Realogy Announces Agreement With Artificial Intelligence (AI) Real Estate Technology Company, OJO Labs
Leading provider of residential real estate services to provide innovative AI-powered virtual assistant to serve agents
MADISON, N.J. and AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY) has entered into an agreement with OJO Labs, Inc. to provide its leading-edge, machine-powered assistant known as "OJO" to real estate sales agents across select markets affiliated with Realogy's renowned consumer brands, which include Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate, CENTURY 21®, Coldwell Banker®, Corcoran®, ERA®, Sotheby's International Realty®.
OJO, a conversational AI-powered assistant, uses mobile messaging and innovative web experiences to redefine how consumers access personalized information throughout their home transaction process. OJO focuses on lifestyle, neighborhood and home preferences to deliver more effective, customized information. Consumers will have competitive marketplace advantages through proactive OJO insights and immediate intelligent responses. OJO nurtures the communication with the consumer through the research process until the consumer is ready to be in direct communication with an agent.
Delivering the highest-quality leads to sales agents enables them to focus their time on buyers and sellers who are more likely to transact. Participating brokerages from the Realogy Franchise Group and NRT will be determined in the next several months as the companies move from the planning phase to execution.
"We are committed to a strategy of leveraging the power of Realogy to make our affiliated sales agents more productive and their businesses stronger," said John Peyton, president and chief executive officer of the Realogy Franchise Group. "We are excited to get OJO and this innovative technology into the hands of our affiliated agents. We hope the results of the program will support our belief that an AI assistant could lead to increased agent productivity and higher conversion rates for online leads. This is just one of many new concepts we plan to learn from in the months ahead."
"In the discovery phase of the home buying and selling process, consumers often are not ready to speak to someone yet and don't want to be sold by third parties looking to inundate the client as a lead," said John Berkowitz, co-founder of OJO Labs. "OJO helps consumers navigate the early processes of buying or selling in the most effective way."
OJO Labs engineered a patent-pending technology to enhance the home decision process by creating a highly personalized, consumer-centric experience through the fusion of machine and human intelligence. "When we connect consumers with Realogy's affiliated agents we will be delivering a more engaged, informed and ready client," added Berkowitz. "Consistently communicating with, and nurturing home buyers and sellers as they explore the decision-making process gives them the comfort and privacy that will ultimately deepen the connection to the agent."
"In determining who we brought this powerful technology to market with, it was very important to us that we found a company deeply committed to its affiliated agents and to working with business partners who are truly interested in innovation. It is clear there is an extremely impressive team at Realogy that is laser-focused on pushing the industry forward and creating meaningful value," noted David Rubin, co-founder of OJO Labs. "Even though we are an AI company we are still in the business of people. Partnership and values are of the highest importance to us, and we have found the executives at Realogy, along with their brands, to be committed to innovation, collaboration and a better future for the real estate industry."
Beyond its new relationship with OJO, Realogy continues to move ahead with its strong focus on technology and innovation. The Company will host the 5th annual Realogy FWD Innovation Summit tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 8, 2017 at the Microsoft Technology Center in New York City. Fifteen tech start-up companies have been selected to compete for the right to be named the most innovative technology product or service designed for the real estate industry. The Realogy FWD event will be livestreamed on Facebook Live beginning at 10 a.m. eastern time.
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About OJO Labs, Inc.
OJO Labs is on a mission to fundamentally improve the way people make their most important decisions through the fusion of machine and human intelligence. The company developed a unique, AI-based technology that can conduct text conversations with consumers at scale. By combining natural language understanding with data and personalization, the product allows for consumers to deeply engage in a purchase process prior to interacting with a salesperson. OJO Labs is backed by the two most active VC firms in Texas and was recently recognized as an Austin A-List and 50 On Fire winner. The OJO team has decades of combined experience scaling businesses together and has deep experience in engineering, data science, product development and operations.
About Realogy Holdings Corp.
Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY) is a global leader in residential real estate franchising and brokerage with many of the best-known industry brands including Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate, CENTURY 21®, Coldwell Banker®, Coldwell Banker Commercial®, Corcoran®, ERA®, Sotheby's International Realty® and ZipRealty®. Collectively, Realogy's franchise system members operate approximately 14,250 offices with more than 281,000 independent sales agents conducting business in 114 countries and territories around the world. NRT LLC, Realogy's company-owned real estate brokerage, is the largest residential brokerage company in the United States, operates under several of Realogy's brands and also provides related residential real estate services. Realogy also owns Cartus, a prominent worldwide provider of relocation services to corporate and affinity clients, Title Resource Group (TRG), a leading provider of title, settlement and underwriting services, and ZapLabs LLC, its innovation and technology development subsidiary. Realogy is headquartered in Madison, New Jersey.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to Realogy's relationship with OJO Labs and assumptions that virtual assistant technology could lead to increased agent productivity and higher conversion rates for online leads. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed in Realogy's filings with the SEC, including that there can be no assurance that the program will be successful. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and, except to the extent required by applicable securities laws, Realogy expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any of them to reflect actual results, any changes in expectations or any change in events. For additional information concerning risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, and risks to our business in general, please refer to Realogy Holdings Corp.'s SEC filings, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016 and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2017.
SOURCE Realogy Holdings Corp.
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