Alternate Options

The NAR antitrust lawsuit of 2024 has created an entire industry of alternate options to the traditional Real Estate Agent model, here are a list of options.  I've never used any of them and do not have any affiliation with them, just found them on the internet and wanted to share these options to help you understand the market and avoid getting scammed.

Alternatives to traditional Brokerage Agents or a means to leverage more reasonable fees:

1. Galleon.io - Think Craigslist for homes. Create listings for free and pay a little more for extra services like photography and digital yard sign with QR code to protect your phone number.   The vision is that "real estate should be a free and open consumer-led marketplace".

2. Zillow.com - Similar to Galleon, you can put your home up for sale on Zillow for free.  This is how I sold my home in 2.5 weeks without even renovating it.  Just claim your home in there if you haven't already.  If someone else has "claimed" it, you can work with Zillow to correct the issue (I've never ran into the issue).  Once you've claimed it, you will gain management options that include the ability to advertise it as a rental or to list it "for sale by owner".  You put your own pictures in there and create the listing.   Once you are ready, you can list it.  They will verify that you are the owner and trying to sell it and verify that your contact phone works and then within a few days your listing will go live.   I would recommend doing this even if you do want a seller's agent because as soon as you list it you will likely get a bunch of solicitations from agents in your area offering to help you sell your home.  I had at least 7 agents contact me with offers of 1.5%, .5%(for reduced service), flat $6500 for full service, and one texted me helpful selling tips each week as a means to keep her in mind in case I wanted to shift over to using her.  I initially listed it hoping a buyer would be interested without the need to update/renovate the home while I still had tenants in there.  It turns out that a buyer was indeed interested and we made a deal that kept my tenants in the home which was amazing.  

3. Listwise - Listwise isn't trying to push real estate agents out of the picture — its aim is to help home sellers find the right one. The platform, aimed primarily at sellers, uses an incentive-based commission model designed to boost competition between agents and improve transparency for home sellers. Here's how it works: On Listwise's digital platform, sellers share the commission amount they're willing to pay a listing agent and what they're looking for in one — including number of years of experience, importance of local market knowledge, or whether they prefer someone from a big-name brokerage or a smaller local firm. Sellers also propose how much they are willing to pay the buyers' agent.

4. Off-Markt - Bernstein liked the flow of the influencer's apartment and messaged her directly to see if she'd be interested in selling. They ended up closing an off-market deal. Bernstein then found an off-market buyer for her own apartment.  It inspired her to create an Off-Markt, an app with an Instagram-like interface that lets homeowners show off their spaces and attract prospective buyers year-round — without ever formally listing them.

5. Ridley -  Coming May 2025. Ridley is a broker-less way to sell your home. A new app that's set to launch by the end of May. It will offer homeowners a suite of AI agents who can help people who want to list their property for sale by owner, or FSBO. "Technology has basically made almost every step of this process more efficient, and there's been no reflection in the price or in the costs associated with these transactions to reflect that," Chambers said. The AI agents can do things like write a listing description or book photographers. Sellers would pay a one-time fee of $999 or $1,999 to add an on-call lawyer.

6. Turbohome - Turbohome is a real-estate brokerage that pays agents a salary rather than a more typical commission-based compensation and gives buyers the option to pay a flat fee.  "They have healthcare, they have a salary, and they have consistent work," Ben Bear, Turbohome's cofounder and CEO Ben Bear, said of his agents. "It's appealing for people who just like working with clients without that pressure of knowing how they're going to pay their next rent check," he told BI in 2024. Instead of paying a percentage commission, buyers pay a flat fee to the Turbohome agent — between $5,000 and $10,000 — and the commission given to the agent is then credited to the buyer.

7. Clever.com - They offer to find you an "full service" agent that is willing to represent you for 1.5%.  Again, I don't recommend using percentage as a means of compensation unless your house is only worth $50,000.  And I'd never accept to pay a percentage for a buyer's agent as they don't do more for you just because the home you are buying costs more and you would incentivize them against you. I only show you Clever.com as an alternative to those still attempting to scam you out of 3%.  Find an a la carte service willing to do it for a flat fee or call around and make offers until someone accepts. 

Other alternatives to traditional Real Estate Brokerages:

1. Homie - Similar to Clever. They help connect customers to Agents who are more transparent who do not charge exorbitant fees but but if your house is over $150,000, I think 1.5% is asking too much for the work they do unless they are spending weeks on end to get you into a home that you just can't find on your own.  Might be a good starting point to find an Agent that is willing to negotiate a fair commission with you though.

2. Real Estate Attorney - contact a local real estate attorney and ask them what they charge to help walk you through the buying or selling process.  They have access to all the paperwork and will ensure you avoid any potential pitfalls

3. Do it yourself. Read through this website and Spend some time researching your options in the market and requirements and just do it yourself.  We have SO many ways to connect buyers with sellers with the internet.  Leverage those options and skip the middleman.  Then just hire a real estate attorney to ensure you did all the requirements and to check your contracts and paperwork before hiring a title company that you'll need to pay for regardless to finalize the deal.   Click here for most everything you to to learn how to do it yourself.