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Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

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Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#71

Post by hash872 »

complianceowl wrote: post #32
the_gorilla wrote: post #13

I'll try anything to get rid of realtors. They're the worst form of rent seekers, and it requires no real skill or training other than a certificate that I could purchase with a highschool diploma, taking one class, and passing a multiple choice exam.

The biggest contribution my realtor made was good negotiation, but even that cannot be confirmed. Why? Because I never spoke to the sellers directly. For all I know, I was their only offer and they were just holding off to see if anything else would come through. When I sell my current home, the realtor commission would be around $20,000. That's $20,000 cash equity that is taken out of my hands. When I did this simpl…

>the realtor commission would be around $20,000. That's $20,000 cash equity that is taken out of my hands

Not to defend the current real estate industry too much, but if the sellers were not paying $20k for a buyer's agent, the price of the home would likely just be $20k higher. That's an extra $20k that the sellers would get to keep. If they kept the price the same with or without an agent, that would seem to be some pretty irrational behavior. They'd be giving up $20,000 for no reason!

A rational seller is selling for as much as the market will bear, and are only paying transaction costs that they absolutely have to. Again not defending the current system at all- the sellers are the ones who who are paying too much in this case

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#72

Post by greenfish6 »

thinkmorebetter wrote: post #62

I think it’s a bit misguided in the pitch by too boldly trying to replace all buyer agents. A lot of what realtors offer, especially to first time buyers (~1/3), is emotional support and confidence/security for making the biggest financial decision in their lives. I don't believe an AI isn’t going to be able to do that. But if you’re a second+ time buyer, then I think it makes more sense.

I actually do believe that AI can make someone feel more comfortable with their purchase.

Let's break down the communications that realtors currently do to comfort buyers (mostly over text, which is also how we communicate):

Tell you comparably priced properties - we do this. Remind you the steps in the process - we do this. Tell you basic stats about local transactions (such as telling dejected buyers that only 1/6 home offers get accepted in the bay) - we do this. Send newsletters for market updates - we do this. Tell you what other agents are telling them - we do this.

I think if someone really needs a person putting a hand on their shoulder, then we aren't that. But we have implemented many of the typical comforting realtor actions

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#73

Post by the_gorilla »

bityard wrote: post #38
the_gorilla wrote: post #13

I'll try anything to get rid of realtors. They're the worst form of rent seekers, and it requires no real skill or training other than a certificate that I could purchase with a highschool diploma, taking one class, and passing a multiple choice exam.

Are you speaking from experience in the real estate industry? I'll agree that RE agents ("Realtor" is a trademarked term) are essentially unnecessary for the happy path when a property sale goes smoothly. In that case, they are overpaid secretaries. But the reason RE agents are their own profession is because when a sale starts to wander off the happy path, there can suddenly be a LOT to know, discuss, and do. A good…

Thanks for the reminder, I did get surprised by several local laws despite having a realtor familiar with the area. I speak from experience as a buyer who did all the work and indirectly paid a parasite a lot of money to cost me even more money. I need to emphasis that the issue is that I don't have a choice in the matter. In cases where I don't need them, it doesn't matter if they're good or not, they're purely parasitic.

I don't want them. They've inserted themselves in the process against my will.

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#74

Post by matthewemiller »

eagleinparadise wrote: post #29

Best of luck. I’m a commercial real estate professional who has spent time as a broker, lender, and private equity investor. Residential definitely is a lot More of a ridiculous market. But ultimately as an agent, you get hired to work with mostly irrational actors (sellers and buyers). As someone who is very interested in AI and taught myself how to code (I don’t know any other real estate people who know anything a…

I can attest to this likely being true.

We are working on morfi.com, trying to build better software for mortgage professionals, and it's challenging.

You can see it in reporting from firms like MeridianLink, mortgage (and probably real estate) lag behind their peers in the adoption of technology.

https://s28.q4cdn.com/477693378/files/doc_financials/2023/q4...

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#75

Post by greenfish6 »

the_gorilla wrote: post #33
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My realtor was invaluable when I bought a house. He had a lot of valuable guidance on what to look for and what to avoid, as well as advice on how to make our offer stand out in a seller's market. I'm not saying that there aren't realtors who are just parasites, but some do earn their pay. Mine was one such.

My realtor was worthless. I picked the house, picked the inspector, and then just had to find a realtor in the area who wouldn't bumblefuck it up too badly. He still managed to somehow cost a lot of extra money by moving extremely slowly. I don't need or want a realtor but the system is set up to ensure they continue to exist regardless of if they have any value. The issue is that we don't really have a choice in the…

Once we can do buy and sell side then we can be the full marketplace and cut out the realtors

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#77

Post by greenfish6 »

ned_at_codomain wrote: post #22
rootsudo wrote: post #16

I had this idea, it’s cool someone ran with it. I can see how “AI” can work the deal. Really should review submitting to ycombinator in the future :) always feel my ideas aren’t good to pursue.

Speaking as a YC-backed startup founder myself, you should have more confidence in your ideas! But not for the reasons you might think. It's not that your ideas are good or bad. Most of us have mostly bad ideas. Some of us sometimes have good ideas. But there's really no way to tell if your idea is good or bad until you try. No amount of intellectualizing will give you a trustworthy answer. We started our business wi…

I would also strongly recommend talking to customers and building out your idea ASAP as a mandatory first step to determining if it's a "good idea". the YC mantra :)

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#78

Post by rpearl »

greenfish6 wrote: post #9
rpearl wrote: post #7

Agents are there for the edge cases. We had a contract dispute that required negotiations and even a brief discussion with a lawyer. At one point, our agent was calling title companies in the area to find the _other_ escrow account. How are you planning on handling cases that abruptly require complexity? At first glance, it looks like using a service like what you are describing would have been an unmitigated disaste…

Raffi, my cofounder, is an attorney himself along with having a Realtor license. Most Realtors are not attorneys. You said you needed to talk to an attorney but what if your realtor.... was an attorney? So we have more ability to handle edge cases, not less!

I mean the premise of your product appears to be that I'd be interacting with an AI. If I were to use it, I would not be hiring Raffi---would I?

I was in a situation where the seller of the house, after signing our contract, halfway through closing, decided to try to accept another offer that would close faster. The seller attempted to get out of our contract when we wanted to enforce it and close.

An AI wouldn't be calling escrow companies for us. An AI may have a recommendation about whether lis pendens is necessary but it wouldn't be personally taking it to the courthouse before close of day on a Friday. An AI would not be able to watch the property in case the other buyers showed up.

Obviously with a smooth transaction none of this is necessary. Most transactions are smooth, and that's great. But ALL the value of a real estate agent is in the edge cases. I'm asking what would happen to me if I would've used a tool like this instead? When abruptly this sort of work becomes necessary but I've never spoken to a person. In such a time, I don't just want advice, I want an actual agent to help me make a real decision, quickly, and then act on my behalf.

Is that Raffi? How many people is Raffi helping? Is this just Raffi's fancy tech driven real estate office that will be slightly larger than the usual due to leveraging tech?

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#79

Post by sgt »

It's interesting how many AI Real Estate agent startups and buzz I've seen and heard about recently. The other day I saw several of them in my LinkedIn feed as well. Good luck - I suspect this is going to be quite a competitive space, and it'll be interesting to see if real-estate-without-agents pans out.

Re: Launch HN: Modern Realty (YC S24) – AI Real Estate Agent for Home Buyers

#80

Post by greenfish6 »

sgt wrote: post #79

It's interesting how many AI Real Estate agent startups and buzz I've seen and heard about recently. The other day I saw several of them in my LinkedIn feed as well. Good luck - I suspect this is going to be quite a competitive space, and it'll be interesting to see if real-estate-without-agents pans out.

It's due to the August 17th Department of Justice case caused a restructuring of how buyer agents are paid, so this spawned a variety of competitors.
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