03/29

iBuyers.

We’re not talking about Apple fanatics here – we’re talking about companies that will make a seller an offer on their home within minutes (or days) based on a proprietary valuation model. These offers are also sight unseen.

So, why should you care about these supposed iBuyers?

If you’re in the process of selling your home, you might just receive one of these offers. While iBuyer transactions are still only a small sliver of home sales (5% of sales were completed through iBuyers this past year), many experts are claiming this is the next big digital change in the real estate world.

But before you decide on accepting – or rejecting – an iBuyer’s offer, you might want to know what it all means.

iBuyers claim that with them, the selling experience is quicker and easier. You can close in as little as a couple of days after you accept their price!

When would you accept an iBuyer’s offer, over a traditional one? – well, most people seem to think it might be easier if you are relocating for a job, or you’ve had your home on the market for longer than usual and would like to move on.

What you need to be aware of, as the seller, is that iBuyers will usually charge full commission, plus build in a discount to fair value to compensate for the risk they take by providing you with “instant” liquidity.

Now, this is where zavvie comes in. Zavvie is publishing an app that will help home sellers quickly see the many iBuyers that are placing offers on their home. Their tool is called the Offer Optimizer – the tool lists the multiple offers from iBuyers for sellers to compare side by side. Think of it as the Kayak of the real estate world.

Zavvie’s CEO, Lane Hornung, believes that iBuyer offers are the next biggest thing to happen in real estate since Zestimates – and that “one in 20 homes were bought by an iBuyer company in Phoeonix this past year.”

While the iBuyer experience is still relatively new, it’ll be important to keep an eye on the newest tools and apps that work to promote it.