Move, Inc. recently announced the acquisition of Doorsteps, a website providing cutting-edge tools and resources to consumers in their path to homeownership. The acquisition of Doorsteps better enables Move to connect consumers with homes and with the tools, knowledge and professionals to achieve their homeownership goals.
“At Move, our mission is to empower people to love where they live,” says Steve Berkowitz, chief executive officer of Move. “Central to this strategy is our belief that consumers are at the heart of the home-buying process. Doorsteps’ human and holistic approach in providing homebuyers with the content, tools and professional advisers needed in the process aligns perfectly with Move’s vision and existing offerings.”
The company notes that Doorsteps is designed to solve many major issues faced by stakeholders in the home-buying process:
• Buyers were often forced to make decisions they didn’t understand simply because a thorough and easy-to-understand resource didn’t exist. Doorsteps educates and empowers them in a well-designed, visual and streamlined way to equip them for homeownership from start to finish.
• Agents require help connecting with ready, qualified buyers within the new digital landscape. Doorsteps provides a shared online workspace between buyers and agents, resulting in smarter lead generation and matching.
• Loan officers’ early involvement in the buying process ensures they can guide clients to the best loan options and financial services to help them — well before closing on a home. Service providers are finding it more difficult than ever to reach the right people, in the right way and at the right time. Doorsteps offers an in-context, transparent way to share their products, services or points of view with a qualified consumer group.
“We founded Doorsteps to streamline and simplify the way people get prepared to buy and own homes,” says Michele Serro, Doorsteps’ founder and CEO. “Our dream is to make it easier for consumers to decide whether to buy, how to get ready faster and then make the smartest possible choices along the way. As a result of this partnership, our ability to do that has been magnified. Move shares our vision and excitement and will ultimately help us serve more consumers.”
According to the company, Doorsteps provides agents a unique solution designed to humanize the process of connecting professionals with their clients. Unlike traditional customer relationship management, which focuses mainly on “lead management” and “sales pipelines,” Doorsteps uses technology to facilitate, build and enhance the collaborative relationships between buyers, agents, lenders and service providers. The journey-based experience — and the rich data it collects — should translate into far-higher conversion rates than old lead-generation tools, which typically focus on quantity over quality.
Subsequent to the acquisition, the Doorsteps team will join Move as employees, continuing to expand the experience and integrate with existing Move offerings. “We saw unique talent and vision in Michele and her team,” Berkowitz said. “They are addressing the process holistically, consistent with our belief that everyone benefits when we help agents spend less time with technology and more time with their customers.”
For more information, visit www.move.com and www.doorsteps.com.
