Looking Back on 2024: What We Learned and Where We're Headed in 2025

Looking Back on 2024: What We Learned and Where We're Headed in 2025

The real estate and mortgage industries faced yet another year of transformation in 2024—marked by evolving regulations, shifting commission structures, volatile interest rates, and changing consumer expectations. Despite these challenges, we didn’t just adapt; we thrived.

At Clever, we pushed the industry forward by embracing innovation, expanding partnerships, and delivering exceptional value to buyers, sellers, agents, and lenders. As we reflect on the past year, we’re using these lessons to drive even greater impact in 2025—empowering agents, lenders, and consumers with smarter, more transparent, and data-driven real estate solutions.

The 2024 Real Estate Landscape

In 2024 the real estate industry was forced to adapt to new adjustments to NAR commission structures, navigate interest rate volatility, and grapple with worsening affordability challenges. These shifts reshaped the market, requiring both industry professionals and consumers to rethink their strategies in an evolving landscape.

The NAR settlement brought the most significant changes to real estate commission in decades. The once standard 6% commission is no longer required, allowing sellers and buyers to negotiate agent fees directly. However, majority of those who intend to buy a home in the next year (59%) admit they have limited or no understanding of the NAR settlement. Leaving borrowers to navigate an increasingly complex home buying process without fully understand how commission changes will impact their costs and negotiations.

At the same time, interest rate volatility added another layer of uncertainty, making it even more difficult for buyers and sellers to plan with confidence. Many predictions anticipated mortgage rates would gradually decline, offering releif, but rates spiked unexpectedly during the spring season, forcing many buyers back onto the sidelines and slowing home price appreciation.

Affordability reached new lows, media home prices requiring a six-figure salary to buy. With 10% down, Clever's analysis shows first-time buyers must earn $119,769 to comfortably afford the median-priced home ($332,494). That's about $45,000 more than the typical household earns each year ($74,755).

These market shifts forced buyers, sellers, and agents to rethink their strategies and challenge outdated norms, while the industry worked to create a smarter, more transparent, and consumer-first real estate experience. Looking ahead, 2025 presents an opportunity to embrace innovation, drive efficiency, and deliver solutions that empower consumers to navigate the market with confidence and clarity.

Key Achievements of 2024

Helping Buyers and Sellers Nationwide

In 2024, we helped thousands of buyers and sellers connect with top-tier real estate agents across the U.S., simplifying their journey and ensuring they had trusted professionals by their side. Our commitment to transparency, innovation, and consumer-first solutions made the real estate process more accessible and cost-effective—helping homeowners save money while maximizing their outcomes.

Jack’s Success Story with Clever

Jack sold his in just FIVE days and saved $7,000 with the help of a Clever Agent and Clever Title!

Jack found Clever while doing some research online about selling his home. After reaching out to our Home Concierge, we connected him with three top agents. Jack chose Sheila, the perfect fit, and she got his home on the market fast.

Not only that, but Jack also used Clever Title to close the deal quickly and without any issues. He was so thrilled with the process and savings that he left us a glowing review on TrustPilot:

Enhancing Our Engagement Suite

In 2024, we took the Engagement Suite to the next level, refining its capabilities to help lenders unlock more opportunities from their existing portfolios. With a focus on data-driven engagement, seamless user experiences, and long-term borrower retention, we introduced new features designed to turn passive contacts into active homebuyers. By integrating loyalty rewards, gamification, personalized engagement strategies, and educational content, the Engagement Suite has become an essential tool for lenders looking to strengthen relationships, drive borrower loyalty, and convert more leads into closed loans.

One particularly inspiring example is Tsekani, a first-time homebuyer who worked with Clever over three years to achieve their dream:

Tskeani’s Journey with Clever:

  • 1?? December 2021 → Tsekani signed up for Clever’s Engagement Suite.
  • 2?? December 2021 → Completed the First-Time Buyer Guide and earned $25 in Loyalty Rewards.
  • 3?? August 2022 → Finished the “Building Credit” guide and continued tracking their buying power.
  • 4?? March 2023 → Got serious about home buying and read an explainer on how the Rewards program works.
  • 5?? May 2024 → Connected with Clever’s Concierge team, got matched with top agents, interviewed them, and found the perfect agent to work with.

This milestone showcases how tools, resources, and personalized support empower buyers and sellers to make confident, informed decisions.

Drive conversions on autopilot with the platform built by marketing experts that powers over $3 billion in real estate sales each year.

Expanding Strategic Partnerships

We strengthened our impact by partnering with four of the nation's top 20 mortgage servicers. These partnerships reflect the trust we’ve earned in the industry and demonstrate the growing recognition of the measurable value we bring to collaborators.

"In the future, we'll see top mortgage servicers recapture up to 25% of the business that sells out of their portfolios each year," said Luke Babich, co-founder and CEO of Clever Real Estate. "Clever Pro is partnering with leading-edge servicers to make that future possible. By replacing legacy brokerage platforms with a tech-forward, consumer-first solution, we're building a platform that delivers measurable value to servicers and empowers them to reinvest in better rates and services for consumers."

Lessons Learned

At the core of everything we achieved in 2024 is our team—a group of bold thinkers and dedicated professionals who believe in challenging the status quo and reshaping real estate for the better. Their creativity, passion, and commitment to delivering exceptional results drove us forward, from developing innovative tools like the Engagement Suite to strengthening relationships with clients and partners.

Beyond internal success, the impact of our work was felt industry-wide. By championing transparency, redefining consumer-first solutions, and empowering lenders, agents, and buyers, we helped move the real estate industry toward a smarter, more accessible, and more efficient future. Whether it was helping lenders generate 7x more purchase leads, connecting thousands of buyers and sellers with trusted agents, or driving over $3 billion in real estate sales, we proved that innovation, collaboration, and a relentless focus on the consumer can drive real, measurable change.

Looking ahead, we are excited to build on these lessons, pushing boundaries, embracing innovation, and delivering solutions that empower people to make smarter real estate decisions. Together, we’re not just adapting to change—we’re leading it, transforming real estate one connection at a time.

William (Bill) Donius

Help Teams get "Unstuck" from Problems + New York Times bestselling author, Thought Revolution

6 天前

Industry is innovating…Clever is using tech to speed up the process as well as lower costs… Target? It should be as easy to buy a $150,000 piece of real estate as to buy a $150,000 car (within an hour or so, and the collateral can disappear easily). Let’s move this painfully slow industry into this century.

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