REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
WPM Real Estate Management | January 27, 2023
WPM Real Estate Management, one of the leading property management firms in the Mid-Atlantic region, has today announced several internal promotions as part of its long-term objective for growth and success.
WPM's Maintenance and Construction Services Division named Michael 'Mike' Mangum Director of Operations. Mike joined WPM 14 years ago as a service technician and was elevated to Maintenance Operations Advisor in 2021 after 10 years as Service Manager in the Multifamily Real Estate Division. He's vital to WPM's operations, training, and success. His new post is part of a strategic reorganization inside the division that will allow the company to extend its service offerings and boost cross-company collaboration on maintenance and services, increasing client value.
Meanwhile, Rita Dore has now been promoted to Senior Commercial Manager for WPM's Commercial Real Estate Division. She managed community associations for the Association Real Estate Division. Rita has worked in WPM's Association, HR, Commercial, and Services divisions for 17 years. She has excellent client contacts and extensive knowledge of WPM's procedures, technologies, and operations. Her leadership at WPM's Commercial Real Estate Division will help it flourish.
CEO James Dahlgren, Jr. expressed, "We're excited to have Mike and Rita stepping into these leadership positions to help us grow these two divisions." "Both of these individuals bring extensive knowledge and experience to their roles and will be instrumental to WPM's continued growth and expansion," James added.
(Source – Cision PR Web)
Besides, Herman Martin is now the Multifamily Maintenance Operations Advisor, replacing Mike Magnum. He joined WPM in 2021 after 30 years in the profession. Herman's knowledge of the division's service demands and track record ensure continuity. This role will report to Mangum and assist with Multifamily Real Estate Division maintenance needs as part of the planned restructuring.
In this context, CEO James Dahlgren, Jr. remarked, "Herman is well respected by Associates and clients alike." "I am confident he will continue to deliver on WPM's commitment to service excellence in this new role," he concluded.
(Source – Cision PR Web)
About WPM Real Estate Management
WPM Real Estate Management manages nearly 25,000 properties and over 40,000 people in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia. Its services include multifamily real estate management, association real estate management, commercial real estate management, along with maintenance and construction. The company brings an experienced owner's viewpoint and a proactive approach to property management to ensure that its actions and decisions add value for people living, working, and investing in its properties. Being a premier real estate management firm in the region, the company has earned the title of Accredited Management Organization®.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, HOME AND DESIGN
FirstClose | February 02, 2023
To help home equity lenders select and integrate their preferred settlement service vendors into FirstCloseTM Equity more efficiently, the company has launched its next-generation Vendor Gateway.
FirstClose Equity is a one-of-a-kind home equity origination solution that streamlines operational touchpoints while improving borrowers' overall customer experience. The platform's end-to-end solution comprises a borrower-facing point-of-sale solution that provides consumers with fast online feedback on their home valuation, accessible home equity, loan possibilities, and credit decisions in minutes. Also, lenders may be able to finish the process from application to closing in 7–10 days, while the average in the industry is 45–60 days. This is possible because of automated workflows that include the ordering of settlement services.
Lenders and their vendor partners can both significantly benefit from using FirstClose Gateway. One of the many benefits is that it will reduce vendors' time to get their products on the market. It will also make things better for borrowers by giving them consistent data and making sure their orders are filled. Also, it will make contracting and managing vendors easier by letting FirstClose equity lenders connect with their preferred providers under a single agreement, with a single bill and a single point of contact.
Ramiro Castro, Chief Product Officer for FirstClose, stated, "We designed the Gateway to give lenders greater control over the home equity process: everything from the customer experience they deliver to their operational and risk management choices."
"While our latest release includes a core set of vendors that are accelerating the origination process, our platform is vendor agnostic," Ramiro Castro concluded.
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
About FirstClose
FirstClose, Inc., based in Austin (Texas), is a national provider of fintech solutions for a home equity line of credit (HELOC) and mortgage lenders. The company aims to help mortgage lenders improve profits while decreasing expenses. This is made possible by FirstClose's technology and relationships, which allow lenders to help their borrowers better, minimize closing costs, and shorten closing timeframes.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY,REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Lessen | January 17, 2023
Lessen, the leading tech-enabled outsourced property services platform, recently announced the strategic acquisition of facilities maintenance technology leader SMS Assist.
By combining the complementary strengths of both organizations, Lessen will continue to address real estate's pain points, offering its clients a scalable, tech-enabled enterprise solution for residential and commercial services. As a result, the companies will serve around 250,000 residential and commercial properties nationwide, enabling approximately 2.5 million repair and maintenance orders annually, in addition to expanding their property services.
The transaction is completed with stock and cash, with Lessen raising roughly $500 million in combined new debt and equity. SMS Assist stockholders exchanged a portion of SMS stock for Lessen stock, resulting in a combined company valuation of over $2 billion. Debt and equity investors, including Värde Partners, Monroe Capital, and Koch Real Estate Investments, assisted with this transaction. Invitation Homes and American Homes 4 Rent are among the clients who invested in the deal with Lessen.
Following the conclusion of the transaction, Lessen's Jay McKee will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of the newly-merged company. He states, "Lessen recognized early on the opportunity to provide an enterprise-level solution that solved the real estate industry's long-tenured property services pain points." He added, "This deal demonstrates the increasing demand within the underpenetrated, $330 billion addressable North American property services market for a unified, extensible delivery platform that provides transparency, efficiency and data-driven insights for the entire real estate ecosystem including investors, owners, managers and service providers.
(Source – Business Wire)
The new, unified technology platform will allow various service providers—from painters, contractors, and plumbers to electricians and more—to work as one on a national scale, which was previously impossible. The quality of this work will be supervised and inspected by Lessen's in-house project managers. This integrated solution will assist owners in overcoming skilled labor shortages while lessening administrative burden, enhancing project efficiency, and providing real-time project updates.
About Lessen
Lessen is the only end-to-end tech-enabled solution for outsourced real estate property services that delivers consistency, quality, and speed at scale, focusing on single-family and multifamily rental renovations, turns, and maintenance. Through automation and real-time analytics, the firm's technology suite is disrupting and modernizing a project management space that is still reliant on traditional organizational and communication models. The company's professional field project managers provide on-the-ground service, utilizing a network of verified service professionals in over 40 markets across the country, all powered by its proprietary technology platform.
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