Dallas-Based Real Estate Tech Start-Up HipPocket Folds After Two Years in The Fray

James Bohan-Pitt and Clay Stapp launched HipPocket, an app that connected Realtors to off-MLS listings, in 2015. The company will close at the end of this month.

We got tipped off by a reader that HipPocket, the tech start-up brought to the market by pioneering broker Clay Stapp and his business partner, James Bohan-Pitt, will soon close. In a message to users and clients of the site, Stapp and Bohan-Pitt said that the company, which was launched give agents and brokers a different platform to market and ask for properties in high-demand markets.

“Unfortunately we will be closing HipPocket officially on August 31st 2017,” Stapp and Bohan-Pitt said in the message to users. “Even though the evolution of HipPocket into an intelligent collaboration platform was sound, we have been unable to secure new financing to build HipPocket 2.0 and our brokerage subscriptions have not reached a level that we can maintain the business long term.”

The platform, which was available in the Apple iTunes store, came on the market with a bang in May of 2015. Users that have any questions or concerns about the closure of the company have been asked to contact [email protected].

“James and I started HipPocket because we really wanted to give the knowledge and power back to the Realtor community,” Stapp said. “HipPocket was intended to be a communication platform to help Realtors easily share new listings or buyer needs with each other before going to MLS and ultimately syndicated out to Zillow, Trulia, and the rest of the world. We are well aware of many, many deals being completed over the last two years by agents using HipPocket, but in the end, not enough Realtors and brokers saw the value in our app or technology that we built.”

In today’s tech-saturated real estate market, most Realtors choose to use platforms that have a much broader reach and are accessible without any additional barrier. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are very popular, though there was nothing quite so dedicated and easy-to-use — and accessible only to those with a real estate license — like HipPocket. And even MetroTex, with its “Coming Soon” listing status, hopped on board the hip-pocket listing train. 

“Does this mean the end of pre-marketing and off-MLS marketing, and could the addition of the “Coming Soon” status be driving this?” Bohan-Pitt asked. “We still believe agents deserve better tools to collaborate with their agent community and their clients. HipPocket was evolving to fill this void. Our goal was to become an ‘all market’ not ‘off-market’ collaboration app that would have included MLS, pre-MLS, and FSBO listing data.”

This would have put HipPocket on par with apps and platforms such as Zillow and Trulia — the giants in the tech-enabled real estate market.

“Consumers and agents would have had a single platform to work collaboratively in, with technology driving connections to more available homes faster than methods available today,” Bohan-Pitt added. “Unfortunately we will not be able see our vision made a reality. I am excited though with the levels of real estate technology innovation taking place right now and hope to personally continue innovating for the industry in the future.”

However, though the company is folding as of the end of the month, Stapp and Bohan-Pitt aren’t ruling out the sale of the platform to a new company. It would be a great starting point to someone with the savvy and vision to build upon it.

“While we are disappointed that HipPocket was not adopted in-large by the Realtor community we are thankful to our investors who trusted in our vision and to the Realtors who did give the app a fair shot!” Stapp added. “So, thank you all!”