INDUSTRY HEADLINES WITH KEVIN KAUFFMAN AND FRED WEAVER

Next Level Agents: The Kevin & Fred Show - Interviews with the best and brightest minds in the real estate industry

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are here to stay

When the federal government announced earlier this week that it would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to rebuild a portion of their capital reserves to a total of $45 billion combined as part of a plan to exit conservatorship, the message was clear: The government-sponsored enterprises are back and they’re not likely to go away any time soon.

It’s a dramatic reversal from where things stood just a few years ago, when the prevailing sentiment in Washington, D.C. was how to get rid of the GSEs, once and for all.

In fact, there were numerous Congressional efforts that would have seen the GSEs wound down within five years.

And, if one of those bills had passed in 2015 (as was certainly a possibility), the GSEs likely would be in their last year of existence as we speak.

Instead, the GSEs appear primed to exit conservatorship on stable footing with healthy financial backing and reformed operations. So, how exactly did we get here?

Digital homebuying platform Prevu announces $2 million in seed funding

New York City buyers can receive rebates averaging $23,000 using the platform

Prevu, a customer-focused digital homebuying platform, announced recently that it raised $2 million in seed funding in September.

According to Prevu, the funding was led by Corigin Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital firm focused on real estate technology and consumer industries.

The company claims that its “Smart Buyer” platform offers homebuyers an easier approach to homebuying, giving them the tools and advice they need to guide them through the early phases of the process.

Prevu’s agents answer questions along the way and step in during the last mile, assisting buyers to schedule a tour, make an offer, negotiate a purchase and close on a transaction, all through Prevu’s platform. Prevu then passes two-thirds of its commission back to each buyer who completes a purchase on the platform, delivering a rebate of up to 2%.

New York City buyers can receive rebates averaging $23,000 using Prevu’s Smart Buyer Platform.

eXp launches its own instant offer platform

The virtual cloud-based real estate brokerage isn’t exactly going to be buying homes, however. With Express Offers, announced Thursday, eXp Realty will solicit multiple buyers at once, yielding more than one cash offer.

“Unlike other platforms that are out there, what we’ve designed is a platform where on one side, we have eXp Realty agents and then on the other side of the platform, are institutional buyers from across the U.S,” Ted Laatz, vice president of affiliated services at eXp World Holdings, told Inman. “EXp Realty itself is not buying the properties, we’re teaming up with institutional buyers to buy the property.”