According to the Houston Chronicle, the tech savvy real estate companies known as iBuyers are moving into town to buy and sell homes while charging homeowners commissions as high at 10%. The firms make cash offers on houses for sale and allow the seller to determine the closing date. The sales model makes showings and open houses a thing of the past.
These companies, sometimes called iBuyers, pose the latest challenge to traditional real estate agents, already contending with cut-rate services such as Rex, which charges a 2 percent commission, and Door, which charges a flat fee of $5,000. Katie Day, an agent with Coldwell Banker United, said new business models are ultimately good for consumers because they offer more choice.
“There’s more than enough real estate to go around,” Day said. “Knowing a home will sell in a week or a month may work out better for some people.”
Traditional real estate companies are also getting into the iBuying business. Coldwell Banker’s parent company recently launched a pilot program in Dallas and Atlanta that gives some sellers listing properties the option of receiving cash offers from the agency. Keller Williams is testing its own iBuyer program, too. Over the past year, the company has closed nearly 100 transactions, said spokesman Darryl Frost.
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