BROKERAGE, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Businesswire | April 20, 2023
Lessen, the premier tech-enabled, end-to-end solution for outsourced real estate property services, announced today a strategic acquisition of Blue Skyre IBE, a global facilities management solutions provider. This acquisition allows Lessen to extend its offerings in facilities management and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) solutions, as it continues to pursue its vision of bringing unparalleled operational excellence and efficiency, enhanced services and advanced technology to commercial and residential real estate—all under the direction of a single, unified platform.
Blue Skyre IBE Chief Executive Officer Maureen Ehrenberg and Chief Strategy & Product Officer Colette Temmink will join the Lessen leadership team. Ehrenberg is now president of Lessen’s commercial division, which was formerly the commercial division of SMS Assist, acquired by Lessen in January 2023.
Formerly CEO of Blue Skyre IBE, as well as a co-founder, Ehrenberg is an internationally recognized real estate industry business leader, with more than 35 years of experience in business process transformation, strategic positioning and operations of large, complex portfolios. Before co-founding BSI, she was the Global Head of Strategic Real Estate Operations for WeWork. Her previous experience also includes being International Director and Global President of JLL Integrated Facilities Management Services; Global Head of Integrated Facility Management at CBRE, and Executive Vice President of Grubb & Ellis Company and President and CEO of Grubb and Ellis Management Services, Inc. Ehrenberg was named to the Woman of Influence Hall of Fame by Real Estate Forum/Globe St.
Temmink is Chief Operating Officer of the commercial division.
"This acquisition advances our goal of providing a game-changing, tech-enabled service model for the entire real estate ecosystem,” said Jay McKee, CEO of Lessen. “Lessen and Blue Skyre share a vision of leveraging technology to help shape the future of real estate for a better world, solving pain points, and replacing complexity with transparency and operational efficiency backed by data-driven insights. With this most recent acquisition, Lessen is uniquely positioned to transform commercial and residential real estate to the benefit of all the stakeholders.”
Added McKee, “I’m thrilled to welcome Maureen and Colette to the Lessen family. Their experience, industry track record and expertise will be invaluable as we continue to broaden our reach into commercial facilities management.”
As president of Lessen's SMS Assist Commercial Division, Ehrenberg will drive business strategy and manage overall resources, partnerships, and operations to provide the most advanced and innovative integrated facilities management operating platform for commercial properties. Ehrenberg is focused on growing the enterprise client space, creating additional value, operational advances and savings for existing customers and bringing frictionless, fluid and ESG-focused operating solutions to the market, challenging the status quo.
“Leading Lessen’s commercial business division is an incredible opportunity to drive breakthrough innovation in facilities management,” said Ehrenberg. “The market is calling for a new business model for facilities management solutions; clients seek comprehensive data integration, real-time performance management, portfolio resiliency, service excellence and operationalizing ESG—all of which Lessen delivers through its advanced, integrated digital operating platform.”
As Chief Operating Officer, Commercial Division, Temmink is responsible for leading service delivery and operational excellence in the day-to-day support of clients.
Most recently Chief Strategy & Product Officer at Blue Skyre IBE, Temmink has also served as Senior Vice President and Chief Administration Officer at Apollo Education Group and held global real estate executive roles at Cushman & Wakefield, Oracle and Boeing. She is a renowned speaker and thought leader on corporate real estate, facilities management, ESG and PropTech. Temmink is the co-chair of the International Facilities Management (IFMA) ITC, a top-rated faculty for the MCR Capstone CoreNet course and serves as an editorial board member for the Corporate Real Estate Journal.
“Facilities management has been going through a transformation and Lessen has been at the forefront of this change,” said Temmink. “Delivering value, quality, predictive and efficient services to clients while providing real-time business insights is critical. Lessen’s dynamic approach to strategic integrated facilities management is exactly what the industry requires today.”
About Lessen
Lessen, together with SMS Assist, is the world class, tech-enabled, end-to-end property service provider transforming how commercial and residential real estate services are delivered and managed at scale. Our technology platform provides data-driven insights that unlock key growth opportunities for the entire real estate ecosystem—including investors, owners, managers, and service providers. Lessen enables local field managers to deploy and oversee a network of vetted, qualified vendors acting as one unit across distributed property portfolios—serving a national footprint of more than 1 million properties and completing more than 2.5 million work orders annually across an expanding range of services. Lessen, Inc. is a venture-backed, privately held company with offices in Scottsdale and Chicago. To learn more, visit Lessen.com and smsassist.com.
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MARKET OUTLOOK, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
PRnewswire | April 24, 2023
Coldwell Banker Commercial®, an Anywhere (NYSE: HOUS) brand, announces the launch of their all-new website, www.cbcworldwide.com. The new website introduces new ways for commercial real estate users and investors to search for property as well as introduces a new experience for Coldwell Banker Commercial clients and affiliated professionals as they work on transactions. The new search features and tools are housed within an easy to navigate user experience.
"The new Coldwell Banker Commercial website reflects the future of the company and completes our global rebrand," said David Marine, chief marketing officer of Coldwell Banker Commercial. "We developed this site with the goal of creating a seamless suite of tools that will connect our professionals and allow them to deliver value with just a few clicks. Since our founding in 1906, we have been at the forefront of the commercial real estate industry and with the launch of this new website, we will reaffirm our leadership position."
The new site aims to educate and reinforce the differentiating qualities of the Coldwell Banker Commercial brand. Exclusive to the Coldwell Banker Commercial affiliated brokers and professionals, the new site will offer seamless accessibility and customization, allowing these individuals to provide the best possible service to their clients. Highlights include a personalized dashboard that will allow for lead capture and direct communication in a private deal room, analytics on one's individual listing(s) as well as the ability to edit listings directly on the website.
Clients and individuals will also have an enhanced visitor experience. They will be able to create their own accounts on the website and setup specific search alerts and notifications based on property type, geographic area and/or industry and interact directly through the website with the Coldwell Banker Commercial affiliated professionals.
"The Coldwell Banker Commercial brand has always been a leader in real estate, we have been pathfinders since 1906," said Dan Spiegel, SIOR, senior vice president and managing director, Coldwell Banker Commercial. "We will do whatever it takes to ensure that Coldwell Banker Commercial affiliated professionals have access to innovative tools and technology to create exceptional experiences for their clients. Our new website enables our highly collaborative community of professionals to work together with each other and their clients, because when we work together, we win together."
In addition, the site will feature an updated news section called Viewpoints, where the brand publishes market outlook reports and articles about trending CRE topics, as well as host the brand's popular podcast – CRE with CBC Worldwide, the Coldwell Banker Commercial Podcast.
About Coldwell Banker Commercial
The Coldwell Banker Commercial® brand provides commercial real estate solutions serving the needs of owners and occupiers in the leasing, acquisition and disposition of all property types. With a collaborative network of independently owned and operated affiliates, the Coldwell Banker Commercial system comprises almost 200 offices and more than 3,000 affiliated professionals throughout the U.S. and internationally. For additional information, visit www.cbcworldwide.com.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Businesswire | April 18, 2023
Real Title, a digital closing platform that provides a seamless search to close experience for real estate professionals and their clients, today announced it has launched Real Escrow of California to perform escrow operations exclusively in California. Real Escrow is a California escrow company built on industry-leading technology to enable agents to deliver a faster, better experience for their customers. Acquired by The Real Brokerage Inc. (TSX: REAX) (NASDAQ: REAX) in 2022, Real Title’s expansion to California gives the company a presence in six states, including Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Utah, in addition to Arizona, which launched earlier this month.
Real Title expects to be operational in at least 10 states by the second half of 2023. To support its continued growth, the company recently hired Brad Miller as National Director of Title. A 17-year veteran of the title industry, Miller will oversee Real’s title and escrow teams nationally, national underwriting partnerships, workflow processes, and vertical tech stack.
“We’re thrilled to begin offering escrow services in California and to welcome Brad to the Real team,” Sean Daly, Real Title Founder and CEO, said. “California is the fastest growing state in terms of agent attraction for Real and, because we consider ourselves one of the most innovative title companies in the industry, we are excited to launch in a state that is home to incredible name-brand technology companies.”
Miller joins Real Title from OS National, LLC where he served as Managing Director of Title Operations since 2020. Earlier, he oversaw the operations of Opendoor Title Holdings, a joint venture between Opendoor and OS National. Miller spent nearly 14 years at Amrock, beginning his career in 2005 as a Team Leader in Tax and Title Operations before being promoted to Vice President of Title Operations, a position he held for nearly nine years. Miller holds a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University.
About Real Title
Founded in 2019 as Expetitle, Real Title streamlines the paper and time intensive settlement process through an in-app experience that allows agents and their clients to track the progress of their transaction, communicate and upload and store documents though a secure, collaborative environment. Real acquired the company in 2022 as part of its vision to provide agents and their clients with an end-to-end technology-driven search to close experience.
About The Real Brokerage
The Real Brokerage Inc. (TSX: REAX) (NASDAQ: REAX) is revolutionizing the residential real estate industry by pairing best-in-class technology with the trusted guidance of the agent-led experience. Real delivers a cloud-based platform to improve efficiencies and empower agents to provide a seamless end-to-end experience for home buyers and sellers. The company was founded in 2014 and serves 45 states, D.C., and three Canadian provinces with over 10,000 agents. Additional information can be found on its website at www.onereal.com.
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