CurbCall has been acquired by Stephanie Sullivan, who has earned a storied reputation as a serial entrepreneur in the real estate tech sector. CurbCall founder Seth Siegler will remain with the company as CTO, while Sullivan will step in as CEO. Under the new acquisition, CurbCall will be expanding its product capabilities to provide real estate brokers and agents a lead routing system capable of functioning in real-time. The new product will operate far faster and at a lower cost than current leading offerings available on the market.

While the real estate industry has experienced a number of transformations in the last few years because of innovative tech offerings, numerous problems remain. Among those problems is the way in which real estate leads are typically routed. For example, leads are frequently delivered hours or even a day after they come in. Even more problematic is the fact that there is often little to no vetting of leads. Providers specializing in lead generation usually charge an exorbitant price per lead if not a percentage for each transaction. CurbCall's lead routing system is inspired by Uber and based on the idea of using technology to connect agents and buyers instantly.

CurbCall will now be launched with three products. Among those products is ShowingIQ, which connects buyers requesting info or showings instantly to all available agents. ShowingIQ works in real-time. Another product, SafetyIQ, is a smartphone app that works to make property showings safer for real estate agents. The product works by sending alerts automatically when a showing begins, when an agent presses a panic button, or when the agent leaves a predefined safety radius. An integrated app, SafeShowingIQ, combines all of the features of the previous two products into one product. All three products will be available on Android phones and iPhones. Additionally, ShowingIQ will include an Application Programming Interface feature that will make custom integrations with search websites or real estate firms possible.

From the time CurbCall was launched, the firm worked to deliver property showing requests instantly to any available agents, thus ensuring buyers never had to wait for an agent to return their calls. In the past, however, the product's reach proved to be limited because of restricted resources. With the new acquisition, that issue is expected to be resolved.

As the company pointed out, there has never been a better time to introduce this type of lead routing technology to the real estate industry. Currently, more than 90 percent of homebuyers begin their search for their next home online. A survey conducted by CurbCall found that more than 99 percent of real estate agents report owning a smartphone, making now the ideal time to move forward with the company's product offerings. Even though the acquisition has only just taken place, CurbCall is already in negotiations with a number of leading search sites and brokerages around the country.