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Buying or selling a house is, for most people, the largest transaction they will ever make. And getting the most out of a house sale can have a significant impact on someone’s financial future. Unfortunately, real estate agents are not all created equally. Finding the best agent can be a bit of a guessing game.
Agent Ace is trying to change that with an ever-growing data set of real estate transaction data and now a $6 million Series A round led by March Capital Partners and Triangle Peak Partners.
“We help home buyers and sellers determine the best real estate agent in order to conduct a transaction,” said Mazen Fawaz, CEO and founder. “To do that, we study historical home sale data for agents. Kind of like ‘Moneyball’ for real estate agents.”
Agent Ace has been diligently gathering up home sales data from dozens of individual multiple listing services (MLS) across the country. These real estate organizations hold enormous amounts of historical data about real estate agent performance, but are fragmented by regions. In California, for example, there are over 40 different MLS organizations representing as many different areas.
Agent Ace has been joining these organizations one by one and adding their data to its platform. “All of those sources speak a different language so we had to normalize that data,” said Mazen. “We’ve been at it for a couple of years, very diligently making sure we are legal and compliant.”
From there, Agent Ace examines real estate agent performance going back three years and using multiple metrics to determine which agents are best for a specific type of sale or buy. For example, which agent performs best selling condominiums in Venice Beach, California or which agent does best buying single family homes in suburban Calabasas, California.
The platform recommends the top three agents and will make an introduction within 24 hours. The agent and client information is kept anonymous until all parties agree to connect.
“For the agent, they are getting the perfect deal. It’s a deal in their sweet spot,” said Mazen. “It’s a very easy deal for the agent. We’ve proven mathematically that it’s the best deal for the agent.”
For the customer, finding a high performing agent will maximize the value they get out of the transaction and reduce the hastle of buying or selling a home. The service is free to customers and the company only makes money if a deal is closed.
Already present in most major metropolitan areas of the US, Agent Ace will be using its new capital to complete its geographical footprint, said Mazen. “I expect to be at just a hair under 90 percent geographical coverage of the United States by the end of the year.”
Deliberately flying under the radar as it honed its services in the last several years Agent Ace will now be increasing its public presence by building its marketing efforts and growing the company’s staff. In the last year the company has grown from six to 25 employees.
