Homeowners looking for the best deal just got a new tool to help them compare instant offers from iBuyers.
Zavvie, a hyperlocal marketing platform for real estate agents, launched Offer Optimizer on March 21st.
Offer Optimizer allows homeowners to compare instant cash offers from top iBuyers such as Zillow Offers, Redfin Now, Opendoor and Offerpad.
“Instant offers are the biggest thing to happen to real estate since Zestimates,” said zavvie co-founder and CEO Lane Hornung in a press release. “Zavvie puts instant offers on overdrive with Offer Optimizer, ensuring sellers squeeze every last dollar out of their home sale.”
Zavvie is a spinoff from 8z Real Estate, an independent brokerage in Boulder Colorado, and was created to connect neighborhoods with local real estate experts.
Industry leaders like Victor Lund believe the Boulder-based company hit a marketing sweet spot for agents by “giving them an easy way to share their neighborhood expertise through hyperlocal marketing that leverages social media.”
Even though the real estate business is increasingly moving digital, zavvie wanted to create a space that blends both.
“A computer isn’t going to be able to smell the house, but a local expert can,” Hornung was quoted as saying in the Daily Camera.
Rob Hahn is a managing partner of 7DS Associates, a management consulting firm for the real estate industry. He’s convinced that by 2024 around 60 percent of all homes sold will be iBuyer sales.
His reasons included speed of adoption, unit economics favoring iBuyers, the bundling of services and other factors that could drive the cost below the traditional practices.
The most telling was his example of Uber and Lyft versus taxis and rental cars. In 2014, Uber’s and Lyft’s market share was less than 10 percent. But by 2018 the ride-sharing companies had a market share of nearly 73 percent.
The beauty of Uber or Lyft is the ability to hail a ride by hitting a button on an app. That’s the direction these iBuyers will have to take, being a one-stop shop for the consumer. It’s what zavvie has done by creating a comparison tool to give the seller easy access to more options.
During an earnings call earlier this year, Zillow laid out its transformational plans. Company leaders announced a revenue target of $22 billion, $20 billion from buying and selling homes, in the next three to five years.
Zillow president Jeremy Wacksman told Curbed that he believes “Zillow Offers is going to be a massive business.” He added that even if the homeowner doesn’t sell to Zillow, it can still be a valuable starting point for sellers.
So how does affect Floridians? Well, the Offer Optimizer isn’t limited to just showing major sellers. Zavvie also partnered with local instant offer firms in 21 major metropolitan markets, including Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa.
Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach homeowners would welcome a partnership like this as the region was ranked the 23rd most expensive place to live in the U.S.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis calculated that the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area was 7.6 percent more expensive than the national average.
Mike has more than 30 years of experience in marketing and public relations. He once owned his own agency and has worked with some of the largest brands in the world.
