Anyone who has been through the process of buying a house can speak to how opaque and at times frustrating it can be. From blind bidding to the buyer’s relationship with the real estate agent, everything about buying a home can be overwhelming and stressful, even more so because it’s often the largest single financial transaction of a person’s life.
The real estate industry has not been at the forefront of changing the way it handles transparency. It has largely remained opaque to consumers, even as a new generation of homebuyers with greater expectations for transparency and accountability enter the market.
Where Does Real Estate Need to Improve?
Finding a real estate agent for the first time can feel overwhelming. This is someone who is supposed to help homebuyers find the perfect property, negotiate an offer, and handle the closing paperwork. Buyers want to make sure they’re working with someone who understands them.
Transparent Buyer-Side Commissions
One of the more opaque elements of the real estate industry is the buyer-side commission, and consumers deserve to understand it. Commissions for both buying and selling agents are taken off the final sale price. That can make it feel to buyers like the seller is paying for it, even though they wind up responsible for most of the closing costs, and the commission is typically factored into the asking price. This can lead to confusion among homebuyers about the true cost of their real estate agent.
What Does the Real Estate Agent Do?
The services offered by a real estate agent can vary. They may include finding listings that fit the buyers’ desires, booking showings, informing buyers about the neighborhood, helping with financing and closing costs, preparing contracts, and doing due diligence on a property. Exactly how much they offer and for what fee is not always clear to the buyer.
Disruptive Tech Bringing Transparency to the Buyer
These are just two of the pain points buyers frequently encounter in their search for a home, but one tech platform is addressing them head-on.
Nobul is a digital marketplace that delivers transparency and gives homebuyers more information about real estate agents, including details of their fees, different service options, and their past transactions. It’s like Uber for real estate agents, satisfying a need Millennial and younger homebuyers have for tech-enabled information about their options.
To explain how Nobul changes the game, Founder and CEO Regan McGee told the magazine Toronto Life, “I want to help the millions of people who buy and sell real estate across North America have a good experience and not feel like they’re being ripped off. I want them to feel like they have an outstanding partner in the biggest transaction of their lives.”
The platform brings more transparency to the real estate industry, and consumers get to reap the rewards. As the platform scales across North America, expect real estate to change for the better.
Img Credit: shisuka via Freepik
