Open Listings (YC W15) Is Helping Homebuyers Hack Real Estate
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Re: Open Listings (YC W15) Is Helping Homebuyers Hack Real Estate
#2Founders are on deck to answer any questions you guys have. We're really excited to be in YC!
Re: Open Listings (YC W15) Is Helping Homebuyers Hack Real Estate
#3Founders are on deck to answer any questions you guys have. We're really excited to be in YC!
First, good luck on your business.
My question: How's this different from something like helpusell.com?
I used Helpusell over a decade ago in California. They saved me a nice chunk of change because the agent was smart, but ultimately the buyer came from listing on MLS and not their site. MLS drove buyers to my property very quickly.
Re: Open Listings (YC W15) Is Helping Homebuyers Hack Real Estate
#4Founders are on deck to answer any questions you guys have. We're really excited to be in YC!
First, good luck on your business. My question: How's this different from something like helpusell.com? I used Helpusell over a decade ago in California. They saved me a nice chunk of change because the agent was smart, but ultimately the buyer came from listing on MLS and not their site. MLS drove buyers to my property very quickly.
Thanks! We love new models like helpusell.
We're coming at it from the other side -- we're completely focused on buyers. You can input any address in California and we'll make your offer. The listings we have on our site are straight from the MLS (we have 100% coverage in LA and SF right now). However, you can shop on Redfin, Trulia, or Zillow and put the offer in or schedule a showing through our site.
Let me know if you have any more questions.
Re: Open Listings (YC W15) Is Helping Homebuyers Hack Real Estate
#5Congrats on the launch! What's the tech stack?
Re: Open Listings (YC W15) Is Helping Homebuyers Hack Real Estate
#6Congrats on the launch! What's the tech stack?
Rails + MongoDB on the backend, Obj-C + Swift on iOS, Backbone + ReactJS in CoffeeScript for the web. We're polyglots!
Re: Open Listings (YC W15) Is Helping Homebuyers Hack Real Estate
#7It sounds like the main benefit offered by your product is the ability to forego the agent fees.
Have you considered attempting to make an API available for clients with a more established user-base (think Zillow or Trulia) to hook into, essentially giving you your fee and allowing their customers to buy directly through their clients?
The creation of your own client relies heavily on you getting a user-base large enough that people are going to be willing to trust it, and when they're spending a large portion of their wealth on a home, that's unlikely to happen (at least immediately). If your service has the face of an established client on it, the customer doesn't even have to know that you exist, and won't even get the opportunity to not trust you :)
Is this something you've considered? Is it a service that would even interest something like Zillow or Trulia?
Re: Open Listings (YC W15) Is Helping Homebuyers Hack Real Estate
#8Founders are on deck to answer any questions you guys have. We're really excited to be in YC!
Hi guys. Cool site. Quick question - and I completely understand if you can't answer - any more details on your plans for expanding MLS coverage, or particulars on your current data arrangements?
Just curious because I know some realtors and it seems like the barrier to a national MLS equivalent has been opposition by industry organizations wanting to protect their data. Any thoughts?
Re: Open Listings (YC W15) Is Helping Homebuyers Hack Real Estate
#9It sounds like the main benefit offered by your product is the ability to forego the agent fees. Have you considered attempting to make an API available for clients with a more established user-base (think Zillow or Trulia) to hook into, essentially giving you your fee and allowing their customers to buy directly through their clients? The creation of your own client relies heavily on you getting a user-base large en…
Yes! If you want an API to put in an offer via HTTP request (curl a house!) please let me know at peter@openlistings.co. This is definitely on our list, but not super high yet but if you want it, we'll move it higher.
Re: Open Listings (YC W15) Is Helping Homebuyers Hack Real Estate
#10It seems the value of this is highly dependent on the local market. A 2% commission on a $300k home is comparably priced at $6000 (and commission rates are negotiable), but a local agent will provide a lot of service difficult for a web app to compete with.
I can see the value in a market where seven figure homes are the norm, though. Most buyers don't want to negotiate a good flat rate with an agent. On the other hand, I bought without an agent and didn't feel too out of sorts during the process.
As a suggestion for the site: talk up the value the service provides over and above sending the offer letter. To me, that's where the value would lie.