Like its rival Compass, @properties is getting in on the lending space.
The residential brokerage founded by Thad Wong and Michael Golden in the 1990s has partnered with Guaranteed Rate to launch a mortgage lending business for buyers, Crain’s reported.
Proper Rate, will launch at the beginning of 2020 and aim to pair home loans specifically with the 2,800 agents of @properties. The agency will be staffed with 20 to 30 loan officers and will help to streamline the process of financing and negotiating the purchase for the buyer, Golden said.
Guaranteed Rate’s founder and CEO Victor Ciardelli will lead the company.
The joint venture with Guaranteed Rate follows a larger national trend in brokerage, in which resi firms are partnering with lenders to increase profit margins and control more elements of the transaction.
About a week ago, venture-backed Compass launched a bridge loan program for homesellers alongside nonbank lenders Freedom Mortgage and Better.com.
@Properties remains the largest brokerage in the Illinois and among the 25 largest in the country. The brokerage tallied $6.54 billion in sales volume in Cook County between December 2017 and November 2018, according to The Real Deal‘s most recent brokerage ranking. The next closest competitor, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, had $4.57 billion in dollar volume. @properties is an equal opportunity brokerage, with 6,423 listing side deals in that timeframe and 5,895 buy-side deals, the highest in Cook County. [Crain’s] — Jacqueline Flynn