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Earlier this week, RISMedia published an in-depth article on our acquisition of real estate tech pioneer Top Producer. The story, written by Senior Editor Liz Dominguez, features original commentary from Scott Smith and Top Producer customers, while detailing Constellation’s investment strategy and commitment to being the industry’s largest technology provider. Read the full article below or on RISMedia.com.
Constellation Real Estate Group—which houses several notable real estate brands such as Constellation1, Zurple and SmartZip, among others—recently acquired Top Producer from Move, Inc. The purchase includes Top Producer’s full suite of products, including Top Producer 8i and the company’s newly designed TPX CRM, Market Snapshot, FiveStreet and Top Producer websites—all of which encompass 27K customers and 70 employees.
Within the CRM segment, Top Producer has integrations with 150-plus lead sources, social media insights, MLS data, transaction management and workflows, Market Snapshot reports, and listing alerts, along with lead routing and response via FiveStreet.
“This acquisition expands our footprint in the industry, creating new opportunities for Constellation to invest in customers and technology,” says Scott Smith, president and managing partner of Constellation Real Estate Group. “We’re committed to supporting Top Producer and are focused on business continuity for their 27,000 customers to ensure a seamless transition.”
According to Smith, the acquisition aligns with the company’s strategy of being the leading software provider in the real estate industry. While Top Producer will continue running as a standalone business, Constellation Real Estate Group will continue investing in Top Producer products, growing the sales team and offering other Constellation products as add-ons where it benefits customers.
David Yetman, broker/owner of CENTURY 21 All Points, has been in real estate for 32 years, and says Top Producer has been essential in helping him manage the business.
“Anytime you get this type of situation—a sale and a new owner—in my honest opinion, it revitalizes the company being purchased, and gives everyone a chance to look at everything once again,” says Yetman. “Bringing a new CRM to market has to be done right; the field is filled with rush-to-market software that is riddled with bugs or doesn’t do what it should be doing. I am looking forward to having an owner of the company that is committed to real estate, and not just a line on a balance sheet. The staff at Top Producer are knowledgeable, timely and considerate, and extremely competent.”
Smith notes that there has been a lot of investment in the space lately—”a very exciting evolution.” For Constellation, technology is the differentiator in this industry and a long-term strategic advantage if done correctly.
“Constellation invests in tech companies that represent all stages of the transaction and we see a massive opportunity to create competitive advantages for agents, brokers, franchises, and MLSs by providing tools and services that leverage operations and data across our portfolio, allowing them to compete well into the future,” says Smith. “Technology and data are driving the industry today and are necessary components of success for real estate professionals.”
Marty Soller, who leads The Soller Advantage Group at Coldwell Banker Realty, has been using Top Producer for 15 years. Nurturing leads has been a fundamental part of growing his business, and he believed the acquisition signals only good things to come.
“I think Top Producer was somewhat constrained resource-wise by their previous ownership setup and maybe didn’t have the funding and resources to exploit their industry leading systems and market position. Every real estate company struggles with integrating their various systems, from back-office to contract management to lead generation. This acquisition suddenly gives Top Producer immediate access to a much broader real estate-oriented product suite,” says Soller.
Soller pinpoints something that Constellation Real Estate Group says it is looking to address in the world of real estate tech: fragmentation. Smith states the real estate technology market has been historically fragmented, lagging “in terms of tech adoption and data.” Through its investments, Constellation is looking to use data at all levels to help drive a competitive advantage with insights such as buyer search and online behavior or AI that predicts who is likely to sell.
“We’re particularly excited about data—traditionally, data in the space has been related to MLS information,” says Smith. “We are innovating and investing in predictive analytics with Offrs and SmartZip, AVM information, buying and selling signals that enable real estate professionals to compete with their markets.”
“An exciting new release for this team is Top Producer X (TPX) CRM, which is now available to all CRM customers and offers a more user-friendly interface and powerful features,” adds Smith.
“With the rollout of their new version, TPX, I think they will be able to offer clients an even more powerful and capable solution that will be embraced by both existing and new clients,” Soller says.
In terms of recent data acquisitions, Soller doesn’t believe Constellation’s buy-out of Top Producer will have a negative impact on the industry.
“Unlike Zillow, Constellation isn’t a direct competitor to real estate brokerages, giving agents an even stronger incentive to use more Constellation services,” says Soller.
Liz Dominguez is RISMedia’s senior online editor.