HomeBay – Another Entrant Aiming to Lower Commissions
The value proposition of HomeBay:
THE SMARTER WAY TO SELL. Sell Your Home, Keep The Commission.
Commissions, that dreaded topic most love to avoid. (read some of my prior analysis on the topic here and here).
The field of those trying to get rid of commissions/agents is getting more crowded by the month (here, here, here, etc)… is anyone succeeding in the regional pockets they are focused on? Any intel you have, leave in the comments please.
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Mike Price
Posted at 13:59h, 26 AugustI had the opportunity to speak with the VP of Marketing of Homebay, Eddie Earnest (formerly of Zurple) yesterday and will provide a full post on Homebay’s efforts in the coming days.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 14:48h, 26 AugustThis strategy works to a point. There is a certain small segment of the market that is looking to save on commission by handling some things themselves. We offer the same service but for $1,000 less, and we get some clients who want this service, but most prefer full service, even with the additional commission.
There is this feeling by sellers that if they do not pay a Realtor a full commission, they might end up with less money at the end of the day or they might have more liability issues. This is what keeps the full commission model doing fine despite all the discount models.
Brian Butler
Posted at 10:28h, 27 AugustMy 30 second HomeBay experience: home page loads, looks good. Click “Find a Home”, need to enter a zip code. I don’t know the zip code of town I’m interested in… Open another tab in browser (eyeballs leave HomeBay)… There’re 4 zip codes for the town I’m interested in, hmmm…. Try a zip code in the HomeBay search bar: “no results found”…. hmmm… Eyeballs leave HomeBay again because I didn’t memorize the other 3 zip codes… Back to HomeBay. Try one zip, try another zip, try another… snake eyes… Ok, I’m out. Never coming back…
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 10:37h, 27 AugustAll great points about their website, but I think they are marketing mainly to sellers who want to sell for $3,500, so they are not setup for buyers to use their website. If a seller wants to cut the commission and go for their program, they don’t care about the search experience, in my opinion.