Rebls

Find unlisted homes

2 followers

Find unlisted homes

2 followers

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Launch tags:Tech

Launch Team

Render Sandboxes: a computer for every agentIsolated compute, persistent state and a real filesystem

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Everyhome

Maker

An overview of the problems Rebls is fixing: 1) Buyers don't have enough to homes to choose from. We're creating more inventory, homes you won't find on Zillow, Trulia, Redfin or an MLS. 2) Homeowners have no easy way to test the market for their homes without listing for sale. They also pay $65B/yr in commissions to real estate professionals. We allow them to easily gauge demand for their homes using multiple price ranges, before contacting an agent, and without listing their address. 3) Real estate agents spend an enormous amount of time inefficiently playing the matchmaker. We solve this by introducing the agent after the match is made, and our partner agents in turn reduce their commissions. Rebls makes it easy for buyers and owners to connect directly, something they've not been able to do in the past.

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12yr ago

Horizon

@reblsfounder I feel like we've traded some comments/tweets about Rebls, but can't remember precisely where. My biggest question for this is how is this 10x better than simply putting your home on Zillow as a Make Me Move? That said, hidden inventory is certainly a very real thing, and one I've been spending lots of time thinking about in a travel context. I'd love to discuss in depth in person when I am back in Seattle, likely sometime in February.

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12yr ago

Everyhome

Maker

@drewmeyers Hey Drew! Thanks for joining the conversation. We did indeed connect via Twitter, Nov 2: https://twitter.com/joewallin/st... To answer your question (in 140 characters!): Why Rebls v MakeMeMove? 1) instantly gauge demand 2) contact buyers directly 3) address privacy 4) save $ if you sell Yep, you said it: hidden inventory is out there. Would enjoy meeting with you when you're back in town, and thanks again for getting in the mix.

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12yr ago

Horizon

@reblsfounder I think this discussion is very relevant to your model: http://geekestateblog.com/topics...

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12yr ago

Everyhome

Maker

@drewmeyers Agreed! Thanks for sharing that link. Good post/discussion. I'm going to quote one line I found particularly relevant to the discussion of Rebls' unique value proposition: "There are two camps of those trying to lower the costs of buying and selling real estate. Those working on discount brokerage models and those trying to build a marketplace of buyers and sellers, connect them directly, and get rid of the agent entirely." You're correct that real estate technology companies have, until now, taken the stance that changing the status quo in real estate leaves entrepreneurs with the binary proposition you've outlined in the quoted paragraph above. What makes Rebls unique, as Jed E. mentioned in another comment here today, is that we are building a marketplace of buyers and sellers, connecting them directly, but then connecting them with agents to close the deal, and eliminating the agent's role as the matchmaker within our model (the role, we found, which comprises the lion's share of both their time and risk as an agent, since they may work for months in that role and never get paid). We think technology - as a whole, regardless of industry - has proven itself to be an excellent and very efficient matchmaker, but that nothing replaces the reassurance of expert help when facilitating the actual closing of a home purchase, for many of the reasons you stated in your article.

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12yr ago

@drewmeyers @reblsfounder Can you expound in more than 140 characters? I have not used MakeMeMove as a seller, but have as a buyer. I was able to directly contact the seller, who noted he had so many direct inquiries he had to pull the listing. Seemed to take care of #1/#2. Address privacy is probably ok as a seller, but as a Buyer kind of pisses me off. I don't want to know generally where the house is, I want to know exactly. Also makes me thing what is seller trying to hide? Again I understand why sellers might be interested, and that it might lessen the window-shopper only crowd, but just doesn't sit well with me as a buyer. How is #4 different on Rebls than MakeMeMove? The above said, I think it's a great start. Even as a person who used Zillow a lot, the MakeMeMove is somewhat hidden in there. As a separate platform I think this makes sense. It will be interesting to see what happens with agent fees. The truth is there is definitely still a need for an agent, or at least a representative. Most people aren't comfortable dealing with home contracts, know little to nothing about post-contract processes, inspections, negotiations post-inspections, navigating title, working with their lender for payoffs, and the inevitable deal that falls through because the appraisal doesn't pan out, or a buyer backs out for whatever reason. A representative fee should clearly be lower than your standard 3% if a buyer is already found, but I wonder if/when fees go down, will the "better" realtors stay away from this type of work given the lower fees and continued (even if lesser) risk of deal not closing? And finally ;), as an aside, I think there's some potential here from an appraisal basis. Probably a ways away from getting banks to agree to change up their appraisal process... BUT, anyone who has seen an appraisal knows they're not exactly amazing work. A quick look at the property, a quick comparison to 3 or 4 comps, and there you go, $250-$750. If you could get a lot of real, crowdsourced opinions of value, I suspect they'd be more accurate than appraisals. I'm not sure who the Zillow Zestimate is made, but know from personal experience they are too far off to be of any meaningful use.

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12yr ago

The Friend You Never Had

These guys are great. Such a great team of intelligent people. It's going to be exciting to watch them grow.

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12yr ago

Everyhome

Maker

@ryannegri Thanks for your support, Ryan!

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12yr ago

Cool, Rebls shows up! I've been a beta user for a bit and took advantage of the opportunity to promote my home in the way I wanted to. I'm not planning to sell anytime soon but I liked the idea of owning at least a piece of my home's rep on the internet. IMO, most real estate listings on the trafficked properties read like a piece of dried whole grain left under Grandma's couch but shadowboxed after the fact as a "rare jewel". My profile: https://www.rebls.com/listings/5...

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12yr ago

Everyhome

Maker

@markgustav Your "What I love about my home" is one of my favorites, Mark. Thanks for sharing, and for your support of Rebls!

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12yr ago

Reveal

I'm a big fan of this team and product. Seattle housing market is exploding and these guys are in a unique position to help buyers and sellers.

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12yr ago

Everyhome

Maker

@nicksoman Thanks for your support, Nick!

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12yr ago

Rebls.com has a strong team of very qualified and talented individuals! Simplifying the process for everyone is no small task and I think this group is well on their way to creating and sharpening processes that will help Real Estate Agents/Brokers and Consumers alike. The Rebls.com product can create a doorway for consumers to get to know local Agents/Brokers and gauge interest in their property. The main thing I like is the fact that Rebls.com recommends the use of a Real Estate professional!

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12yr ago

Everyhome

Maker

Thanks for the intro, Ash. Hello, Product Hunt! I'm Bryan Copley, CEO/Founder at Rebls, and our mission is to create the most delightful, empowering real estate experience in the world. We're a team of six, and launched our beta in the Seattle area Oct 1. Eager to answer any questions, and would love any/all feedback on the product. Jeff White, our Co-Founder/Chief Product Officer, is online as well. AMA!

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12yr ago

Everyhome

Maker

Jed, Thanks for the support. It's exciting for us to be working on a win/win for both consumers and professionals. Data supports the fact that consumers want to work with real estate agents for the negotiation and transaction coordination portions of the real estate transaction. Nobody likes to go through an opaque process littered with legal and liability and industry jargon without assistance. We feel strongly that companies attempting to eliminate the real estate agent will find that the overwhelming majority of consumers don't want that; they want a flexible agent. The industry is receptive to this message, and we've got awesome partners already to support this: www.rebls.com/agents I also like what you said about Rebls essentially creating a doorway for consumers to dip their toe in the market. That's a big focus for us because, as a homeowner, gauging demand for your home via the process that exists right now is pretty painful. Consider this: no longer do you have to ship the dog off to grandma's, super scrub every corner of the home (and keep it picked up the whole time it's on the market), stage the property, paint the walls, do all the myriad minor home repairs, schedule home photography, interview 10 agents, pick one, pick a price, throw a lockbox on the door, be gone every weekend/every time a buyer wants to see the home, throw a yard sign in the front yard, etc etc to gauge demand for your home. In the Seattle metropolitan market, you can now type in your home address at Rebls and gauge demand in 5 seconds. People are pretty excited about that here, and we're looking forward to bringing that insight to homeowners in other markets soon.

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12yr ago

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