Originally Posted on St. Louis Business Journal
HomeTraq, a local startup that has developed an on-demand home showing app, is extending its reach beyond St. Louis. The startup has initiated the process of expanding its platform to the Kansas City market, recently hiring staff focused on signing up residential real estate brokerages and agents there.
"We just started that effort now and hopefully in less than 30 days we'll have 100 to 150 agents active in the Kansas City market," said co-founder Mark Gorman.
Founded in 2017, HomeTraq has created a home showing app designed to help users find agents to schedule a home showing within an average of three to five minutes. The startup was founded by Gorman and Brett O'Daniell.
HomeTraq's software platform aims to ease the home search for buyers but has a focus on helping banks reduce their mortgage loss rate. The company is working with partner banks, credit unions, and mortgage lenders to distribute the app to their customers, allowing them to engage with potential homeowners earlier in the transaction and reduce mortgage loss and churn to agent referrals and online lenders such as Quicken Loans.
The startup said it has finalized agreements with five real estate brokerages and
onboarded 30 real estate agents in Kansas City. It intends for its platform to go live there when it has 100-plus agents on board, with plans to then market the app directly to consumers and through financial partners. With the expansion to Kansas City, HomeTraq's founders hope they can show the scalability of their platform and its ability to be implemented quickly in new markets. Eventually, officials want to partner with large-scale, national banks and deploy its app in markets across the county. Beyond Kansas City, O'Daniell said the next markets for expansion could include Atlanta, Dallas, and Denver.
In St. Louis, HomeTraq is being used by 22 real estate brokerages, 150 agents, and more than 10 financial and mortgage partners. In the past 90 days, the company's platform has generated 600 leads and 300 home showing requests in St. Louis.
HomeTraq is continuing to increase its partnerships with financial institutions and said it recently hired a business development specialist to bolster the startup's partnerships. HomeTraq 's co-founders say the startup also has drawn interest from title companies and found a niche with insurance providers.
"They're under the same type of threat that everybody is," Gorman said. "If the (buyer goes) online and goes to Geico or somebody else, they are going to lose that customer just like the mortgage lenders are losing a ton of business to Quicken. It's a matter of getting in front of that customer earlier to remind them not only that you are there, but to assist them along the way to retain them."
HomeTraq's expansion comes as it continues to add financing. The startup said it has raised about $700,000, about 70%, of the capital it is currently seeking. The company also was recently named a 2019 Arch Grants winner.
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