Coldwell Banker is getting into the iBuying game with its October launch of cataList Cash Offer next month in Dallas and Atlanta initially and Tampa soon following on their heels. No word as yet whether or all of Realogy’s brokerages (Sotheby’s International Realty, Century 21, Corcoran, and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate) will follow suit as iBuyers.
CataList Cash Offer joins Zillow Offers, OpenDoor, Knock, etc. in this growing iBuying space. To start, cataList Cash Offer will only be available through Coldwell Baker brokerage offices operated by Realogy’s subsidiary NRT. (NRT also operates Coldwell Baker as a franchise.)
Here’s how cataList Cash Offer works:
- Interested sellers send their property information (number of bedrooms/bathrooms, age of house, general condition of house, needed repairs/upgrades, etc.) to a participating NRT Coldwell Baker real estate agent.
- That Coldwell Baker agent provides a cash offer to the seller, usually within one day.
- Seller has 5 days to consider the cash offer.
- If the seller says yes, Home Partners of America (one of cataList’s deep pockets funding partners) closes on the house within 10-90 days, makes minor repairs/upgrades to house, and then relists the house online.
- cataList charges seller an undisclosed at this time “convenience fee” for its efforts.
- OpenDoor charges its sellers an average of 6.5% for its repairing and listing efforts
- If the seller says no, the seller stays with the same Coldwell Baker agent who had advised her/him during the listing process and then lists the property for sale on the Coldwell Baker website.
CataList Cash Offer is clear about having its Coldwell Baker agents involved throughout this iBuying process. (Other iBuyers involve real estate agents in their respective processes as well but often at a lesser extent.)
According to M. Ryan Gorman, president and CEO of NRT, “Most sellers to whom this product will be introduced have never really considered this typed of thing before. They’ll be able to go through (the process) with an agent to guide and advise them.”
CataList has a higher price cap on its buying offers…
- up to $550,000/home in Dallas
- up to $500,000/home in Atlanta
- up to $450,000/home in Tampa
And, cataList differentiates itself with “…more personalized…” services. According to Tracey Jeter, cataList’s spokesperson, “more personalized” services translates into real estate agents. “With many other cash-offer models, consumers lose the value and expert opinion that real estate agents bring to the table”
Coldwell Baker and cataList Cash Offer’s real estate agents are one and the same. Those agents stay with the seller whether or not they want to go the iBuyer cash offer or traditional Coldwell Banker route towards selling their home.
