Online homebuilding platform Welcome Homes is partnering with Compass to launch a “preferred agent” program, according to an announcement on Thursday.
So far, Welcome Homes has approved and enrolled 200 Compass agents into the program. Agents will have the ability to sell teardown- and infill-based new construction as a product, as well as turn their land or teardown listings into a new construction listing with guaranteed construction pricing from Welcome Homes.
“There could not be a better time to form this relationship because of the existing inventory shortage in today’s market,” Gordon Golub, a regional vice president at Compass, said in a statement.
Under its current operational model, Welcome Homes refers clients to local agents if they do not own a parcel of land to build on. With the new preferred agent program, Welcome Homes says agents will be able to offer Welcome Homes products as an option to their clients looking for a new home.
“It is giving agents new things to add to their normal routine of offerings and it will help them innovate and provide more value to their clients,” Benjie Buford, the VP of sales at Welcome Homes, said.
The company, which allows customers in the New York metro area to select land and then build a custom home on it, has raised nearly $19 million in venture capital funding across two rounds, according to Crunchbase.
Welcome Homes says it will provide enrolled agents sales training about the Welcome Homes platform, co-branded advertisements, preferred agent program compensation, and live back-office agent chat, text, and phone support.
Agents who are part of the program will have access to a scaled commission structure that increases based on the number of homes an agents sell through the platform.
“We also pay them on the full build price of the home,” Buford said. “They can really stand to make more money than they would if they had just helped their buyer purchase a piece of land.”