In a bid to boost the services it provides first-time homebuyers, Fathom Holdings is acquiring START Real Estate, a residential brokerage dedicated to serving first-time buyers. The financial terms of the deal, which was announced on Thursday, were not disclosed.
START is headquartered in Colorado, but serves clients in both The Centennial State and Utah. The firm was founded by Randy and Terri Bell and has 70 agents. START said it expects to close roughly 400 transactions this year, with a mortgage attach rate of over 70%.
“After helping thousands of first-time home buyers in Colorado and Utah, we are excited to partner with Fathom and leverage our experience with both the intelliAgent platform and the Elevate plan to expand our first-time buyer program nationwide,” Randy Bell said in a statement.
Fathom said it plans to expand and scale START’s first-timer buyer program to new markets across the country by combining the program with Fathom’s intelliAgent platform, and its integrated mortgage and title businesses.
“START Real Estate’s strong transaction growth, remarkable mortgage attach rate, and dedicated team of 70 agents are a perfect fit with our strategy of expanding agent and transaction volume while driving higher margins through ancillary services,” Marco Fregenal, the CEO of Fathom, said in a statement. “With many of START Real Estate’s agents expected to join Elevate, this acquisition not only enhances our ability to serve a critical segment of the market, but also strengthens our platform with new recurring, high-margin opportunities that support long-term profitable growth.”
In the second quarter of 2025, Fathom recorded a 36.1% annual increase in revenue to $121.4 million, thanks in part to a 39.6% increase in brokerage revenue to $116 million. This came as agent count rose 22.6% year over year to 14,981 agents and the number of closed transactions jumped 25.4% to 12,710.