Clever acquires first-time buyer loyalty provider

Clever Real Estate, an online broker, has purchased Gravy Technologies, the creator of a customer loyalty program aimed at first-time home buyers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Gravy was started in 2021 by Jeff Dinter, Jimmy Lien and Will Dunn, all of whom will join the Clever team. It looks to gamify homebuying with a rewards program and financial fitness tools aimed at accelerating consumer readiness for a mortgage.

This program joins those with similar goals that Guaranteed Rate and, prior to that, Rocket Cos., have started. The Guaranteed Rate program, Rate App, offers well-being content from Dr. Deepak Chopra. Rocket Rewards is also a points program that allows consumers to use those to reduce closing costs.

To date, the Gravy app has helped over 30,000 people prepare for homeownership and earn $20 million in rewards, the company claims.

"Clever gives us a platform from which to expand the scope of Gravy's mission," said Dinter, the Gravy CEO, who is becoming Clever's vice president of product, in a press release. "In the future, our tech will serve not only renters but also homeowners, sellers, and repeat buyers."

Besides its consumer facing app, Gravy also has a white-label "loyalty-as-a-service" product for both mortgage lenders and real estate agents.

A 2022 report from Merkel found that 79% of consumers pick a service provider based on their loyalty program. But Gen Z, the next emerging group of potential homebuyers, are less willing to put up with friction in the origination process, when choosing a lender. Having a competitive rate is more important than showing a company loyalty, CampusDoor President Sara Parrish said in a January 2023 interview.

"There is a loyalty arms race in real estate, as lawsuits challenge the structure of buyer's agent fees and incumbents such as Rocket Mortgage invest huge amounts into their own loyalty apps," said Luke Babich, Clever's CEO. "Clever is leading the charge in equipping our lender and Realtor partners with the networks and technology they need to compete with the best."