An instant house-buying program is expanding in Northwest. Could it be right for you?
A division of Redfin on Thursday launched its cash-for-homes program in Portland, Oregon, the same program already active in the Seattle-Tacoma area, making offers via emails.
RedfinNow is the online-purchase side of the real estate and analytics company.
“RedfinNow may be interested in making an all-cash, no obligation offer to buy,” read one email sent to a Tacoma homeowner reviewed by The News Tribune. The email included an estimated range of “$475K — $555K.”
“Skip the hassle of cleaning, staging, and showing your home. Move when you’re ready—anywhere from 10 to 90 days after signing your offer,” it added, with a link provided to participate.
If you’ve given Redfin your email in the past to check your home’s value, and if you live in an area where they are buying, chances are you already have or will soon receive such an email.
The company started making the offers in the Seattle-Tacoma area in December, along with the San Francisco metro area. On Thursday (June 17) the program launched in Portland, Oregon. The program is now active in 24 metro markets nationwide, eight in California.
The program is available in parts of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, along with neighborhoods in Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Redmond and Everett.
Area cities also served include Puyallup, Gig Harbor, Lakewood, Auburn, Bonney Lake and Enumclaw.
The company’s communication manager, Alina Ptaszynski, told The News Tribune via email that in the program’s first quarter, the company purchased 34 homes in the Seattle-Tacoma area. Second quarter results are not yet in.
The general parameters for homes they are interested in for Pierce County, subject to change:
▪ Property Type: Single-family residences and townhomes.
▪ Year Built: 1910 through 2020.
▪ Price Range: $250,000 to $900,000.
▪ Lot Size: Up to half-acre.
In Oregon, RedfinNow is making offers on single-family homes and townhomes built after 1910 in neighborhoods in and around Portland and Beaverton.
The goal is “to continue to expand the service and eventually bring this option to as many Redfin customers as possible, giving them the option of listing on the open market with a local Redfin agent or selling for cash to RedfinNow,” Ptaszynski said.
While cash-for-homes services are nothing new, nor is Redfin alone using this method, the company noted in December it was “the first major iBuyer to launch in Seattle and the Bay Area, bringing this innovative new way to sell a home to two of the world’s leading technology hubs.”
The “instant buyer” market has grown along nationally with the ever-more competitive and expensive housing market, and includes other agencies such Zillow Offers, already in the Portland market.
Fees for sellers generally run higher than conventional broker fees.
Offerpad, Opendoor, RedfinNow and Zillow Offers purchased 1 percent of homes sold in 2019 in more than 200 U.S. metro markets, according to a Redfin analysis cited by NerdWallet in a November 2020 analysis of the services.
“Typically you won’t pay extra to buy a home from an iBuyer. But you will pay extra for the convenience of selling to an iBuyer,” NerdWallet noted.
“There are two costs to consider: iBuyer fees, and the difference between the iBuyer offer and what you could get by selling through a traditional real estate agent,” it added.
As inventories continue to shrink, the extra cost may be worth it to some.
“In this competitive market, many sellers are afraid to list because they aren’t confident they can win the next home,” Ptaszynski wrote. “These buyers can use the cash from a sale to RedfinNow to make a strong, non-contingent offer on their next home and line up the closings so they only have to move once.”
HOW IT WORKS
For homeowners to request a cash offer, go to www.redfin.com/now, enter your address and basic information about the home.
“RedfinNow uses local insight and proprietary machine-learning algorithms to make a competitive cash offer based on the location, condition, age and the cost of repairs,” Ptaszynski wrote.
“They can sell without having to deal with showings, open houses, do any home prep or make any repairs.”
You can also choose a closing date from 10 to 90 days after accepting the offer.
“Once we own the home, our Redfin Home Services team gives it a refresh and makes updates to appeal to buyers. Then we relist it on the open market,” she wrote.
