Acquisition will give Redfin customers a broader suite of loan products in more markets and propel the company’s efforts to create a complete real estate solution
Redfin has entered into an agreement to acquire Bay Equity Home Loans , a national, full-service mortgage lender. Under the terms of the merger agreement, the purchase price is estimated to be $135 million in cash and stock. Founded in 2007 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Equity is a licensed mortgage lender in 42 states and employs approximately 1,200 people. The acquisition accelerates Redfin’s strategy to become a one-stop shop for brokerage, lending and other services. Redfin expects the acquisition to close in the second quarter of 2022, pending customary approvals, and to be accretive to 2022 earnings per share.
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“Reorganizing our mortgage operations unfortunately means some colleagues and friends will be leaving Redfin”
At nearly ten times the size of Redfin’s existing lending business, Bay Equity helps match the scale of Redfin’s nationwide brokerage of approximately 2,400 agents, increasing the number of brokerage customers whose homes Redfin can finance. Given its scale, Bay Equity can be more efficient at producing loans and can get better terms when selling those loans to investors. These advantages will let Redfin generate more profit from each loan while keeping rates low. By using Bay Equity’s loan-origination system, Redfin will be able to reduce its 2022 investment in lending software. Bay Equity has generated positive net income for each of the last three years.
“With Bay Equity’s geographic presence and full product suite, we’ll be able to offer mortgages to a larger share of Redfin’s home-buying customers right away, including jumbo loans and loans for veterans and folks with lower credit scores,” said Adam Wiener, Redfin’s president of real estate operations. “Perhaps most important of all, Bay Equity shares Redfin’s commitment to customer service. Our customers and agents have worked with Bay Equity to finance hundreds of purchases and the customer ratings are top-notch.”
After the deal closes, the Bay Equity management team will continue to operate under the Bay Equity name, originating mortgages for customers working with Redfin agents, customers working with other brokerages, and customers seeking to refinance.
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“This is a formidable combination,” said Bay Equity CEO Brett McGovern. “Redfin is a technology leader and the alignment positions us both to thrive in a changing mortgage market. In addition to our established book of business, we will benefit from the customers generated by Redfin’s more than $25 billion in real estate transactions each year. Plus, we will have the opportunity to present Bay Equity to Redfin’s more than 40-million monthly online visitors. It’s all about making it easier for our customers to go from mortgage loan application to closing.”
“For years, Redfin has talked about becoming a one-stop shop for brokerage, mortgage, iBuying and title services,” said Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman. “Just having one company offer all these services is more efficient, letting us keep customers’ lending fees low. But our long-term vision is to combine lending and brokerage services into new ways for people to move from one home to another. Buying Bay Equity not only gives us the scale to execute better on the first stage of this vision; it also gives us the latitude to start earlier on the second stage, which will let Redfin customers buy homes they couldn’t have gotten through a stand-alone broker or lender.”
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