Market Outlook, Real Estate Investment
PRNewswire | August 02, 2023
Zillow® Group's new-construction listings will soon be automatically syndicated to Redfin, connecting home builders with motivated buyers on both platforms. The strategic partnership will dramatically expand the reach of home builder listings on Zillow and allow Redfin customers to explore a broader range of new-construction homes for sale, creating a seamless home-buying experience.
The new partnership comes at a time when new construction is gaining prominence among buyers. In June 2023, new single-family home sales were up 23.8% from a year ago. This is partly because the inventory of existing homes is dwindling and consumers are shifting to new construction to find a home that meets their needs. Zillow's latest market report shows there were 28% fewer new listings added to the market this June compared to last year. A Redfin analysis found that in the first half of 2023, one-third of single-family homes available for buyers to choose from were new construction, a record-high share.
"Zillow provides a standout platform for home builders to highlight their communities and connect with potential buyers. Zillow's Community pages, in particular, help buyers understand the benefits of a new-construction home and give home builders a place to highlight all the amenities within a new-build community," said Owen Gehrett, vice president and general manager of New Construction at Zillow. "The partnership with Redfin extends this unique and valuable resource to a wider audience. It benefits home builders by expanding their reach to additional home buyers, while empowering home shoppers to make confident and informed decisions, regardless of where they choose to shop."
Zillow boasts the largest selection of new-construction communities of all real estate websites in the U.S.,1 making it the ultimate choice for buyers seeking new homes and home builders looking to connect with those prospective shoppers. Through this strategic partnership, home builders will also market their new-construction communities to Redfin's extensive customer base of 50 million monthly visitors. Builders partnering with Zillow will begin to see their listings and communities syndicated to Redfin in the fourth quarter of 2023.
"With buyer demand outpacing the supply of existing homes for sale, Redfin's home-buying customers are increasingly turning to new construction," said Adam Wiener, Redfin's president of real estate operations. "Our Zillow partnership will help our customers discover more homes that fit their criteria. This is a win-win-win for our customers, agents and the builders who advertise with Zillow, who will now reach the homebuyers on Redfin. The partnership provides a new revenue opportunity while allowing us to focus on what we do best, helping customers buy and sell homes with local Redfin agents."
As part of the rollout, Redfin will launch new features to help buyers discover new-construction communities and connect with home builders, powered by Zillow's Community pages. These pages highlight important community amenities, featuring photos, videos, community maps and amenity details, which is incredibly important to new-construction buyers. According to Zillow's 2023 New Construction Consumer Housing Trends Report, 53% of new-construction buyers greatly value shared amenities such as clubhouses and fitness centers, compared to only 24% of existing home buyers.
Community pages also list all available homes for sale within the community, including homes that are move-in ready, nearly complete and lots, and provide a direct link to the builder's website, contact information and sales center hours. These features enable builders to showcase their homes, amenities and details in one convenient place, and soon, the features will be accessible to both Zillow and Redfin shoppers.
Upon the launch of the partnership, Redfin will source non-MLS new-construction listings exclusively from Zillow. New-construction listings available through an MLS will still be discoverable on Redfin.
About Zillow Group
Zillow Group, Inc. is reimagining real estate to make home a reality for more and more people. As the most visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow and its affiliates help people find and get the home they want by connecting them with digital solutions, great partners, and easier buying, selling, financing and renting experiences.
Zillow Group's affiliates, subsidiaries and brands include Zillow®; Zillow Premier Agent®; Zillow Home Loans℠; Zillow Closing Services℠; Trulia®; Out East®; StreetEasy®; HotPads®; and ShowingTime+℠, which includes ShowingTime®, Bridge Interactive®, and dotloop®.
About Redfin
Redfin is a technology-powered real estate company. We help people find a place to live with brokerage, rentals, lending, title insurance, and renovations services. We also run the country's #1 real estate brokerage site. Our home-buying customers see homes first with same day tours, and our lending and title services help them close quickly. Customers selling a home in certain markets can have our renovations crew fix up their home to sell for top dollar. Our rentals business empowers millions nationwide to find apartments and houses for rent. Customers who buy and sell with Redfin pay a 1% listing fee, subject to minimums, less than half of what brokerages commonly charge. Since launching in 2006, we've saved customers more than $1.5 billion in commissions. We serve more than 100 markets across the U.S. and Canada and employ over 5,000 people.
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Real Estate Technology, Mortgage and Lending
PRnewswire | July 26, 2023
FirstClose™, Inc., a leading fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for mortgage and home equity lenders nationwide, announced today that its home equity settlement services ordering module within FirstClose Equity is now integrated with Calyx Software's Point® loan origination system.
Through the integration, Point users can seamlessly originate HELOCs and home equity loans within their LOS and complete the application through the closing process faster than the industry average of 45 to 60 days. FirstClose's one-of-a-kind home equity solution reduces operational touchpoints to elevate the overall customer experience for borrowers. It also enables lenders to automate data collection, verification, and settlement services ordering.
FirstClose's order management module is currently used by more than 200 lenders nationwide to automate back-office manual processes. FirstClose's one-click ordering technology with the ability to modify settlement providers will enable Calyx Point lenders to reduce risk, grow their overall business, and position themselves better for continued growth and success in this surging home equity market.
"As a customer-first company, we are always looking to offer our lenders access to like-minded companies that provide simple solutions to real-world challenges our customers face," said Juan Villegas, Director of National Sales at Calyx Software. "We're proud to be integrated with FirstClose and to be able to help our clients streamline their home equity lending operations."
"Mortgage rates are rising; homeowners are staying in their homes longer and they are in a much better financial position than ever before. All these pieces point to HELOCs and HELs as the right products for the times," said Tedd Smith, Chief Executive Officer at FirstClose. "Having our order management module within Point will give Calyx users a simple and efficient way to capitalize on this growing market opportunity and stand out amongst the crowd by offering a significantly enhanced customer experience."
About Calyx
Calyx® is an established provider of compliant mortgage software solutions used by banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, and brokerages nationwide. The company's easy-to-use technology, including its online borrower interview, loan origination systems and secure electronic signature software, is designed to streamline, integrate and optimize all phases of the loan process for customers of various sizes, workflows, channels and complexities. Combined with its extensive network of integrated partners, Calyx products deliver a true digital mortgage solution that maximizes profitability and enhances the customer experience.
About FirstClose
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, FirstClose, Inc. provides fintech solutions to HELOC and mortgage lenders nationwide. The company's mission is to increase profitability and reduce cost for mortgage lenders. FirstClose makes this possible through offering systems and relationships that enable lenders to assist the lender's borrowers more effectively, reduce closing costs, and ultimately shorten closing times.
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Market Outlook, Real Estate Investment
Businesswire | July 13, 2023
Sagent, a Warburg Pincus-backed fintech software company modernizing mortgage servicing for banks and lenders, today announced a seven-year partnership extension with BSI Financial Services to continue powering its enterprise mortgage servicing ecosystem. As BSI Financial rapidly grows its servicing portfolio to a goal of 1 million loans, they’ll continue to leverage the industry’s only enterprise and default servicing platforms synced by real-time data.
“Renewing our Sagent partnership is a key part of our goal to grow to 1 million loans with operational precision and cost control,” said BSI Financial founder and CEO Gagan Sharma.
“We’re firmly committed to promoting sustainable homeownership for every borrower, and Sagent enables us to provide proactive, informed customer service to borrowers throughout their homeownership lifecycles.”
BSI Financial will continue to power scale servicing operations with Sagent’s configurable, cloud-based platforms, including LoanServ (system of record), TEMPO (default management), Datascape+ (cloud-based data reporting and insights), and LoanBoard (originations-to-servicing onboarding).
“BSI Financial has earned its reputation as a leader in clean, day-one-compliant onboarding and an AI-led approach that ensures data integrity and compliance in their own $50B portfolio and in their clients’ portfolios, and Sagent is honored to continue powering this industry-best experience,” said Dan Sogorka, CEO and President of Sagent.
“BSI and Sagent have worked together to automate complex high-volume tasks for BSI, solve customer issues fast, and adapt in real-time to regulator and investor needs. Collaborative partnerships like this guide Sagent’s roadmap for the future of servicing and help us to set the mortgage fintech pace with our cloud-native, open-API servicing platforms.”
With over $2T in outstanding mortgage balances on its platforms, Sagent and its customers collaborate on open-API models that ensure servicing operations are aligned with cost control, optionality, and real-time policymaking.
Sagent has the industry’s only enterprise, default, and consumer mortgage servicing platforms synced by real-time data. This is the latest in a series of Sagent moves to transform the homeowner experience for financial orgs servicing millions of consumers with trillions in mortgage balances.
About Sagent
Sagent powers America’s top bank and nonbank lenders to engage, care for, retain, and modernize the homeownership experience for millions of borrowers. Servicers use our flexible, scalable, and configurable solutions to engage borrowers and earn customer loyalty, lower servicing costs, ensure compliance, and increase the value of servicing rights throughout full market cycles. Sagent is backed by Warburg Pincus, one of the world’s leading private equity investors, and powers trillions in outstanding mortgage servicing for its customers. Visit sagent.com to learn more.
About BSI Financial
BSI Financial Services is leading the evolution of mortgage servicing for originators, investors and homeowners. The company brings together a talented team with long mortgage industry expertise, scalable digital capabilities and deep regulatory understanding. BSI Financial is one of the fastest growing mortgage servicers across the industry and currently services more than $50 billion in mortgages. The company is approved as a servicer by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA and VA, approved as an issuer by Ginnie Mae, and rated by S&P and Fitch as a servicer. For more information, visit bsifinancial.com
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