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Prevu Raises $2 Million in Seed Funding

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Digital home-buying platform Prevu has raised $2 million in seed funding. The round, which was led by Corigin Ventures, closed September 12. Rather than focus on the seller experience, Prevu was designed for buyers. Prevu’s Smart Buyer platform equips buyers with the tools and advice they need to guide them through the early phases of the homebuying process. The company’s agents are on hand to answer questions and assist buyers to schedule a tour, make an offer, negotiate a purchase and close on a transaction. In addition, Prevu passes two-thirds of its commission back to each buyer who completes a purchase on the platform, delivering a rebate of up to 2%. “The bottom line is that the traditional residential real estate industry is antiquated and inefficient, with the majority of agents pulling clients offline at the first opportunity to control the process,” said Prevu co-founder Thomas Kutzman. Buyers no longer need to rely on agents as the gatekeepers of information, which is available at their fingertips online. We were incredibly frustrated by our own experiences in buying real estate, and we sought to create a truly intuitive model that gives control back to consumers and eliminates a lot of the stress involved. Our Smart Buyer™ platform was created to address these inefficiencies and provide greater control to buyers, while delivering rebates that help to offset the significant expenses involved in purchasing a home.” Both Kutzman and co-founder Chase Marsh have finance backgrounds, knowledge of the capital markets and experience evaluating public companies and equity market structures. As they evaluated the existing landscape of traditional and tech-enabled residential real estate brokerages, they discovered that the majority of traditional agents spend up to 70 percent of their time on new client acquisition, with only 30 percent dedicated to customer service. As a result, Prevu’s technology is designed to drive agent efficiency, enabling its network of local experts to do a higher volume of deals and spend 100 percent of their time focused on customer service. Prevu currently operates in metropolitan New York and Connecticut. The company plans to use the funding to grow its engineering team and strategically expand to new geographic markets. Author admin View all posts

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Keller Williams has awarded a new master license in Japan. The real estate technology franchise now has more than 50 market centers and 2,164 agents across 10 countries and regions in Asia. Since launching in 2012, Keller Williams Worldwide now has more than 200 market centers, operating outside of the U.S. and Canada, across 39 regions globally. Collectively, Keller Williams Worldwide has more than 9,469 agents, a 36.3% increase since August 2018. “The team in Japan understands that our model is highly disruptive and unique for their local agents,” said William E. Soteroff, president of Keller Williams Worldwide, the international division of Keller Williams. “We are excited to have a remarkable new leader in Asia who understands this massive opportunity and has a clear vision for the future.” The Keller Williams franchise in Japan is led by Mark Yamamoto. The first market center is expected to open in fourth quarter 2019. Serial entrepreneur Yamamoto founded Toho Cinemas, formerly Virgin Cinemas Japan in 1997 with Richard Branson, founder of UK-based Virgin Group. The firm was later sold to Toho Co. Ltd., and rebranded. Yamamoto has also founded several other companies in Japan, the U.S. and Germany. Japan is the 10th Keller Williams master license in Asia. The brand’s other nine regions include Cambodia; Dubai, UAE; Greater Shanghai, China; Indonesia; Israel; Malaysia; the Philippines; Turkey; and Vietnam. Keller Williams’ international division is exploring additional expansion in Africa, Central and South America, Central and Eastern Europe, and other areas of Asia. Author admin View all posts

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Auction.com, the nation’s largest distressed real estate marketplace, released its Q2 2019 Seller Strategy report on September 3. The report provides data-driven insights for several key disposition metrics, including time to sell, sales execution and neighborhood stabilization. The study examined various disposition strategies used during the last year for more than 23,000 properties that went to foreclosure auction in the second quarter of 2018 via the Auction.com platform. The platform accounts for nearly 50 percent of all properties sold at foreclosure auction nationwide. “By synthesizing the rich transactional data from our market-leading platform with public record and MLS data, we’re able to provide a holistic view of the disposition metrics that matter to distressed property sellers,” said Auction.com CEO Jason Allnutt. “At the top of that list are execution of the sale price relative to credit bid, time to sell a property and impact on the surrounding neighborhood.” The primary disposition strategies analyzed were third-party sales at foreclosure auction, along with two types of disposition strategies for properties that reverted back to the foreclosing lender at the foreclosure auction (REO): online auction via a “Day 1 REO program” and traditional REO sales via the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Among the major findings included in the report: Properties sold via “Day 1” REO online auction sold on average 95 days faster than REOs sold via the MLS. Properties sold to third parties at foreclosure auction executed higher relative to credit bid at the foreclosure sale than properties sold as REO—both MLS and Day 1 REO sales. 56% percent of properties sold to third parties at foreclosure auction were owner-occupied one year after the foreclosure auction date, compared to 43 percent of properties that reverted to the lender (REO) at foreclosure auction. Properties in Opportunity Zones that sold to third-party buyers at foreclosure auction executed 5 percentage points higher relative to reserve than properties located outside of Opportunity Zones. The full report is available upon request. Auction.com is the nation’s largest online real estate transaction marketplace focused exclusively on the sale of bank-owned and foreclosure properties. It is headquartered in Irvine, California, with offices in Silicon Valley, California, and Plano, Texas. Investors include CapitalG (formerly Google Capital) and Stone Point Capital. Author admin View all posts

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Award-winning fintech platform Fund That Flip has raised $11 million from growth equity firm Edison Partners. The company, launched in 2014, plans to use the capital to expand its market share of the trillion-dollar residential real estate investment industry. Fund That Flip provides short-term loans to experienced real estate redevelopers who buy and renovate residential properties. After origination, Fund That Flip offers accredited and institutional investors the opportunity to purchase fractional shares of the loan and earn an 8-9% annualized yield. In 2016, Fintech Venture Fund led Fund That Flips seed round. Since then, Fund That Flip has doubled its revenue, loan origination volume and customer base each year. The company was recently named No. 42 on the 2019 Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies in America. Historically low levels of single-family home construction have created an affordability challenge for many potential U.S. home buyers. The average age of a single-family home is 37 years old, so millions of properties require significant investment to bring them up to the standards that meet the preferences of modern home buyers. Real estate redevelopers who leverage Fund That Flip’s financing to renovate aging or neglected properties are able to deliver a like-new home at an affordable price. “Our mission is to enable our clients to create wealth and improve communities by investing in real estate. This additional capital is going to further advance the mission to more clients and communities across the country,” said Matt Rodak, Fund That Flip’s CEO and founder. “Edison Partners has an impressive track record of investing in market leaders, and we’re incredibly excited and honored to have them as a partner as we expand our product offerings, technology and services.” Jennifer Lee, vice president at Edison Partners, led the investment and will join the board of directors at Fund That Flip. “Fund That Flip’s offering is well-timed with the growth of the residential real estate industry’s addressable market,” said Lee. “As affordability continues to concern many home buyers, the renovation and recycling of existing homes offers an attractive, sustainable solution. We look forward to helping the Fund That Flip team accelerate their vision of being the destination platform for residential real estate investors.” With the capital, Fund That Flip plans to scale distribution around its core product set in existing and new markets. The company also plans to develop additional residential loan products and provide new ways for institutional and accredited investors to fund their offerings. Author admin View all posts

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First American Financial Corporation’s April 2019 First American Real House Price Index reveals that: Real house prices decreased 0.9% between March 2019 and April 2019. Real house prices declined 0.72% between April 2018 and April 2019. Consumer house-buying power—how much one can buy based on changes in income and interest rates—increased 1.5% between March 2019 and April 2019, and increased 6.7% year over year. Average household income has increased 2.7% since April 2018 and 56.2% since January 2000. Real house prices are 15% less expensive than in January 2000. While unadjusted house prices are now 2.8% above the housing boom peak in 2006, real house-buying power-adjusted house prices remain 40.7% below their 2006 housing boom peak. The RHPI measures the price changes of single-family properties throughout the U.S. adjusted for the impact of income and interest rate changes on consumer house-buying power over time at national, state and metropolitan area levels. Because the RHPI adjusts for house-buying power, it also serves as a measure of housing affordability. “Two of the three key drivers of the RHPI, household income and mortgage rates, swung in favor of increased affordability in April. The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell by 0.33 percentage points and household income increased 2.7% compared to April 2018,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American. “When household income rises, consumer house-buying power increases. Declining mortgage rates have a similar impact on affordability, so in April homebuyers received a double shot of house-buying power to jolt affordability in their favor nationally. The five states with the greatest year-over-year increase in the RHPI are Wisconsin (4.7%), Rhode Island (4.3%), New Hampshire (3.5%), Georgia (2.8%) and Ohio (2.4%). The five states with the greatest year-over-year decrease in the RHPI are North Dakota (7.4%), Wyoming (6.6%), Louisiana (4.3%), Vermont (3.9%) and Oklahoma (3.6%). Among the Core Based Statistical Areas tracked by First American, the five markets with the greatest year-over-year increase in the RHPI are Providence, R.I. (5.9%), Las Vegas (5.2%), Salt Lake City (4.4%), Orlando, Fla. (3.9%), and Atlanta (3.7%). Among the CBSAs tracked, the five markets with the greatest year-over-year decrease in the RHPI are San Jose, Calif. (8.6%), Seattle (6.3%), Portland, Ore. (4.5%), San Francisco (4.3%) and Los Angeles (3.1%). Author admin View all posts

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Update: On September 18, 2019, Pretium and Värde Partners confirmed the completion of their previously announced agreement for Pretium to acquire Deephaven Mortgage LLC from Värde Partners. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Pretium and Värde Partners agreed for Pretium to acquire Deephaven Mortgage LLC from Värde Partners. Founded in 2012, Deephaven is a leader in the non-qualified mortgage industry. The company partnered with Värde in 2014 to fund its growth and expansion. Pretium is an alternative investment management firm focused on residential real estate, mortgage credit and corporate credit with more than $10 billion in assets under management. Pretium is the largest private single-family rental owner and operator in the U.S., with over 32,000 homes across 15 high-growth markets. Värde is an investor in commercial and residential mortgages, including new originations and secondary investments in commercial and residential loans and portfolios, securities and servicing platforms. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the second half of 2019. Author admin View all posts