Inman events are the best way to connect. Gain insights and build your network this October at the virtual Inman Connect where we’ll explore the Industry’s Playbook for the Fall Market. Then, join us in January for Inman Connect New York, in person or virtually. Reserve your tickets now, prices will go up! The following post is presented to Select subscribers exclusively.
Power Buyers Knock and HomeLight are witnessing a sea change as the market shifts, but they said that doesn’t necessarily mean that buyer and seller appetites for cash offers will change anytime soon.
“We’re all seeing a big shift, and I think in a good way,” Sean Black, co-founder and CEO of Knock, said during a panel at Inman Connect Las Vegas. “There’s tons of opportunity — where there’s change, there’s opportunity.”
Clelia Peters, Sean Black and Drew Uher | Photos by AJ Canaria of MoxiWorks
“We’re seeing dramatically less top-of-funnel demand on the buyside, but I don’t think a moderating market is necessarily a bad thing,” Drew Uher, founder and CEO of HomeLight, said. “I don’t think anyone in this room really thinks it would be healthy if the market of late last year just continued indefinitely. So a more moderated market for us means dramatically higher conversion rate on the buy side.”
“Life events don’t stop because of an economic correction,” he added.
As everyone adjusts to the market, Black said that companies like Knock and HomeLight will also need to adjust their value propositions to fit consumers’ new needs, which is why Knock recently creating a new offering whereby its customers can take equity out of their home to buy down their interest rate, as mortgage rates have continued to climb.
“It becomes how do you morph with the market?” Black said. “How do you take the value prop of certainty, convenience and cost savings and adjust it to what customers care about right now?”
Uher added that the types of products that Power Buyers offer tend to be attractive in any market because regardless of what the market is doing, buyers and sellers will always prefer certainty and little to no contingencies.
“I think these products work in any market, certainly on the cash offer side,” Uher said.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of market it is, sellers want a cash offer and because sellers want a cash offer, it just makes sense for a buyer to provide that cash offer to them. The research we’ve done shows that you can get up to a 4 percent better price if you’re providing that cash offer, so even in a down market, these products just make a lot of sense.”
The two CEOs went on to tell panel moderator Clelia Peters of Era Ventures that due to the market correction, the playing field will now likely be set in the Power Buyer arena.
View the video above to hear more of what they had to say.
