31–39 of 39 posts
It worked really great. I saved almost 2% on my home. BuySide apparently became some company called Iggy's House (worst name for a company, EVER), then they disappeared.
So a) how do you differ from BuySide and b) how will you not disappear like they did?
How are you different from redfin? Are you aiming for an acquisition by redfin or zillow?
RedFin is a great step towards making buying less expensive but they haven't innovated on the experience of buying at all. They give you a traditional agent experience for half the price. We let you submit an offer online and we're rifle focused on improving the offer/buy process. On a typical California home you'll save a lot more going with us. We charge a flat-fee rather than a percentage because it's just as much…
First time buyers need a ton of assistance navigating all of that and making sure they don't get screwed by the sell side of the deal (e.g. seller recommending their own inspector, for one).
So about 8 years ago I bought a home using BuySide Realty. Similar idea: they represented you in the purchase transaction, then rebated 75% of the negotiated purchase commission back to you. It worked really great. I saved almost 2% on my home. BuySide apparently became some company called Iggy's House ( worst name for a company, EVER ), then they disappeared. So a) how do you differ from BuySide and b) how will you…
Our service costs less because we do less manually and more with technology. A typical agent spends 80% of their time looking for leads and trying to find properties for their clients. Most of the effort in submitting an offer is filling out a bunch of forms (computers are good at this). We let clients find homes by themselves and are working to automate as much of the offer submission and close process as possible. In this way, we have the margins of a scalable technology company, rather than a traditional human-powered real estate brokerage.
In terms of not disappearing, I can't guarantee anything but we're working our hardest to build a sustainable business!
So about 8 years ago I bought a home using BuySide Realty. Similar idea: they represented you in the purchase transaction, then rebated 75% of the negotiated purchase commission back to you. It worked really great. I saved almost 2% on my home. BuySide apparently became some company called Iggy's House ( worst name for a company, EVER ), then they disappeared. So a) how do you differ from BuySide and b) how will you…
I'm not super familiar with BuySide but it sounds like they were a traditional brokerage that worked on a discount. Our service costs less because we do less manually and more with technology. A typical agent spends 80% of their time looking for leads and trying to find properties for their clients. Most of the effort in submitting an offer is filling out a bunch of forms (computers are good at this). We let clients…
So when you prepare and transmit an offer on behalf of your client and the selling agent responds with a counteroffer, who receives that? Who gets it back in the hands of the buyer?
Who advises the client on preparing the counter-counteroffer? Or are your offers more of a "buyer proposes $X take it or leave it" exploding deal?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Getting MLS data is hard. We had to become a registered California brokerage and join individual MLS organizations as participating agents. Each MLS runs on different servers with slightly different SOAP/XML APIs and slightly different data formats. We're ingesting from 3 right now in real-time. We're planning to get full CA coverage this way in the next month or so (CA is 15% of the national real estate market). We…
Doesn't the MLS feed follow the RET specification ?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not super familiar with BuySide but it sounds like they were a traditional brokerage that worked on a discount. Our service costs less because we do less manually and more with technology. A typical agent spends 80% of their time looking for leads and trying to find properties for their clients. Most of the effort in submitting an offer is filling out a bunch of forms (computers are good at this). We let clients…
BuySide was pretty much the same thing. Here's the MLS, visit all the open houses you want on your own and drop our name as the buying agent, and come to us when you are ready to drop an offer letter. So when you prepare and transmit an offer on behalf of your client and the selling agent responds with a counteroffer, who receives that? Who gets it back in the hands of the buyer? Who advises the client on preparing t…
Currently, to the selling agent we look just like a normal brokerage. In the future we hope to put more of the negotiation process online so that process becomes even more transparent.
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Is 100% dual agency the norm? The industry definitely seems pretty opaque in regards to these issues. In my circumstance, the seller agent's contract stipulated that the agent earned 50% the buyer agent's commission for buyers lacking an agent. That worked well for me, as the seller had lower commissions and her agent's interests were also aligned with me. But I admit that going into the transaction, I had assumed th…
in nyc, i know that dual agency is the norm. you see sellers' brokers mildly sabotaging offers from buyers' brokers sometimes for this reason. agencies like Corcoran have built very tidy businesses by being sellers' brokers and buyers' brokers at the same time, and act that way whether there is any actual buyer's broker relationship at all.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
RedFin is a great step towards making buying less expensive but they haven't innovated on the experience of buying at all. They give you a traditional agent experience for half the price. We let you submit an offer online and we're rifle focused on improving the offer/buy process. On a typical California home you'll save a lot more going with us. We charge a flat-fee rather than a percentage because it's just as much…
How do you support the buyer other than handling the offer and contract? Do you provide escrow, referrals for home inspectors, surveyors, or title services? Do you shop those out? First time buyers need a ton of assistance navigating all of that and making sure they don't get screwed by the sell side of the deal (e.g. seller recommending their own inspector, for one).