Rocket Companies has agreed to a $1.75 billion acquisition agreement with Redfin, citing the strategic benefits of teaming up its digital lending platform with one of the country’s most recognizable online real estate brokerages.
Redfin operates one of the three most heavily utilized home search platforms in America, boasting more than 1 million property listings posted by more than 2,200 agents, according to a press release. Rocket’s digital platform offers home financing and servicing in all 50 states across more than 3,000 counties and parishes.
“Rocket and Redfin have a unified vision of a better way to buy and sell homes,” Rocket Companies CEO Varun Krishna said in the release. “Together, we will improve the experience by connecting traditionally disparate steps of the search and financing process with leading technology that removes friction, reduces costs and increases value to American homebuyers.”
By combining their digital capabilities, the companies are envisioning a more streamlined customer experience from search to close, to servicing and future transactions.
“Rocket and Redfin’s approaches to lending and brokerage service have always been two halves of one vision to make the whole homebuying process magical,” Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said in the release. “We want a customer to be able to check her phone to find out what she can afford, see which homes are just right for her, schedule a tour with a local, expert Redfin agent, and get pre-qualified for a loan, all in a matter of minutes. Varun and I see how much better real estate could be when AI (artificial intelligence) guides customers not just through that first step in their search, but all the way home, through the sale, the loan and then a lifetime of accumulating equity and wealth.”
The companies expect the deal to close in the second or third quarter this year, subject to approval.
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