The Emergence of iBuyer Platforms

I am not sure if you are totally aware of the trend of iBuyer platforms, but it seems to be growing and gaining momentum.

Clearly, the iBuyer category – or buying a house directly from a seller in a simple, online transaction – seems to be a part of a number of different real estate platforms today, two of which are Zillow and Perch.

In a recent announcement, Perch stated that it was looking to provide the complete services package including buying the house from the seller, providing closing services, mortgages, and even title services.

A Perch offer to seller differs from what Zillow is offering in that its offer will be valid for six months. By providing this window for the seller, it will enable them to navigate the current market to find a suitable home in which to move. Much of this is driven by the ongoing inventory shortages prevalent in most of the U.S. markets today.

Upon the selection of a new property, the sellers then work with Perch to close both deals in the same day. But this doesn’t come cheap: the Perch fee is a 6% fee on the seller’s home.

The Contingency Problem
Most agents are often stymied by the challenge of sellers finding a home to move into after they choose to downsize or even move to another state. Perch’s approach to the contingency problem is that they seek to work with homeowners to line up the sale of their old home with the purchase of their new home.

The vision and strategy is to simplify and limit the number of moving parts for sellers to execute and move into their next home.