“We’re thrilled to add Steve to our deep roster of talent at Anywhere, as his unique skill set and long track record of success represents a perfect fit to take our growth to the next level,” Yannaccone said in a statement.
“Our industry itself is ripe with opportunity to increase market share and expand our end-to-end transaction platform to better serve both agents and consumers. Steve will play a pivotal role in shaping and executing our strategy to solidify and strengthen our place as the leading player in real estate today.”
In the new role, Capezza will focus on “growing the Anywhere platform through strategic acquisitions and mergers outside of its existing organization, including opportunities on behalf of brokerage, title, and transaction services operations within Anywhere,” the company explained.
“Anywhere has a scale and stature that is unmatched in the real estate industry,” Capezza said in a statement. “That offers tremendous advantages for its network of agents and franchisees, and it’s clear that others in the industry are looking to replicate its model through their own expansion efforts.”
During Anywhere’s most recent earnings call with investors and analysts, CEO Ryan Schneider said that on the M&A front, Anywhere is “open for business.”
“We’re always looking at some things there and I do still think that industry consolidation is inevitable. Frankly, this whole industry could use more streamlining with all the margin pressure,” Schneider said. “We’re still seeing more firms looking to sell across brokerage, title, mortgage and proptech, but there’s still a pretty big gap between the bid and the ask. And that’s partly why I think there’s just been fewer deals so far this year.
“We have helped our franchisees close some M&A deals in the first quarter, but there’s some real opportunity. We’re looking at it, spending more time on it as a leadership team, but bridging the bid-ask is a bit of a challenge. But it’s a great place to put our effort and we think there should be some opportunities there down the road.”
Capezza most recently served as the president of white-label brokerage firm Side. Prior to that, he held various leadership roles at Zillow and Trulia.