Ryan Raveis
I’m not one to say, “I told you so,” but at William Raveis, we knew this day was coming. The data was already showing us what we needed to know last year: the housing inventory would not catch up with demand.
We’ve been in this business for almost five decades, so we put programs in place to best position our agents and our clients. The ‘inventory crisis’ is like a big iceberg right now, and we have all of the tools to help chip it down with Raveis Complete, an end-to-end selling service with a suite of resources for buyers, sellers and agents, all under one roof.
Put buying power in the seller’s hands with Raveis Purchase
The #1 thing we want sellers to understand is that we can help them get maximum value for their home. The AVMs are all wrong right now because, until the home is put on the public market, you don’t know what the real value of the home is.
Raveis Purchase is not an iBuyer program. I find iBuyers are more of a ‘vulture’ capitalist that buys the consumer’s home at the lowest possible price, sells it at the highest possible price, and keeps the value for themselves. We want our clients to reap the rewards of the value that we create when we bring the house to the market.
So we can guarantee a sale of the house, and we actually take Title to the consumer’s house. We help them pay down their mortgage so they can move on. And then we’ll sell their house on the open market and share 100% of that upside with them. So it is 100% in the client’s best interest and 100% in the agent’s best interest because it is still an open market sale, where the agent gets their full commission.
We aren’t new to the lending world. Since 1984, we’ve financed over $15 billion in loans for our clients. If not an outright purchase or bridge financing option, we also provide competitive mortgages.
Moriah Saccardo is a WRRE sales associate in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and says one of her clients is happy to use the new Raveis Purchase program.
“My client does not have the capital to make improvements to market and sell for the home’s full potential, but they will be able to benefit after the sale. This should be a win/win,” said Saccardo. “I am thrilled to have Raveis Purchase as a valuable tool to provide my client base because they will truly be able to reap the rewards.”
Present the property in the best possible light with Raveis Refresh
Yes, inventory is tight and homes are selling fast even in less than optimal shape. But absorption rates don’t matter to us. Not only do we guarantee that the house will sell for the maximum price, but we’re also willing to put money into it to get a greater return on the home itself with our Raveis Refresh program.
From roofing to curb appeal, the seller pays no cash out of pocket for any of these services. We want them to use that cash to go buy another home.
Position the property to its absolute best advantage with RAMP
The biggest differentiator for agents is how they market a property. And even when listings see a dozen offers over asking, the agent should still market the listing with the best-of-breed approach.
We treat each property as a brand, much like a consumer goods company. And we measure everything. With the touch of a button, the Raveis Automated Marketing Platform (RAMP) uses next-generation technology to make the marketing, listing, and sales experience seamless and efficient. To our agents, this reduces time to market, maximizes marketing firepower, and provides analytics on marketing performance. To the client, this provides full transparency throughout, keeping them informed and in the loop.
“I love having all tools in one place so that I can easily track the marketing and feel as though I am giving each listing the best exposure,” said WRRE agent Elizabeth Crowley out of Boston, Massachusetts.
But why bring such firepower when listings are practically selling themselves in this market? The data shows that the right marketing and positioning of the home means that, instead of selling the home for what the AVM models may say worth, you can sell it for up to 30% more because you’ve created the right demand for it with strategic positioning.
Empower every agent with hands-on training and resources
It’s not enough for us to build these robust programs and platforms if our agents can’t use them. That’s why we offer regular training, on-demand tutorials, and in-person support to make sure our agents are well equipped to take advantage of our unique competitive edge.
Raveis Complete is the umbrella under which all these programs fall. Everyone else is talking about being an end-to-end solution provider. At the William Raveis Company, we’re already doing it.