The company’s booj platform debuted in 2019. Now, RE/MAX will offer similar tools via kvCORE, a platform from tech company Inside Real Estate.
Real estate franchisor RE/MAX announced Thursday that it plans to shut down booj, a once hotly anticipated in-house end-to-end tech platform, and reduce its workforce by 17 percent by the end of the year.
The end of booj is happening because RE/MAX has entered into an “enterprise-wide relationship with Inside Real Estate, the developers of kvCORE,” according to a statement.
The statement goes on to describe kvCORE as a “state-of-the-art” technology platform that will become available to all “RE/MAX affiliates in company-owned regions across the U.S. and Canada.” Company affiliates will get kvCORE at no additional cost. The rollout is expected to happen this year and continue into 2023.
However, because kvCORE includes a variety of tools such as an artificial intelligence powered customer relationship manager and customizable websites, RE/MAX will also “sunset” booj and its products by the middle of next year.
All of which is to say that RE/MAX is going to pivot from using in-house tech for its all-in-one platform to partnering with a dedicated technology company, in this case Inside Real Estate.
The pivot will also mean job cuts, with the statement noting that RE/MAX “expects to reduce the size of its workforce by approximately 17 percent by the end of the year, with impacted positions primarily in technology.”
The statement did not say if any layoffs had already taken place Thursday.
In an email to Inman Thursday, a company spokesperson said that while it is “always difficult to part ways with capable team members, this strategic operational decision was made to help ensure RE/MAX, LLC provides its Broker/Owners and agents with the systems, technology advancements and scalability that best helps build their businesses.”
The spokesperson also said “impacted employees have been…