San Francisco real estate referral firm opens Tampa office

HomeLight, a San Francisco-based residential real estate referral firm and brokerage, has opened a Tampa office to capitalize on Florida’s booming housing market and overall East Coast growth.

The company’s regional hub will be located in Dilweg Cos.’ Concourse Center, where it plans to hire roughly 100 workers over the next several months.

The company is currently housed in about 3,500 square feet of the four-building office complex, at 3501-3507 E. Frontage Road in the Westshore Business District, but it has options to expand into as much as 20,000 square feet.

"Tampa is an ideal location for our first Florida office, and to serve as our regional hub, thanks to the city's vibrant culture, booming economic development and diverse talent pool," HomeLight says of the move into Tampa.

Founded in January 2012, HomeLight matches residential buyers and sellers and works with more than 28,000 real estate agents nationwide, according to its website. The company also says “we support over $1B of real estate transactions on our platform every year.”

Companies such as HomeLight have experienced tremendous growth over the past two years, as the COVID-19 pandemic has boosted home sales and driven up values in markets nationwide.

The Gulf Coast, in particular, has seen some of the most dramatic gains in home values in the U.S. since the pandemic took root early in 2020.

HomeLight joins BayCare Medical Group, the State of Florida, TCM Bank, Enterprise and others in Concourse Center, which North Carolina-based Dilweg acquired in April 2019 for $52 million.

BayCare is the largest tenant in the series of three-story buildings, occupying roughly 75,000 square feet.

In all, Concourse Center contains 295,000 square feet of space. Dilweg spent roughly $4 million to upgrade the project’s common areas, operating systems and amenities following its purchase.