Redfin Announces 'Sign & Save' Program Which Offers Homebuyers Refunds
Redfin has announced Sign & Save, a new way for consumers to get a better deal in real estate. Homebuyers who sign up to work with a Redfin agent before the second tour can get a refund of 0.25 - 0.5% of the purchase price at closing. For example, an eligible homebuyer purchasing a $500,000 home will save $1,250. For a $2 million home, eligible Sign & Save customers will get a $10,000 refund. "Redfin is putting money back in homebuyers' pockets at a time when many are struggling with high prices and mortgage rates," said Jason Aleem, Redfin's senior vice president of real estate operations. "The concept is simple: as a Sign & Save customer you get extra savings because we know you're serious about buying a home, and we're serious about getting you into one. We started piloting Sign & Save in a handful of cities in September and the customer response has been fantastic. We're now rolling it out to dozens more markets because we believe it will help our agents close more sales and increase profits by identifying and rewarding homebuyers who are ready to make a purchase." How Sign & Save Works When a homebuyer goes on their first home tour with a Redfin agent, the agent learns about the customer's goals, explains the benefits of working with Redfin to achieve those goals, and asks the customer to sign a buyer agency agreement. This is a contract that creates a formal working relationship between the customer and Redfin. Customers who sign up to work with a Redfin agent before the second tour get a refund when they close on their new home. The standard Sign & Save refund is 0.25% of the purchase price. For customers who purchase a luxury home through Redfin's Premier service, Redfin offers a 0.5% Sign & Save refund. Because Redfin earns a larger commission on a luxury home sale, it's able to give the homebuyer a larger refund. Redfin's Commitment to Savings and Transparency The program is part of Redfin's commitment to giving customers a better deal by offering great service from exceptional agents at a lower cost. "Saving customers money has been central to our mission to redefine real estate in the consumers' favor," said Aleem. "Homebuyers are becoming more aware of the high cost of agent fees and less apologetic about negotiating commissions. We've helped usher in this new era of price transparency by advertising our low listing fee and publishing the buyers agent commission on every listing on our website. Sign & Save is another opportunity for our agents to explain the fees involved in the transaction and the benefits of working with Redfin." With Sign & Save, Redfin is rewarding customers who commit to working with a Redfin agent early in the process. Customers who don't want to sign a buyer agency agreement can still work with Redfin agents to tour homes with no obligation. In pilot markets, Sign & Save customers were significantly more likely to close than other customers. Buyers in the pilot markets are making offers with their Redfin agent at a significantly higher rate than buyers in comparable markets. "Homebuyers today are often connecting with the first agent who responds to their online request without understanding how the process works or what the fees are," said Andrew Vallejo, a Redfin Premier agent in Austin, where Redfin piloted the program. "Sign & Save is a great way to start a conversation with new customers about why they should hire me and how I'll help them win and save." Sign & Save is now available to Redfin's home-buying customers in more than 50 markets. A full list is available here. The refund is available to customers who sign an exclusive Buyer Agency Agreement before their second tour with Redfin and go under contract to purchase a property within 180 days of signing the agreement.

Coldwell Banker Releases 'The International Buyer's Guide to Purchasing U.S. Property'
Coldwell Banker Real Estate recently released "The International Buyer's Guide to Purchasing U.S. Property," an in-depth collection of guidelines and best practices to demystify the buying process for international clients seeking to purchase property in the United States. The International Buyer's Guide also serves as a helpful resource to help Coldwell Banker affiliated agents better serve clients, and as a marketing resource for agents to build referral business globally. Key features in The International Buyer's Guide include: The Current Real Estate Landscape With travel bans eased, international interest in the United States real estate market is expected to increase due to pent-up demand. In 2022, international buyers spent more money, but purchased fewer properties than in previous years. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, while transactions further decreased, the dollar volume of foreign buyer purchases rose 8.5% to $59 billion between April 2021 and March 2022. Big Spenders: International buyers accounted for $59 billion in dollar volume for residential properties purchased. Cash Offers: 44% of international buyers paid all-cash for a U.S. property, compared to 24% among all existing home buyers. Real Estate Investment: 44% of international buyers purchased property for use as a vacation home, rental or both in the United States. Dream Locations The five U.S. states that attract the greatest number of international home buyers are Florida, California, Texas, Arizona and New York. While cities like New York and Los Angeles have traditionally attracted the most international dollars, secondary cities are on the rise, presenting as "hidden gem" opportunities. The Coldwell Banker Global Luxury program issued "The Report 2022," which includes "The Opportunity Index" that measures a market's percentage of annual price increase against the current inventory level. "We're ecstatic to welcome back international investment into the U.S. real estate market," said Liz Gehringer, President of Affiliate Business and Chief Operating Officer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate. "Gone are the days where the agent is just part of a transaction – today, they're a lifelong partner, helping consumers craft their dream life. The 'International Buyer's Guide to Purchasing U.S. Property' offers prospective buyers a full-scale look at best practices, tips and recommendations when thinking about their next purchase."

Landis and zavvie Team Up to Offer Innovative Home Buyer Solution that Turns Renters into Homeowners
Zavvie, the nation's first real estate brokerage marketplace that connects broker-agents to buyers and sellers, announced it is teaming up with Landis, a company that uses technology and data science to help thousands of Americans achieve homeownership. Landis, which recently became part of the National Association of Realtors® REACH Program for startups, is a social impact-driven company with a mission to guide renters on their unique path to purchasing a home. Now operating in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia, Landis is taking on the housing affordability crisis by leveraging technology, one-on-one coaching, and education to help people qualify for a mortgage and ultimately become homeowners. Together, the companies will use the zavvie brokerage marketplace to deliver real estate agents more affordable and accessible options for homebuyers nationwide. "Zavvie is empowering the modern brokerage with a marketplace that delivers all the options for today and tomorrow's home buyers and sellers and keeps their trusted real estate agents at the center of each transaction," said Lane Hornung zavvie co-founder and CEO. Landis brings an innovative solution to the zavvie brokerage marketplace that creates a path for more consumers shut out from home buying. With the addition of Landis, agents can help everyone who wants to buy a home – including those who do not currently qualify for a mortgage loan. "This is technology at its best," said Landis co-founder Cyril Berdugo. "By leveraging technology and data science, the Landis homeownership program creates the best path for renters to become homeowners," he explained. "We also are leveraging industry expertise through the trusted advisor in real estate transactions – the agent," added Tom Petit, Landis co-founder. "Through Landis, agents can help more people than ever become homeowners. And for the first time, agents don't have to turn a single person away," he added. Landis's innovative technology, which can assess if a client will be mortgage-ready in the future, helps those unable to qualify with traditional mortgage lenders. Landis ensures client success by empowering them with a budget to pick a property, which Landis then purchases, and allows them to move in as a renter. In addition, the agent earns a full commission upfront when Landis buys the house on behalf of the client. During the Landis 12-24-month program, a portion of the client's rent creates a down payment. In addition, Landis provides personalized coaching through a coaching app that helps guide clients through the steps to homeownership. Landis specialists also provide personalized credit counseling and educational content that helps clients raise their credit scores and become qualified for a traditional mortgage. Once ready, the client can buy the house they are renting within two years at a predetermined price, which increases 3% each year. "Housing affordability and accessibility are new territories for many brokerages and their agents," said Hornung, "but agents now can play a direct role in expanding the path of homeownership for more people across the country."

'Coming Soon' Programs from Compass and Howard Hanna: Find Out How HH Sold 55 Homes in One Month with Find It First
The real estate industry suffers from constrained inventory, forcing brokers to get creative in order to address the needs and expectations of home buyers who are working with a company agent. Two leading firms have created solutions that are interesting, and potentially long lasting. Neither of these firms have pocket listing programs, which is an important distinction. A pocket listing, or properties sold by brokers without ever entering an MLS, pose a problem for the real estate industry. Frankly, pocket listings are bad for sellers who sacrifice the highest possible price for their home because of limited exposure.

The Step-by-Step on How to Create a Buyer Tour Report with RPR
Delivering a successful showing experience for your buyers doesn't happen by itself, it comes from great planning. And a variety of those details have nothing to do with the properties you'll end up showing that day, but that's for another article. Today we're going to walk through the specifics for creating a buyer tour using the RPR app. The output is a detailed, yet simple to read, report showcasing each property.

Redfin Launches 'Compete Score' to Help Homebuyers Understand What It Takes to Win a Home in Cities Across the Country
Redfin has announced Redfin Compete Score, a rating of housing competition in cities and neighborhoods on a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 is the most competitive. Compete Score can be found on Redfin.com pages for individual listings as well as on the Home Values page for any city or neighborhood where more than 25 homes were sold in the last year. Redfin is also introducing the first Compete Score Report to calculate the most and least competitive cities and neighborhoods across the country.

Buyside Makes It Real
If you know anything about Hunt Real Estate Corporation, you know that they are a family owned and operated brokerage with high integrity and a fierce approach to competition. Since 1911, they have been a market leader in upstate New York—cities like Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, and the many Southern Tier communities that border Pennsylvania. They recently expanded into the Boston marketplace though a significant acquisition. We have known the Hunt family since Marilyn and I lived in Orchard Park, NY. We became friends though our interactions at The Buffalo Club and The Country Club of Buffalo. At the time, Marilyn ran marketing at Fisher-Price and I was spinning up my first start-up companies. Hunt and Howard Hanna, a company who entered the marketplace with through two major acquisitions in Upstate New York, leave very little market share behind for any other brokerages who are trying to compete in the communities they serve. These firms dominate, each with transaction volume that exceeds 20,000 sides. These markets demand that brokers achieve high-unit volume because the price points are low. They are diversified into banking, title, insurance, commercial, property management, new home development, and have significant relocation business. Hunt launched Buyside about a year ago, taking a risk with a technology investment that has really paid off.

Listingbook Basics (9/6)
Tuesday, September 6, 2016 at 10:00 AM PDT In this session you will learn: What Listingbook is and what it's for Basic System Navigation General Overview of Your Clients' Experience The Differences Between Listingbook Basic and Listingbook Pro Register now!

Brokers Get Buyside Now
By now, you should have heard about Buyside, a completely upside down way that leading brokers are approaching lead generation and client-for-life strategy. They are a featured product in the 2016-17 RE Technology Guide. As the Buyside name would suggest, it is a buyer management tool. But savvy brokers have learned that it is the best listing tool you can have. Firms have long known that controlling the market is about controlling the listing. Buyside does that in two very distinct ways. First, Buyside catalogs the needs of buyers across your firm and allows agents to reverse prospect for buyers that match listings. See what I mean by upside down? Most systems look for properties that match buyers. This system looks for buyers that match properties. Again, reverse prospecting The way this ties into the listing presentation is extraordinary. Many agents go into a listing presentation with the story about how they are going to market the property online. With Buyside, agents go into a listing presentation with a much better story. Buyside agents say, "We have 47 buyers for your house today and our marketing programs will bring in more. Sign the listing agreement, press hard. We will let the buyers know immediately that your home is for sale." The second, and perhaps more astounding, Buyside feature for sellers is the display of off-market properties. Buyside has made arrangements for you to display not only sold data, but all off-market properties on your website. They can even integrate AVMs like the Zestimate™, Realtor's Property Resource RVM™, or others.

RealScout Secures $6M to Empower Brokers and Agents with Collaborative Search
When the Department of Justice and the National Association of REALTORS® agreed to a settlement that made virtual office website platforms available to every broker in the nation, WAV Group expected widespread adoption and innovation of client servicing tools leveraging full/VOW data. It did not happen. Perhaps it was because of the economy was slumping or perhaps it was because of category killers like Listingbook, rDesk, and AgentAchieve. Regardless, we have kept our eyes open for innovation. A Silicon Valley based company called RealScout jumped up on the radar in a significant way this week with the announcement of over $6 million funding round. We were aware of the company because the tool has been in use by one of America's top teams – Ken DeLeon, always ranked among the top teams in America by sales volume. Ken DeLeon is in a super competitive marketplace where massive firms like Alain Pinel Realtors, Intero, Coldwell Banker NRT, and Sotheby's NRT are duking it out. Moreover, tech brokers like Redfin and NRT's Zip Realty have a massive online presence that rivals Trulia, Zillow, and Realtor.com. Moreover, MLSListings has a superb client-servicing tool. To stay on track with a goal of $500M in sales this year, Ken has put RealScout front and center as the means for servicing the firm's clients. All of his agents are employees, not independent sales reps. Today, he employs 42 staff members, many with degrees in accounting or law to augment their real estate license. It is a unique and impressive organization. Before DeLeon's brokerage-wide launch of RealScout, his clients were mostly using the MLS portal or Redfin. "With RealScout, my clients can use natural language search – large backyard, near Google Shuttle Stop, etc. – 17 sales have come from RealScout as defined by customers. Clients use it as their primary search tool," said DeLeon. I spoke with him at 6:30 Sunday night, where he is easy to find in his office. "My customers love the categories and tagging solutions in the RealScout search. Clients can leave notes for our agents."

Evolution of Buyer-Agent Relationships
Guest contributor Alan Shafran says: I would first like to thank everyone for the kind words and feedback from my previous article.  It’s nice to know that I am touching on some key issues in our industry and I hope that I can continue to be a good resource. The Buyer-Agent Relationship From traveling across the country, lecturing at real estate seminars and meeting professionals from a wide variety of real estate markets, I have become fascinated by the quandary our industry faces as it relates to creating professional relationships with our buyers.  To enhance the image of our industry and ensure that we are being compensated for our time, we need to band together as REALTORS® and make the signing of buyer broker agreements a standard operating procedure.