectively.
“This strategic partnership will develop a service that keeps our subscribers’ needs squarely in focus,” said Millman. “These types of collaborations are essential to creating innovations that will give agents a competitive advantage as the industry shifts.”
Additionally, REcolorado will soon be launching two SkySlope signature solutions, SkySlope Offers and SkySlope Forms, to over 26,000 Colorado real estate professionals. Designed to bring time-saving automation to real estate transactions, these solutions significantly reduce administrative tasks for agents.
About REcolorado
REcolorado is the largest Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in Colorado with over 26,000 professional subscribers who operate throughout the state. Recipient of Inman’s 2023 Innovator Award in the MLS, Association, or Industry category, REcolorado's vision is to empower a trusted, cooperative, and comprehensive real estate marketplace to position customers for success by providing data, technology, and intelligence. The company is REALTOR® owned and serves real estate professionals including the members of Denver Metro Association of REALTORS®, South Metro Denver REALTOR® Association, Mountain Metro Association of REALTORS®, REALTORS® of Central Colorado, and Steamboat Springs Board of REALTORS.
About SkySlope
Established in 2011, SkySlope is the customer experience platform managing real estate transactions from contract to close. Serving over 650,000 real estate professionals across the U.S. and Canada, SkySlope manages nearly 3 million transactions annually. SkySlope is on a mission to build solutions that reshape the real estate industry by creating the most powerful autonomous transaction platform. For more information, visit SkySlope.
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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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