In a deal that could shake up business for thousands of real estate professionals, Real Estate Webmasters (REW) has struck an agreement to take over agent- and broker-facing internet services for transaction management firm Lone Wolf.
The deal, which was publicly announced today, will see Lone Wolf move out of the business of offering websites, lead generation, customer relationship management (CRM) and internet data exchange (IDX). Instead, the firm will focus on its ever-expanding portfolio of transaction management products, while referring customers who had been getting any of those four web services to REW.
Morgan Carey
For its part, REW has created software to easily integrate former Lone Wolf customers onto its platform. Morgan Carey, REW’s CEO, also told Inman that his company is waving a variety of fees — including a minimum $5,000 set up charge as well as data migration fees — for incoming Lone Wolf customers.
Ultimately, Lone Wolf is going to end-of-life most of its web products, and “REW is going to be the vendor,” Carey added.
Additionally, the two companies are offering top Lone Wolf customers who make the transition tickets to the upcoming Inman Connect Las Vegas.
The deal should affect about 1,100 Lone Wolf customers, some of whom are brokerages with thousands of agents in their ranks, Carey said. He also explained that the incentives for Lone Wolf customers are in place for 60 days, and that the two companies hope to have everyone transitioned this year.
The deal also means that the two companies’ software programs will have new integrations, with users on REW’s platform, for example, being able to use Lone Wolf’s transaction tools.
The financial details of the deal were not publicly disclosed. Impacted customers ultimately have the freedom to get services such as CRM and websites from any provider, of course, but the deal does make REW the exclusive and official heir to Lone Wolf’s web services business.
Prior to the deal, Lone Wolf and REW were, essentially, competitors. Founded 15 years ago, Canada-based REW offers custom website design and marketing tools for real estate pros. The company has also been working on upgrades to its CRM, and plans to unveil new details about the product at Inman Connect Las Vegas.
Lone Wolf is best-known for its transaction management services, and just three months ago announced that it was acquiring zipLogix — a leading firm that has long-standing relationships with major industry organizations. Lone Wolf also announced new transaction software integrations in March, and two years ago acquired competitor Instanet Solutions.
These moves helped Lone Wolf become a dominant player in the the transaction sector, but along the way the company also ended up offering a variety of marketing and communication tools that overlapped with what REW does.
The new deal between Lone Wolf and REW, however, will see both companies diverging to focus on the businesses for which they are best known. A joint statement cast the agreement as a boon to everyone involved.
“Real Estate Webmasters shares in Lone Wolf’s vision of creating an integrated ecosystem of real estate technology solutions, and this first-of-its-kind integration partnership goes a long way toward achieving that goal,” the statement explained.
In his conversation with Inman, Carey called the deal “a big move” for the two companies, and noted that the timing is especially opportune because it means former Lone Wolf customers will get access to REW’s new and soon-to-be-revealed CRM products.
“We are extremely excited to be able to bring the best in class of real estate websites and CRM from Real Estate Webmasters,” Carey added in a statement, “and combine it with the amazing transaction capabilities of Lone Wolf’s products.”
Correction: Lone Wolf will discontinue most, but not all, of its web products as part of this deal. This post originally stated that all products would be discontinued.
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