Online offer, negotiation service expands to Atlanta
N-Play plans to be active in 10 markets this year
By Inman News, Friday, May 7, 2010.N-Play, an online offer and negotiation service for residential real estate listings, has launched in Atlanta, the company announced last week.
N-Play, which launched in Florida in 2008, lets homebuyers make nonbinding, anonymous offers on property listings. Agents using the service get an online offer management system that adds a "Make Your Offer" or "N-Play" button to each of their listings. Offers are nonbinding until both seller and buyer sign a purchase agreement as they normally would in a real estate transaction.
Through that button, buyers can make their offers, see how they stack up next to other buyers in real time, get seller feedback on contingencies like closing costs, and sign up to get updates on the offers for particular properties.
Raymond Morris, president of RE/MAX Greater Atlanta, said in a statement that N-Play provides transparency in the offer process "without jeopardizing anyone's position. We believe it will help our sellers sell more quickly and at a higher price and buyers will pay only what the market will bear."
The brokerage is the first in Atlanta to include N-Play in its listings. N-Play plans to be in 10 markets by year-end, according to the announcement.
"For real estate agents this means reduced wasted time, higher close ratios and happier customers," the announcement said.
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Submitted by RealEstateCafe on May 7, 2010 - 9:01am.
The timing of this update on N-Play couldn't be better, as the transparency, accountability and control their platform enables addresses issues raised by home buyers, sellers, and professionals in Massachusetts debating whether BLIND bidding wars should be regulated.
See Boston.com article, links, and comments at:
Why not crack down on bidding wars?
http://bit.ly/2CrackBidWars
Bill Wendel
The Real Estate Cafe
Serving a menu of money-saving services for "do-it-yourself" homebuyers & FSBOs since 1995
617-661-4046
realestatecafe@gmail.com
http://realestatecafe.blogs.com
Submitted by Michael Kelly,CDPE,CIPS,CRS,SRES on May 9, 2010 - 8:51am.
So if it's anonymous--is their a duty to present the offer? And just WHO is presenting the offer? Is this procuring cause if a buyer goes in and presents an offer to me the lising agent? Many questions about this new app!
Michael J. Kelly,CDPE,CIPS,CRS,SRES
Keller Williams Realty
2008 #1 Single Agent for Keller Williams Santa Rosa Market Center.
2005 & 2008 "Realtor of the Year" Santa Rosa Chapter of Realtors
Submitted by Mark Bloomfield on May 10, 2010 - 10:00am.
I’m glad you have questions regarding N-Play. The online offer is always presented via N-Play on behalf of the Broker and agent representing the buyer. “This online offer is provided courtesy of XYZ Broker….”
Offers made through N-Play are anonymous to the seller’s agent only until an agreement-in-principle is reached, at which time the identities/contact info and deal points are distributed in an MOU to all parties.
During the secure offer registration process, the buyer may choose any agent they please to represent them, including the seller’s agent (in states that permit dual representation). The actual representation agreements are consummated outside the purview of N-Play and are conducted directly between the agent and their client. N-Play provides the name and contact information of the buyer to the agent via email. During this time, the buyer’s online offer is temporarily put on “hold” until their agent of record “activates the offer”, thereby “posting” it to the offer gird and making it live.
Other potential buyers will then be able to view the offer and existing buyers will instantly be informed if their offer ranking have changed and given the opportunity to improve their offer.
Once a non-binding agreement-in-principle is reached between the buyer and seller (through the advice and consultation of their respective agents), the deal is memorialized in an email document that is distributed to all parties and is used to facilitate a binding purchase agreement offline (outside the purview of N-Play) using state approved documents, procedures, etc.
Since the offer made online is nonbinding on any party, including the agents, there is no legal duty to present the offer to the seller, although the agent could do so very easily. The seller can also go online to view offers on their property at anytime and from anywhere simply by clicking on the N-Play offer gird associated with their property, publicly accessible through their agent’s or broker’s website.
Mark Bloomfield
CEO
www.n-play.com
Submitted by Mark Bloomfield on May 10, 2010 - 1:00pm.
You can go through this quick demo for an interactive tour of the N-Play offer grid:
www.n-play.com/testdrive
Submitted by Johnny Sabic on May 10, 2010 - 10:14pm.
It should reduce wasted time for the agents but it is going to take some time for this to widespread.
Johnny Sabic
Keller Williams Realty
Phone:404.574.5282
Cell:404.453.5340
email: johnnysabic@kw.com
web: www.atlantamyhome.com