Reali, a real estate startup that operates in California, has been quickly expanding for the last few years, and it looks like the company has no plans of slowing down.
Earlier this year, Reali launched a mortgage business, dubbed Reali Loans, by acquiring Lenda, an online mortgage lender that launched in 2013 and currently operates in 12 states. The company has also raised nearly $40 million in several funding rounds over the last several years, including a $9 million raise earlier this year, a $20 million raise last year, and a nearly $10 million raise in 2017.
And now, the company is growing its offerings again.
Reali announced this week that it is launching a service that allows homeowners to sell their existing home and buy a new one, all in one transaction.
By using the program, which the company calls the “Reali Trade-In,” a homeowner can buy their new home before they sell their old one, thereby eliminating the stress and financial burden that comes from managing two home transactions at the same time.
Here’s how it works, according to the company.
First, Reali helps a seller find their new home and buys it with the company’s own funds on their customer’s behalf. Second, the seller moves into their new home.
Third, Reali prepares the seller’s previous home for listing, cleaning the house, performing any minor repairs that are needed, and staging the home for sale. When the home sells, Reali uses the proceeds pay itself back for purchasing the new home, at no additional cost to the customer compared to a traditional real estate transaction.
According to the company, it charges 5% of the transaction amount for the service, which includes a license real estate agent, a five-day close and a property inspection, as well as the prep and staging on the existing home.
The company also states that customers using this program will be making use of the company’s mortgage lending arm as well.
“Leveraging Reali’s full-service real estate platform, Reali Trade-In customers work with in-house mortgage experts to get pre-approved quickly, while Reali agents help them find a new home and sell their existing home,” the company said in a release.
While the concept is a novel one, Reali is not the first to come to market with a home trade-in program.
Last year, Opendoor rolled out a similar program, although Opendoor’s is done in partnership with homebuilders and sees the homeowner selling their existing home to Opendoor and buying a newly built home. Although, it should be noted that with Opendoor, the company is buying the seller’s existing property directly, whereas Reali is simply holding the property on the seller’s behalf until the property sells.
Another company, Knock, has a similar program, wherein the company buys a customer’s new home on their behalf, allows to them to move in, then the company represents them in the sale of their old home on the open market. Once it sells, Knock sells their new home to them.
“With Reali Trade-In, we are simplifying two of the most stressful events in modern life: buying and selling a home,” Reali CEO Amit Haller said.
“We reworked the process so sellers can conveniently get into the home they want first with our cash while paying a competitive price. Then, we’ll sell their existing home for the highest price possible,” Haller added. “Reali is the only company that offers a ‘buy before you sell’ program to sellers without charging additional fees because we believe our customers should benefit the most from their real estate transaction.”
