While the past decade in real estate has seen technology innovation around the initial steps in the real estate journey — such as finding an agent you can trust or having access to thousands of property listings at your fingertips — the mechanics of the transaction have remained largely untouched.
Welcome to the challenge of the next decade that San Francisco-based HomeLight is trying to solve.
The company announced the launch of HomeLight Cash Close today, which they describe as the first product on the market that is designed for agents, enabling their clientele to maximize their home sale while removing many of the painful contingencies they experience today.
“As creative proptech solutions emerge to address inefficiencies in the real estate transaction, no one company is helping the consumer find the right path for their needs,” said HomeLight CEO Drew Uher. “HomeLight Cash Close has both the consumer and agent in mind and offers a frictionless experience that no other company can match today. This is another step in fulfilling our vision of a world where every transaction is simple, certain, and satisfying.”
HomeLight Cash Close aims to dramatically simplify the real estate transaction with two sister products designed for agents to help their clients: Trade-In and Cash Offer.
HomeLight Trade-In: Like swapping cars at the dealership
Homeowners ready to move don’t have a lot of great options. They can buy a new house with a pesky home-sale contingency, or sell first and rent until that new house comes through.
HomeLight solves this issue by directly purchasing the existing home from the homeowners, and providing immediate liquidity for a future home purchase. The company then uses the traditional listing process with a top agent in HomeLight’s network to sell the home and share 100% of the profits with the original owner. Unlike other iBuying and trade-in solutions, this enables the homeowner to fully maximize their home’s value.
“Cash Close has been a game-changer for us since we started using it,” said Compass real estate agent Laura Boston based in San Diego. “It’s definitely the biggest change I’ve seen in real estate in my career.”
HomeLight Cash Offer removes the risks of financing
Cash Offer helps buyers compete with cash, even if they need a mortgage. HomeLight will purchase homes on behalf of qualified clients and then transfer the home when their mortgage closes. HomeLight claims this product has helped multiple home buyers and agents win negotiations at competitive prices due to the strength of the cash-backed offer.
“When my wife and I went to go buy our first home, we almost lost the home of our dreams because our lender didn’t have their act together,” said Uher. “Fortunately, there’s now a product that solves this. We are seeing unprecedented demand from agents for all of our Cash Close products, and are eager to get it into the hands of every consumer in the U.S. who wants to transact real estate.”
Find out more about HomeLight’s new program by visiting HomeLight Cash Close.