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Open Listings: https://www.openlistings.co/ https://www.openlistings.co/ We're trying to change the way people buy homes to make home ownership easier and more
by rgbrgb 12y ago
Open Listings: https://www.openlistings.co/ https://www.openlistings.co/
We're trying to change the way people buy homes to make home ownership easier and more affordable. Basically if you want to put an offer in on a house, we'll represent you in the transaction and we refund you the majority of our commission (which is typically 3% of the sale price). We can charge dramatically less than a traditional realtor because we're not physically driving around and looking for the house with you (there are a plethora of apps that make that part easy to do on your own). Saving 3% may not sound like a lot but if you put it in the context of a typical 15-20% down payment, it's 15-20% of the upfront cost of purchasing a home. Put your refund into overpaying your mortgage and the savings is compounded.
This problem feels important because home ownership is essential to community -- it's hard to feel a sense of equity in your community when you have no literal equity. The data also supports this, numerous studies have shown a strong inverse correlation between home ownership rates and crime rates.
- aagha 12y agoI like the idea, but why start with a mobile app? I could be in the minority, but I don't feel the home buying experience is something I want to do on my phone.
- rgbrgb 12y agoAnecdotally and from the traffic numbers we've been able to get from top listings sites, people are shopping for houses on their phones. We saw that other listings products weren't doing a good job of transitioning to mobile and we had an idea for an instagram-like feed of new properties as they come on market. Our product/company has since evolved from a mobile listings app to a digital brokerage. We agree that large and serious transactions can be handled more comfortably in your browser, so the closing process happens in our web app.
- porter 12y agoIs this legal?
- rgbrgb 12y agoYes. Redfin has a similar model but they can't refund as much because they provide full-service agents.
- mrfusion 12y agoHow do buyers view the house without an agent? I asked the sellers agent to show me a house once and they wouldn't do it unless I used them as my buying agent also :-(
- rgbrgb 12y agoIt's quite common to go to open houses without an agent or to ask the sellers agent to show you around. What that sellers agent was telling you sounds illegal, and I'd be very surprised if they wouldn't show you the house if you insisted on not having another agent there. They have a fiduciary duty to get offers and show all of them to the seller they are representing.