This month, we’ll talk to mortgage leaders about where the market is headed and how products are evolving digitally to suit buyers’ needs now. We’ll also explore emerging alternative financing options that are changing the game for buyers and sellers. Join us for Mortgage and Alternative Financing Month.
A week after announcing it has partnered with Los Angeles’s The Agency to launch in its largest market and its first in California, mortgage technology company Knock has introduced Home Swap services throughout the rest of Southern California.
According to a press release, Knock has added brokerage partners that will cover Bakersfield, Orange County, Riverside/Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura. It is now in 25 markets nationwide.
The expansion formally exceeds the company’s one-time goal of being in 21 markets before the end of 2021.
Knock Home Swap empowers sellers to buy before they sell with a pre-funded, cash-equivalent mortgage, allowing them to better compete in cash-rich, heated home markets. Sellers pay only a 1.25 percent convenience fee.
Knock Home Swap customers are also eligible for an interest-free bridge loan of now up to $250,000 that helps cover concierge services for home preparation and repairs, as well as a down payment advance on the new property and up to six months of mortgage payments on the home being sold.
The company states that 90 percent of Knock homes sell in 90 days or less.
In addition to The Agency in LA, brokerages and offices now eligible to train agents to facilitate a Home Swap in Southern California include: Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Perrie Mundy and California Realty, Keller Williams Realty Anaheim Hills/Yorba Linda, N. Tustin and Brea Fullerton, HomeSmart Evergreen, Realty One Group West, Seven Gables Real Estate and Century 21 Award.
Dave Corey, managing broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Perrie Mundy Realty Group and California Realty, said that sellers are fearful about listing a home in such a tight, fast-moving market.
“Knock created a solution to this problem with a platform that allows our real estate sales executives to provide their clients more certainty and even more buying power, when selling and buying a home at the same time,” Corey said. “We see it as an important part of our strategy.”
Colleen Rogers, operating principal of Keller Williams Realty Anaheim/Yorba Linda, N. Tustin, agreed with Corey and sees Home Swap as a unique way to help offers standout.
“The Home Swap alleviates the need to be glued to contingencies and the highly stressful timeline to sell their current home and close on their new home,” she said.
Traditionally, home offers fair much better when not contingent on the sale of the buyer’s current home, a problem Knock Home Swap solves.
Alternative, tech-focused mortgage solutions continue to surface in the real estate space. In addition to Knock, Divvy, Landing, Unison and Flyhomes each offer consumers unique ways to secure housing beyond the standardized home sale process.
“Homeowners have more options than ever when it comes to selling a home,” said Sean Black, Knock’s CEO and co-founder. “However, only the Home Swap provides the ability to make a non-contingent offer to win your dream home and move before listing a house in top-selling condition for the maximum sale price.”
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.
