Homelight is a techno-enabled real estate company that works with home buyers, sellers, and real estate agents. It is a referral company that refers agents to buyers and sellers. The agents would then work with the customers to help them buy/sell a home.
If you are interested in working with Homelight, then you need to know all about them. You need to know about their services, the pros and cons, their pricing, and other details. We have a guide for you where we tell you all about Homelight and also about alternatives.
After reading this guide, you will be able to decide whether to work with them or not. You will know the truth about Homelight once you finish reading.
A Complete Guide to Homelight
1. Homelight and its Services
Homelight is a free agent referral service. Their USP is that they do not charge any fee from buyers and sellers. If you want to sell or buy a home, use HomeLight’s services to find agents near you. HomeLight will help you find the best agent with whom you can work to close the deal.
While Homelight does not charge any fee from buyers and sellers, they take a referral fee from the agents. This is their business model that helps them offer free referral services to buyers and sellers. Homelight also offers other services to customers. They even offer home loans and can also help you buy a home before your present home is sold.
Homelight also has a special feature known as Simple Sale. Through this service, they help homeowners get cash and close the deal quickly. This service would be helpful for those who want to sell their home quickly for cash. These cash deals can be closed as early as within 2 weeks. Home flippers and other cash-only dealers would offer this deal when you sign up for this service.
Here are a few details about their services you need to know:
- To use their service, you need to visit their website and register. There is no fee to be paid.
- Homelight would share your details with the agents registered with them. The agents would then get in touch with you.
- You can compare the different agents using the website. You can also talk to them over the phone or email to evaluate them.
- Once you finalize an agent, sign an agreement and list your property for sale. The agent will help you sell the home or buy a new home and guide you through the closing.
2. Pros and Cons of Homelight
The pros of working with Homelight are:
- You can easily find real estate agents when you use their service. It is also easy to compare agents before selecting one.
- The user experience on their website is pretty good.
- They have an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.
- Their reach spreads to most of the major cities.
When you choose to work with Homelight, there are some cons that you need to know about:
- While you get suggestions about agents, there is no guarantee about their quality.
- The agents charge their normal commission, and you don’t get any savings on commission.
- Listing on Homelight can lead to a lot of spam calls and emails from agents who are interested to work with you.
- The agent who you select has to pay 25% of their commission as a referral fee to Homelight, which is why you won’t get any discounts.
3. The Truth about Homelight
The truth about Homelight is revealed when you go through Homelight Reviews. The reviews show that Homelight does a decent enough job bringing together agents and home buyers/sellers. They are an intermediary who refers agents. Other than that, they do not offer much value to sellers or buyers.
While they do refer agents, you won’t know if the agent is good unless you start working with them. While Homelight itself is a free website, you will have to pay agents their full commission of 5 or 6%. There are absolutely no financial benefits to customers who use Homelight. This is the biggest problem with this real estate company. You would be better off selling your home on your own without an agent by using a flat fee MLS company.
4. Alternatives to Homelight
a) Houzeo
Houzeo is a flat fee MLS listing company. It is a technology firm that allows sellers to list their property on the MLS easily and manage the listing using its website and app. They charge a flat fee of $349, which is quite reasonable considering the excellent customer service they offer. This flat fee results in huge savings for customers. Their customer rating of 4.9/5 is a testament to their quality. They offer a range of services, and you can choose the ones you want. You should also checkout Houzeo reviews for more information.
b) UpNest
UpNest is a real estate company similar to Homelight. They refer real estate agents to buyers and sellers. This helps you to compare different agents and choose the best. While they have a great rating of 4.9/5, you cannot expect any savings on commission when you work with them. The listing speed is also a bit slow. Though they suggest different agents, there is no guarantee on agent quality.
c) IdealAgent
IdealAgent is a discount real estate brokerage. They offer all the services that real estate agents do but offer a discount on the commission. But the discount they offer is just 1% on the listing, which is not much when you compare it to Houzeo. They also have a great customer rating but the fact that you don’t get any savings on commission is a major letdown. They also don’t have an effective customer dashboard on their website.
d) Simple Showing
SimpleShowing is a real estate brokerage that promises big savings for sellers. Their commission is 1%, which leads to a 2% savings on commission. This is a good feature that they offer. They also have a decent customer rating on reviews of 4.6/5. However, there are issues related to their services. Many reviews have reported that they are not happy with the agents and the marginal savings.