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Tech startup launches ‘Craigslist for pocket listings’

OfferAI, a Texas-based real estate technology company, has launched a platform it describes as “Craigslist for pocket listings” that, it claims, complies with a ban on such listings passed by the National Association of Realtors.

OfferAI was first launched as a bot that makes offers on homes, but pivoted in the wake of the National Association of Realtors’ Clear Cooperation Policy. The free platform allows agents to present themselves as an iBuyer to potential sellers, through a network of private investors who purchase off-market homes.

Jack Burns | Photo credit: LinkedIn

“OfferAI’s research has shown that a significant number of agents have investor contacts who are hungry for off-market deals,” OfferAI CEO Jack Burns said in a statement. “Those agents can invite their cash buyers onto the platform, which will ensure that inviting agent is the buyer’s agent for any acquisitions the investor makes in the platform.”

In November, NAR’s executive committee passed the Clear Cooperation Policy, a rule that requires listing brokers to submit a listing to the multiple listing service within one day of marketing a property to the public.

Members of the association were split on the ruling, with some praising it and others lambasting the decision. At a high level, Compass threatened legal action while other brokerage CEOs, such as Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman, supported the ruling.

A spokesperson for NAR didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether OfferAI’s platform complies with the Clear Cooperation Policy.

JP & Associates Realtors is the first brokerage to adopt the platform, with approximately 500 agents currently signed up to use it, according to OfferAI.

The product is free for agents, and OfferAI executives said in a statement that it generates revenue through a number of premium services including personalized lead generation websites, customized videos and by allowing companies to pay to brand the OfferAI platform to their brokerage.

Email Patrick Kearns

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