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Publicly traded real estate software firm reAlpha Tech Corp. added mortgage lending under its umbrella by acquiring mortgage brokerage company Be My Neighbor on Monday.
reAlpha agreed to pay Be My Neighbor an aggregate purchase price of up to $6 million. This consists of $1.5 million in cash paid on the closing date, $1.5 million in restricted shares of the company’s common stock (or 1.15 million shares of restricted common stock for $1.31 per share) and up to $3 million in potential earn-out payments payable in cash or restricted shares of common stock, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Sunday.
reAlpha provides a commission-free homebuying experience through an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot for its clients while also offering support from its in-house licensed agents.
Be My Neighbor will enable reAlpha to provide integrated mortgage services to consumers who utilize the reAlpha platform to purchase homes, reAlpha said.
“This acquisition furthers our long-term plan of developing a full-service commission-free homebuying and financing technology platform powered by our proprietary AI technology and dedicated professionals,” Brent Miller, chief financial officer of reAlpha, said in a prepared statement.
Be My Neighbor will continue to operate under its brand led by co-founders Christopher Griffith, Isabel Williams and Nathan Knottingham. The Texas-based lender is licensed in 26 states and provides 15-year and 30-year fixed mortgages, including government loans, 203 (k) renovation loans and reverse mortgages.
Debt Does Deals, doing business as Be My Neighbor, has 29 sponsored mortgage originators across four active branches in Arizona, Florida and Missouri, according to the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS).
reAlpha, which brands itself as a commission-free AI homebuying platform, aims to consolidate and streamline a proptech industry that is too fragmented, according to its website.
Since being founded in 2020, the Ohio-headquartered real estate tech firm has acquired four other companies, including recent deals involving Singapore-based AiChat (which develops chatbots and automation tools) and title company Hyperfast.
