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INTERNET—R.E. Firm Moves Closer To Online Opportunities



Services May Include Remodeling, Relocation

9keys.com Inc., a real estate services company with big online ambitions, has moved its headquarters from San Diego to Newport Beach. “San Diego was a little slower,” said Stefan J.M. Swanepoel, 9keys’ founder and chief executive. “If we want a statewide or national company, OC is more suitable. … There is more technology and a better talent pool. Orange County had the closest feel and look to Silicon Valley.” It helps, too, that Swanepoel’s home is in Laguna Niguel. And while 9keys employs 520 people in all, the move to Newport Center includes just Swanepoel and about a dozen other executives and administrative staff. But the company is looking to grow through acquisitions in the area, he said. The company, which had $23 million in revenue last year, offers mortgage, escrow and insurance services and operates residential real estate brokerages. Swanepoel is looking to take those services online and expand into new areas, such as home remodeling, relocation services and utility hookups.

“We are a re-engineered traditional model,” Swanepoel said. “We are trying to bring E-business economies of scale to a traditional model.” 9keys folds several elements of homebuying into one Web site, from finding a home to insuring one. By bringing the company’s various businesses under one roof online, Swanepoel hopes to generate new customers for each.


Company Made A Dozen Acquisitions

The company has made 12 acquisitions since Swanepoel started the 9keys four years ago.

He acquired an existing real estate brokerage, Associates Group, to use as a base to make more acquisitions. He then acquired two mortgage lenders, an escrow company, an insurance brokerage and several real estate brokerages, totaling about $10 million in deals.

The funding for most of the acquisitions came from cash generated by the business, Swanepoel said. “We are pleased with the growth. It has been painful and satisfying,” he said.


Optimistic About Expansion Plans

Swanepoel said he is looking to acquire up to 15 more real estate brokerages across the Southland by the end of the year and hopes to have 60 offices by the end of next year, which is when Swanepoel hopes to take 9keys public. The company is in the process of getting its first round of funding, he said, so it can expand its Web site, which is about half operational. Swanepoel said he expects it to be ready by November. Swanepoel said 9keys is getting about $2 million in funding from a Fortune 500 company in the banking, mortgage and insurance sector. The first round is set to close in the next 30 days, he said. Orloff is a writer for the Orange County Business Journal.

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