Earlier this year, Knock, a real estate startup that buys homes directly from homeowners, unveiled an expansion plan that would see the company grow its business beyond Atlanta.
Now, the company is ready for the first stage of that plan.
Knock announced this week that it is expanding to Charlotte, North Carolina. The addition of Charlotte is the company’s first new market since opening for business in Atlanta in 2016.
In addition to announcing its geographical expansion plans, Knock also unveiled earlier this year a program that it claims will “revolutionize” the real estate process.
Under the program, which Knock calls a “home trade-in platform,” the company buys a homeowner’s house and moves them into a new house of their choosing before putting the homeowner’s old house on the market.
In a release, the company said that its service is of “critical” importance to the “50% of U.S. homebuyers who need to sell their current home to afford a new one.”
The company said that the expansion into Charlotte is especially important because of the competiveness in the local housing market.
“There is an especially critical need for this kind of service in Charlotte’s tight market right now, as home buyers often lose multiple bidding wars before getting an accepted offer on a new house,” the company said in its release.
“The area is experiencing an exciting period of rapid development that is increasing housing demands,” the company continued. “By making an all-cash offer on behalf of its buyers, Knock.com makes a more competitive bid than even higher priced offers that come with home sale and financing contingencies.”
As part of is Charlotte expansion, Knock hired what it calls “Licensed Local Experts,” which are salaried agents that specialize in the Charlotte neighborhoods Knock plans to operate in and will guide the customer throughout the process.
According the company, its Licensed Local Experts are not incentivized by the traditional commission-based model.
In addition to hiring the LLEs, Knock also plans to hire multiple full-time employees in the area, as well as engage with hundreds of local third-party vendors.
“We’re thrilled to kick-off our national expansion in Charlotte because we feel we can make a truly transformative difference for its consumers through the first ever home trade-in model,” said Sean Black, co-founder and CEO of Knock. “By making all-cash offers on behalf of our customers, we will give Charlotte residents the necessary competitive edge over other buyers and save them the considerable stress, time and cost that comes with traditional real estate brands and agents.”
