Realogy Holding Corp. recently announced the selection of 15 emerging technology companies that will compete for the $25,000 cash prize at the third annual Realogy FWD Innovation Summit (#RealogyFWD) on Tuesday, June 23, at the Mission Bay Conference Center at the University of California, San Francisco.
“The submissions we received for this year’s competition raised the bar on the caliber of solutions that have the potential to make a significant difference in the residential real estate industry,” says Alex Perriello, president and chief executive officer, Realogy Franchise Group. “We are proud to host this unique forum where emerging technology companies are able to demonstrate the impact of their ingenuity.”
FWD is an invitation-only event designed to identify and attract the best new technology products and services for Realogy’s franchise networks and company-owned residential real estate brokerages. In addition to presenting their products and services, each of the companies selected to participate in the exclusive event will be able to tap into the vast Realogy network of real estate leaders.
The 2015 FWD participants are as follows (shown in alphabetical order):
- Avenue: Real-time smartphone app that quickly connects real estate agents with consumers 24/7 with free advice about buying or selling real estate. (Toronto, Ontario)
- BoostUp: A social savings platform that helps people save for a down payment on their next home or car purchase. (Detroit, Michigan)
- Curaytor: Real estate marketing software for agents that includes a website, automated Facebook advertising, and contact management. (Orlando, Florida)
- Dizzle: Helps affiliates build meaningful relationships with agents by providing an agent-branded mobile app, as well as the ability to send push notifications and share preferred vendor lists with clients. (San Diego, California)
- EMTransfer:  Facilitates electronic collection, depositing and tracking of earnest money online. (Eagle, Idaho)
- Flipt:  Enables real estate agents to advertise locally to motivated home sellers on mobile and social apps. (Seattle, Washington)
- HomeTrackr:  Provides homebuyers with easy access to critical information about the history of a home. (Charleston, South Carolina)
- Homevibe: Provides on-demand home inspector insights for $20 about the home upfront and distributed to prospective buyers. (Seattle, Washington)
- Keep: A post-close marketing system that allows real estate and mortgage professionals to automatically send homeowners a personalized email “statement” about their home and mortgage four times a year with brokerage and agent branding. (Orlando, Florida)
- Loop and Tie: A gifting platform to help agents build relationships by enabling their clients to choose the gift they prefer to receive from their agent. (Austin, Texas)
- NotaryCam: Document notarization online – in minutes. (Los Angeles, California)
- Solo:Â Online platform that connects homebuyers with buy-side agents offering unbundled services. Buyers get a 3 percent rebate on the home’s closing price, and agents can fill their schedules with the services they wish to perform, at prices they set. (Chesterfield, Missouri)
- Spacio Pro:  Uses beacon technology to enable proximity marketing solutions that real estate agents can use at open houses and offices. (New York City and Vancouver, British Columbia)
- Syncro: A lead conversion tool that sends an instant web chat to the agent when a lead form is filled out rather than an email, to create a faster response and increase overall conversions. (Kelowna, British Columbia)
- Tactile Finance:Â An application that gives real estate professionals the ability to help customers figure out their best options for financing their home while maximizing net sale proceeds. (New York City)
Last year at the 2014 Realogy FWD Innovation Summit, Matterport, a Mountain View, California-based company won the grand prize for its computational photography technology. The other two FWD finalists were SendHub, which offers Realtors next-generation business communications across devices in-office and on-site; and Zumper, a national search site for home and apartment rentals with a mobile app for posting listings to search sites and managing leads.
Additional information about the Realogy FWD Innovation Summit is available online at www.realogyfwd.com.
