HomeVestors has acquired BlueSquIDX, a software platform that has facilitated more than $500 million in single-family home purchases, marking the first acquisition in HomeVestors’ history.
BlueSquIDX is designed to help real estate investors identify potential investment properties listed through Multiple Listing Service data and streamline the process of evaluating and submitting offers.
The platform uses machine learning to identify characteristics associated with properties that may be suitable for renovation and resale or other investment strategies.
HomeVestors said only about 3% of homes purchased by its franchisees had been listed on MLS during the previous 90 days, compared with data indicating that about 30% of flipped homes had been listed during the same period.
BlueSquIDX is intended to make those on-market opportunities easier for franchisees to identify and pursue.
HomeVestors said evaluating a property and preparing an offer can typically require about two hours. Franchisees historically needed approximately 50 offers to secure one transaction, implying about 100 hours of work.
During the company’s BlueSquIDX pilot, that process was reduced to approximately four hours per successful deal, while the evaluation and contracting process for individual properties could be reduced to about five minutes.
BlueSquIDX founder Steve Peterson will remain with HomeVestors to support training and continue customizing the platform for its network of more than 750 franchisees across 47 states.
HomeVestors has purchased more than 160,000 homes since 1996 through its independently owned and operated franchise network.
KEY QUOTES:
“We recognized an opportunity with on-market homes, which our franchisees haven’t traditionally pursued on MLS given the amount of time required to find and ‘work’ them. Historically, only three percent of homes our franchisees purchase were on MLS in the previous 90 days, even as data shows 30 percent of flipped homes were listed in the same time period. However, scouring MLS can be a clunky and time-consuming process, so we bought a platform that is a virtual ‘easy’ button for our homebuyers.
An investor might have a way to identify houses they want to offer on, but they then have to take the time to actually make those offers, and for each property, that requires getting a hold of a buying agent, writing a contract, sending it to the listing agent, and following up on it. BlueSquIDX shortens that evaluation and contracting period down to about five minutes with an evaluation and a single click.”
Brandon Gebers, Chief Growth Officer of HomeVestors
“This is the kind of tool the typical fix-and-flipper doesn’t have access to. It fundamentally changes how franchisees operate – those with access will have deals pushed to them every day, and all they have to do is evaluate the property, click a button and enter ‘here’s what I’d offer.’”
Josh Waltzer, Chief Executive Officer of HomeVestors
