Knock has launched its Home Swap product in Jacksonville, Florida – the sixth location in the Sunshine State and 15th in the U.S.
Before expanding to Jacksonville, Home Swap opened in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, Florida markets in early December. During that time, the company said it had plans to expand into 21 markets by mid-2021.
Knock Cofounder and CEO Sean Black told HousingWire that the company is on track to launch Home Swap in those additional markets by this June, or sooner. Black said that the goal is to be launched in 75 markets by 2023.
COVID-19 created a heightened demand for Home Swap, Black said, and now there are over 70 brokers and 43,000 agents who offer Home Swap.
“I think there was an element of 2008 that helped accelerate online real estate, at least on the search side and people’s dependability on it to adopt to change,” Black said. “I think that’s what happened this time to meet a lot of trends that we saw.”
Home Swap is offered exclusively through local real estate professionals who have been trained as Knock Certified Agents. In these markets, Home Swap will be offered through Keller Williams Atlantic Partners.
“Given the high amount of multiple offer situations we are currently seeing, it is hard for many buyers to be competitive while also trying to sell their home at the same time,” said Margaret Sherrill, owner/operating partner of Keller Williams Atlantic Partners. “The Home Swap program is a huge advantage for customers in these situations. We are excited to partner with Knock and look forward to offering this program in Jacksonville.”
Via Home Swap, customers can take ownership of their new home while prepping and repairing their old house to sell. Knock provides consumers with a mortgage on the new home, an interest-free bridge loan to cover the down payment, coverage of mortgage payments on the old house, and up to $25,000 for home prep and repairs for the old house.
Last month the company launched Knock Nest, a standalone sale-leaseback solution that allows homeowners to access the cash they’ve built up in their home while continuing to live in it, which is available in certain Florida markets.
