Slade Michalec of Lumis
The big domain brokerage news of the week was the acquisition of the domain HELOC.com by Freedom Mortgage, an established mortgage loan company with 30 years of lending experience.
Kate Buckley brokered the domain on behalf of the seller, while Slade Michalec of Lumis represented Freedom Mortgage, and it’s not the first time he did so!
The acquisition of both Freedom.com for $2 million dollars, and that of MortgageRefinancing.com, involved the strong business relationship that Lumis has established with Freedom Mortgage.
We reached out to Slade Michalec for a quick interview on the particulars of the HELOC.com acquisition, plus more.
DomainGang: How did you approach Freedom Mortgage to help them acquire domain names?
Slade Michalec / Lumis.com: It’s been a number of years since we started working with Freedom Mortgage. However, after further discussion with their team and new job changes, the marketing head at Freedom had direct interest in Freedom.com and our relationship was forged from there on.
DomainGang: What percentage of Lumis brokered deals are acquisitions for clients, versus sales?
Slade Michalec / Lumis.com: Year-over-year the percentage for this is changing more in favor of buyer acquisitions. In recent times, it’s been a 60/40 split; 60% of revenue from acquisitions and 40% from domain sales. However, our average sale price is higher for domain sales.
DomainGang: How easy was it to work on the followup acquisitions, after the first big one?
Slade Michalec / Lumis.com: To be frank, it seems to have gotten harder! Freedom.com wasn’t necessarily a walk-in-the-park; however, the process was fairly straight-forward once the price was agreeable for all parties.
As for other domains such as HELOC.com, it was a matter of timing. Buyer and seller finally had a price-point they agreed too after over a year on the subject.
DomainGang: Why was Freedom Mortgage interested in HELOC.com in particular?
Slade Michalec / Lumis.com: A great company that understands the value of great domains. Not much more I can say.
Freedom understands the value of a domain and how to best implement or utilize the domain’s in their portfolio. The timing for this domain acquisition – as well as the purchase of MortgageRefinancing.com in 2019 – was impeccable.
DomainGang: When the seller has a broker, is it easier or harder to negotiate and reach an agreement?
Slade Michalec / Lumis.com: I’d have to say it generally makes the process easier; however, this would depend on the seller and seller’s broker that is involved in the transaction.
A broker will effectively understand a transaction, how to conduct themselves during the negotiation process and cut-down on the back-and-forth that often adds lead-time to a deal.
And as you know, timing is everything. So it’s often more beneficial to have all parties represented by a skilled and educated domain broker.
DomainGang: Many thanks, Slade. Anything else you’d like to add about Lumis brokerage?
Slade Michalec / Lumis.com: I’d just like to say that Lumis has been doing a great job this past year. All members of our team have stepped-it-up over the past year and we’re always looking for the next opportunity.
If there are any domains that you’d like to buy or sell, contact us for more information on how we can help.
Reach out to Slade via email or through Lumis.com.
