Above: Front lobby of Fathom Realty’s corporate office in Cary, North Carolina
Since going public on the Nasdaq (FTHM) at the end of July 2020, Fathom Holdings has acquired a title company, a mortgage company, an insurance company, a lead generation business, two technology companies and completed a brokerage acquisition. Fathom Realty CEO Josh Harley weighs in on the brokerage’s recent moves.
Real Estate magazine: How do these acquisitions help Fathom real estate agents?
Josh Harley: These acquisitions allow Fathom agents to provide best-in-class service to better nurture client relationships. Unlike many of our competitors who go the joint-venture route for mortgage and title, we knew we had to own them outright to ensure the highest quality for our agents and our clients. Our agents’ reputations are on the line when referring a client. We need to provide high-quality service to satisfy our clients and earn their future business and referrals. Additionally, savvy agents are looking for better technology to help them stand out and compete. We want to provide a solid in-house technology platform so that our agents are not vulnerable to the motivations of outside influences who do not have their best interests in mind.
RE: Is that what Fathom is doing, building an in-house technology platform?
JH: Yes. We started this initiative several years ago. Our initial focus was on the transaction management and operations workflow of running a brokerage designed to put more money in our agents’ pockets while allowing us to become highly profitable. Now, we have the complete solution covering the entire agent and client lifecycle. This allows for better business intelligence, lower operational costs and a superior agent and client experience.
RE: Will the acquisitions of Naberly and LiveBy become part of intelliAgent?
JH: Absolutely. Naberly was the final piece we needed to achieve technology independence, giving our agents a stronger competitive advantage through highly editable, content-rich home search sites and advanced client nurturing features. Providing robust technology to help our agents grow their businesses is key to our growth plan. With this acquisition, we also intend to launch a national real estate portal to help generate leads for our agents while reducing their dependence on other portals.
With the acquisition of LiveBy, we can provide a hyperlocal content strategy to help our agents close more sales by creating robust, hyperlocal websites to drive more traffic, keep that traffic on the website longer and convert that traffic into clients.
RE: You recently completed a notable brokerage acquisition. Are you looking to buy more brokerages?
JH: The addition of Red Barn Real Estate was a perfect complement to our existing business in Atlanta. We are exploring many options with existing brokerage owners and large teams who recognize the power of what we are building—and share our values and vision. We’re hoping to join forces with many more brokerages in the near term.
For more information, please visit www.FathomCareers.com.
