HomeServices of America buys its agency 1000WATT and hands the founders the C-suite

Sometimes the best buyer for an agency is already on the client list.

HomeServices of America has acquired 1000WATT, the real estate marketing, research and strategy agency it has been working with over the past year. The price was not disclosed. The whole 1000WATT team is moving across, and the two founders are stepping straight into the C-suite.

From adviser to insider

Brian Boero and Marc Davison founded 1000WATT in 2007 and spent close to two decades advising real estate companies on brand, research, strategy and creative. Inman reports the team is around ten people.

Boero becomes HomeServices' chief marketing and strategy officer. Davison becomes chief creative officer. According to Real Estate News, 1000WATT helped lead the work behind OnePoint, the unified technology platform HomeServices launched in April.

HomeServices chief executive Chris Kelly said the deal brings "an extraordinary combination of industry knowledge, research, strategy and creative talent."

What changes

1000WATT's membership platform and its proprietary research become exclusive to the HomeServices family, which Boero told Inman covers about 60,000 agents, 46 brokerage companies and 220 franchised offices. Its standalone events are ending and its weekly newsletter, The Dose, is being retired, though Boero's Friday Flash carries on. Davison told Inman that 1000WATT will keep operating under its own name.

Why it is worth noting

This is the in-house exit, and it is a route many founders overlook. A big client that already relies on your thinking can see exactly what it is buying, and the deal can come with senior roles that a trade buyer would rarely offer.

The trade-off is focus. 1000WATT goes from serving a whole industry to serving one group, which is why its open events and newsletter are going. For a small, senior team that wants to work on one big problem from the inside, that is the point.

Wondering who the natural buyers for your agency are? Agencies.co maps them out.

Sources: Real Estate News, Inman, HousingWire, RISMedia