Real estate tech and services company Orchard announced on Tuesday plans to expand into four new markets in the South and on the East Coast, including in Houston, Texas; Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and Washington, D.C., and its surrounding suburbs.
With expansion into these markets, Orchard will effectively double its market footprint in the new year.
Court Cunningham
Over the past several months, the company has made aggressive moves to expand, including:
- Raising $69 million in Series C funding, while boldly declaring intentions to become “real estate’s Amazon”
- Launching its new tech platform “Orchard Dashboard,” which digitized the entire real estate transaction
- Adding home warranty and insurance services to its suite of offerings
Currently, the company largely fills the roles of a search portal, a buy-before-you-sell platform and an all-digital closing agent.
“We’re thrilled to bring Orchard to new markets, where demand has outpaced inventory, and help more homeowners,” Orchard co-founder and CEO Court Cunningham said in a statement. “We’ll make it easier for homebuyers in these markets to secure their dream home as soon as they see it, while still selling their old home for top dollar.”
The first new market where Orchard is now available is Houston, the company’s fourth market in Texas, building on its existing offerings in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio.
The company noted that the strategic move will be particularly useful to this market, which has seen the number of homes selling above list price triple within the past year and the number of homes going under contract within 30 days increase by 50 percent during the same period.
“Buying and selling homes the traditional way isn’t sufficient in today’s hyper-competitive market,” Cunningham said. “With demand at an all-time high, people need to make offers — ideally in cash — without contingencies. Orchard offers buyers in the hottest markets the tools to secure their dream home, providing more value, convenience, and peace of mind for the same cost as a traditional broker.”
Orchard will rollout to consumers in Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and the Washington, D.C., area over the course of the next few months, the company said. Currently, Orchard also operates in Denver and Atlanta, in addition to its markets in Texas.
