The real estate industry has been waiting to see how Realogy, the largest owner of U.S. real estate brokerages and franchise brands, would respond to the iBuying trend. Now we know.
Realogy is teaming up with Home Partners of America, a real estate investment and management company, to launch two new programs, RealSure Sell and RealSure Mortgage.
RealSure Sell gives qualifying home sellers a cash offer upon listing. It’s valid for 45 days while an affiliated agent markets the home in pursuit of “an even better price,” as Realogy described it.
“RealSure has been designed to solve the two questions consumers most often have when selling their home – what is the best price I can achieve in the market, and should I wait to look for my next home until my current residence sells?” Realogy said in a statement.
Next, RealSure Mortgage allows a seller who’s enrolled in RealSure Sell to make an offer on his or her next home by “leveraging” the cash offer, Realogy said.
“The ability to secure a mortgage on a new home eliminates the stress many Americans face when having to sell a home while simultaneously trying to buy another,” Realogy said. “A majority of consumers are selling a house while also looking to buy one at the same time.”
According to a survey from the National Association of Realtors, 39% of buyers need to use proceeds from the sale of their prior residence to fund the purchase of their next home.
RealSure is now available in Dallas and Denver for home sellers who have a qualified property and use a participating real estate agent affiliated with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA or Sotheby’s International Realty.
Over the next month, RealSure will roll out to brokerages affiliated with those brands in eight additional U.S. markets, including Chicago, Houston and Austin, Texas, Sacramento, California, as well as Tampa, Orlando, Sarasota and Fort Myers in Florida.
Realogy intends to “learn from the program in these markets and quickly scale to others,” the company said in the statement.
