Kal Raman
Kal Raman

It was heralded as a big move in online real estate when former drugstore.com CEO and Groupon executive Kal Raman was tapped by Dallas-based Nationstar Mortgage to push the company deeper into digital operations.

Raman quickly got to work, establishing a new unit by the name of Xome and setting up shop in the tech hotbed of Seattle.

But now, just over 12 months after taking the job, Raman has resigned from Xome. The news was first disclosed in a SEC filing by Nationstar, a publicly-traded Dallas-based mortgage lender valued at $1.5 billion.

Xome screenshot
Xome screenshot

We’ve asked Nationstar and Raman for comment on the departure, and we’ll update this post as we hear more.

According to the SEC filing, Raman is receiving $600,000 in severance as part of the resignation.

Under Raman’s direction, Xome launched a new home-buying service in Seattle six months ago, allowing customers to easily purchase homes online, receiving 1 percent back on the purchase or sale.

“It’s a huge market, and no one is planning to go after it like we are planning to do,” Raman said at the time, also pointing out that Xome is far different from Seattle-based Zillow.

“The agents don’t have to pay the money when they get the leads. In our case, it’s pay for performance,” he said. In an earlier interview with GeekWire, Raman had said that the company was attempting to become the Amazon of real estate.

Under the direction of Raman, Xome invested heavily in Seattle, including quickly growing its employee base. As of June, Xome employed more than 50 people in the Seattle area. The company also is a sponsor at CenturyLink Field, home to the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders FC.

According to a quarterly financial report released last month, Xome’s pretax income fell 39 percent in part due to larger investments in technology. The company invested $16 million on products and technology during the quarter.

UPDATE: Here’s the full statement on the resignation from Nationstar:

Kal Raman has decided to step down as CEO of Xome. Our plans for Xome remain intact and include investments in technologies, companies, and service offerings to develop an end-to-end residential transaction ecosystem. Major investments to-date include the development of the Xome website and mobile app, Seattle and Chennai office build-outs, and work-flow/process improvements to property disposition programs. We’re very excited about the growth and success Xome has achieved and the many possibilities and future of this unique offering.

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