Douglas Elliman forms mortgage venture with AMB

Douglas Elliman, the nation's sixth-largest real estate brokerage, is the latest firm to unite home sales and financing under one roof.

The company has entered into a "strategic alliance" with Associated Mortgage Bankers, Ronkonkoma, New York, to create Elliman Capital.

"By bringing mortgage services in-house, we're creating an unprecedented level of convenience and oversight to the entire real estate transaction process," said Michael Liebowitz, president and CEO of Douglas Elliman, in a press release. "Our clients will benefit from competitive rates, diverse loan products, and the seamless integration that only comes from working with a single, trusted source for both their real estate and financing needs."

The lender will launch in Florida before expanding to all the other states where Douglas Elliman operates.

Past "one-stop shop" alliances between the two sides of the home sales process have had varying degrees of success. 

For example, Rate replaced PHH in a partnership with Anywhere, formerly Realogy.Remax took a different approach, creating a franchisor, Motto Mortgage; it has no ownership interests in the mortgage brokerages and it sells franchises to competing real estate brands and independent operators.

Another real estate firm with a mortgage unit, Redfin, was just acquired by Rocket. 

Zillow Home Loans, ostensibly acquired to support a now-defunct iBuying business, is now seen as a key portion of the Seattle-based company's business model.Compass, currently in a legal battle with Zillow over listing policies, has its own mortgage joint venture with Rate. Compass, including Christie's @properties brand (which has its own Rate JV) it acquired in December, was last year's top brokerage according to RealTrends.

One less successful attempt was Keller Mortgage, launched after Keller Williams executives acquired Fearon Financial in 2015 and rebranded it two years later.

In early 2023, Mutual of Omaha bought the assets of Keller Mortgage but the entity itself is co-owned by both companies. The sale followed several staffing reductions at Keller Mortgage.

Elliman Capital is looking to be a full-service lender, offering both conventional and government mortgage products. It will also make loans to self-employed borrowers, investors, foreign borrowers and others with unique financial circumstances.

"We've engineered Elliman Capital to be truly inclusive, offering loan products that meet the diverse needs of today's homebuyers and investors, from all over the globe," said mortgage services veteran Jim Bender, Director of Elliman Capital.