Aaron Starck is helping his agents compete in the iBuyer arena by offering a broker-oriented program called QuickBuy. “Our firm belief is that keeping the agent/client relationship at the center of the transaction puts the consumer’s interests in the best possible position,” says Starck, president, Berkshire Hathaway Starck Real Estate in Palatine, Illinois. “Our brokers and agents were excited about the initial rollout. While COVID cooled the momentum a bit, we recently reintroduced the program to great enthusiasm.”
QuickBuy is a business-to-business solution designed to keep the brokerage and the agent front in center in servicing the customer leads, according to Daniel Amdur, CEO, Moving Station, the Chicago company, which launched the iBuyer option in 2019. “Our goal is to enable the trusted agent to offer home sale choices to meet the family’s home sale needs,” says Amdur.
Along with presenting a QuickBuy option, agents can explain why they are the best choice to market the property traditionally. Though only 8% of sellers will take an iBuy offer, a significant majority will explore the simple, convenient, and certain solution first if available, according to Amdur.
Steve Murray, senior advisor, RealTrends, calls QuickBuy a “simple solution” for a privately owned brokerage and its agents to compete with the larger players in the iBuyer market, such as Zillow, Redfin, Offer Pad and Open Door.
“This service makes regional brokers and their agents more competitive in the iBuyer arena, while providing a terrific option for sellers,” Murray says. “It can be used as a lead generation device, or as another tool for an agent’s competitive tool kit. It allows a brokerage firm to private label the service, and doesn’t require the firm to risk its own capital either.”
Starck expects the QuickBuy option to remain popular with sellers regardless of local market conditions. “Many consumers are willing to take a small percentage off the price for the sake of speed, certainty, and quick closing,” he says. “This option also avoids the inconvenience of showings, and readying a home for market, while keeping a local real estate agent as their trusted advisor through the transaction. It helps sellers understand the process, the potential value they can expect to receive and the pros and cons of this particular marketing strategy.”