In a move reflecting a broader industry trend toward vertically integrated real estate services, digital lender Lower has acquired Movoto, a top-five real estate portal, as part of a bid to create an end-to-end homeownership platform. The deal, announced Tuesday, combines Lower’s national mortgage lending infrastructure with Movoto’s sizable online reach and consumer traffic.
“The future of our industry lies in blending the best technology with the irreplaceable expertise of local agents and loan officers.” said Dan Snyder, CEO and Co-Founder of Lower. “Movoto is the perfect platform to accelerate this vision, allowing us to create a simpler, smarter path to homeownership. Acquiring Movoto strengthens our position as the challenger platform, enhancing our ability to deliver the best localized and personalized service and capture significant market share.”
The acquisition, which mirrors Rocket Companies’ recent purchase of Redfin, signals a growing push among fintech challengers to link digital home searches with in-house mortgage solutions. Movoto, which logged more than 150 million visits in 2024, will now operate under the Lower brand, bringing together house-hunting consumers, real estate agents and loan officers in a single tech-enabled ecosystem.
“Modern technology should work for the local loan officer, not replace them,” said Craig Montgomery, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Retail at Lower. “Movoto arms originators and agents with real-time opportunities and puts them at the center of the homebuying journey – right where they belong. It’s the kind of innovation that puts originators in a position to win consistently.”
Movoto has remained competitive in a space dominated by Zillow and roiled by rivalry between Realtor.com and Homes.com. The company recently consolidated its branding efforts, rebranding its OJO Labs-acquired lead-generation tool as Lever by Movoto and unifying its offerings under the Movoto name.
John Berkowitz, CEO of Movoto, will serve as president of real estate within Lower’s leadership team. Together, the companies will employ more than 1,000 people, with offices in Columbus, Ohio, and Austin, Texas.
“The bigger portals touch almost everyone online but fail to help those customers through the whole process. By focusing on how technology empowers local connections we can deliver better service to the consumer and build a business that generates far more profit per visitor,” said Berkowitz.
The deal also marks a return to the real estate portal world for Adam Wiener, Lower’s president, who previously helped scale Redfin from an early-stage startup to a publicly traded company with 50 million monthly visitors.
"Movoto provides a unique opportunity to engage consumers from the start of their home-buying journey, through the purchase process and for the entire time they own that home until it’s time to sell and buy the next one," said Wiener. "Integrating Lower's lending strength will lead to an end-to-end ecosystem that creates clients for life."
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The integration follows Lower’s recent acquisition of Neat Labs and the launch of its proprietary mortgage platform, LowerOS, signaling its broader ambitions in fintech.
