Compare Clever Real Estate and Ribbon

For Sellers

Partner Agents
25%-40%
Referral Fee
Clever Real Estate does not provide real estate services to home sellers. Instead, this company matches consumers with various real estate agents in exchange for an undisclosed referral fee. Referral fees set by such networks range anywhere between 25%-40% of the entire agent’s commission.

For Sellers

Not Applicable
0
No Rates
Ribbon does not offer services to sellers.

For Buyers

Partner Agents
25%-40%
Referral Fee
Clever Real Estate does not provide real estate services to home buyers. Instead, this company matches consumers with various real estate agents in exchange for an undisclosed referral fee. Referral fees set by such networks range anywhere between 25%-40% of the entire agent’s commission.

For Buyers

Cash Offer
1.95%
Service Fee
It costs 1.95% to make a Ribbon Cash Offer. Cash Offer made with Ribbon is not free to buyers since the seller will have to account for the added fee when accepting an offer. Cash Offers stand-in program is highly selective and may come with added risks in case a buyer decides to back out of the sale. Buyers should carefully review their agreement with Ribbon.
Question: What is the difference between Clever Real Estate and Ribbon?
Answer: Clever Real Estate is a referral fee network that enables broker-to-broker collusion with use of blanket referral agreements while Ribbon is a stand-in cash offers program for buyers
Compare Clever Real Estate and Ribbon for home buying and selling. HomeOpenly is an impartial and an open resource focused on trending real estate services, portals and start-ups.

First published: 17 February 2019
Last updated: 08 September 2021

Buying and Selling with Clever Real Estate

WARNING: Unlawful Kickbacks, Broker-to-Broker Collusion, False Marketing, Wire Fraud, Price Fixing.

Clever Real Estate is a broker-to-broker collusion scheme, where "partner agents" unlawfully agree to pay massive kickbacks to receive your information and engage in market allocation, consumer allocation, false advertising, unlawful kickbacks, wire fraud, and price-fixing practices in violation of, inter alia, 18 U.S.C. § 1346, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, 15 U.S.C. § 1, 15 U.S.C. § 45, 12 U.S.C. § 2607, 12 C.F.R. § 1024.14. As a consumer, you will always significantly overpay for Realtor commissions subject to hidden kickbacks and pay-to-play steering promoted in this scheme.

United States federal antitrust laws prohibit consumer allocation and blanket referral agreements between real estate companies.

Be smart; do not allow your information to be "sold as a lead" to a double-dealing Realtor in exchange for massive commission kickbacks paid from your future home sale, or your future home purchase.


Clever Real Estate is a referral fee network designed to collect fees by matching consumers with local real estate agents willing to pay it. Clever Real Estate operates as a licensed real estate brokerage in Missouri under License #2017042277, but it does not produce any services that are typically offered by real estate agents and does not represent consumers when buying or selling real estate in any State.

When consumers submit information to Clever Real Estate, this information is simply shared in exchange for an undisclosed fee with real estate agents in a process known as a "blind match."

Clever Real Estate Pricing

Clever Real Estate revenue comes from undisclosed referral fees. Referral fees set by such networks range anywhere between 25%-40% of the entire agent’s commission.

Listing Services

  • This Service Does Not Represent Sellers

Buyer's Agent Services

  • This Service Does Not Represent Buyers

Clever Real Estate Editor's Review:

Clever Real Estate is a referral network that claims it does not endorse, validate, or recommend any legal agreements between homeowners and buyers and real estate professionals, but we find these claims to be false.

Using its website, Clever Real Estate engages in a process known as price fixing because it sets listing rates and rebates for independent real estate professionals using the network.

Clever Real Estate sets a flat listing fee of $3,000 for homes sold under $350,000 and 1% listing fee for homes sold over that amount; for home Buyers Clever Real Estate sets a 1% rebate. For purposes of the present discussion, brokerage fees are always negotiable and no broker should set rates and rebates for other brokers. Each firm should establish its own policy as to its fee structure and charges, amount of commissions, and rebates.

Price fixing is prohibited by federal antitrust legislation. Individual agents must never discuss, or set rates with brokers outside of their own company. By setting rates and rebates for other brokers across the United States, Clever Real Estate operates with a sole purpose to collect referral fees, where such service effectively results in lower quality of service, pay-to-play bias, and a "blind match" with agents willing to participate.

Consumers using this network have zero control over what agents the company shares their information with. Instead of being "sold as leads" consumers looking for a competitive and fair representation can consider negotiating directly with real estate agents, or with help from unbiased consumer-focused online services that do not collect referral fees.

Why Price-Fixing Damages Consumer Experience

Clever Real Estate claims to connect consumers with an agent who will charge $3000 or 1% of the home, and that their "service" is free. First of all, Clever Real Estate is not free, their fees are simply hidden within a referral fee that the agent will pay after the transaction.

More importantly, price-fixing is an uncompetitive practice, and every agent who participates with Clever Real Estate is a participant in the scheme. Saving consumers from having to pay excessive brokerage fees can never be justified with price-fixing, especially in exchange for a financial gain between brokers.

Antitrust laws are essential for real estate professionals. Real estate professionals customarily operate in cooperation and competition with one another, a practice that presents a host of opportunities for antitrust violations. In reality, it is easy to comply with antitrust laws. Agents simply need to be aware of the rules and take care to conduct business lawfully.

Several laws combine to form the core of federal antitrust laws, but the Sherman Act is the primary piece of these regulations. Section 1 of the Sherman Act states: “Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce … is declared to be illegal.” This means that (1) there must at least two parties agreeing to take action, and (2) the agreed-upon action must restrain free trade.

The parties in this case are Clever Real Estate and any broker they refer you to. These two independent parties are carrying out a common course of action by setting fixed commissions with the use of blanket referral agreements for mutual financial gain.

Agents must never agree on commission rates or rebate amounts with any outside party. Agents must take care to avoid even the implication that they have discussed or reached an agreement about their service fees, service offerings, and rates due to any outside influence.

Commission rates should never be fixed through collusion. All commissions and rebates must be set by each real estate agent individually and may only be negotiable between the consumer and the real estate agent.

Further, it is a per se violation of antitrust laws for brokers to set “standard” compensation that will be paid to other brokers. Referral fees amount paid to Clever Real Estate (the money it receives for your information) are "blanket" fee agreements.

Real estate agents (only when they act in full brokerage capacity) may discuss or negotiate the referral fees concerning an individual transaction, but real estate professionals are not allowed to enter into “uniform” or “blanket” agreement on how a commission will be split, or a “standard” referral fee paid. The reason for this is exactly the premise behind the Clever Real Estate business model – brokers (yes, Clever Real Estate is a broker) work to steer consumers toward other brokers in exchange for a pre-arranged referral fees.

From this discussion, it becomes clear that quality and honest real estate professionals establish pricing for their services independently, and without any kickbacks. The truth is, every single agent is different, and every single agent has an individual commission structure.

While Clever Real Estate price fixes an arbitrary rate for all agents, such proposition becomes absurd when comparing home transactions worth $15 Million to home transactions worth $150,000 in different states, rural, or urban areas, variable market conditions, etc. Obviously, in some situations, consumers' interest maybe with the lowest fees, in other cases, consumers are looking for the most experienced agents, etc.

The true VALUE of any real estate agent is their ability to negotiate honestly. If an agent is unwilling to negotiate competitive terms in compliance with the law, there is no reason for consumers to assume that they will be willing to negotiate competitively when it comes to their home purchase or a home sale.

Why Does Clever Real Estate Engage in Price Fixing?

Clever Real Estate is a price-fixing and a consumer allocation scheme between licensed brokers. All price-fixing agreements are illegal "per se" regardless of whether they are reasonable or not. Whatever economic justification particular price-fixing agreements may be thought to have, the law does not permit an inquiry into their reasonableness. They are all banned.

Clever Real Estate engages in price-fixing because it needs a "dangling carrot in front of consumers" to "reasonably" justify the kickbacks it takes from the brokers who patriciate in the scheme. This dynamic is better known as a hub-and-spoke conspiracy. Clever scheme produces absolutely no tangible service as a licensed broker to anyone and instead delivers either inflated prices, lower quality of service, or, more likely, both. The scheme originates as a conspiracy to restrain trade and to funnel consumers toward the scheme and away from the open market. There are hundreds of thousands of highly competitive Realtors® who offer great savings and great service, and they refuse to pay kickbacks or to comply with the price fixed rates set by Clever.

The kickback is the principal origination point for Clever Real Estate. The kickback is the reason why Clever sets listing commission rates and buyer rebates for Realtors® outside their firm. ALL consumers and ALL legitimate Realtors® are scammed by Clever Real Estate, even if the experience and savings may seem "good enough" because price-fixing is a faulty shortcut to genuine open competition between Realtors®. By law, all Realtors® must compete for consumers and set prices individually. Open competition is at the core of our free and independent society everywhere in America.

The Realtor® commissions in the United States have long suffered from the "standard" 6% myth and the false notion that "buyer agents work for free." However, these myths cannot be resolved with price-fixing of commissions to some other level, in exchange for kickbacks. ALL Realtors® who participate in the Clever Real Estate scheme are engaged in price-fixing. The Sherman Act imposes criminal penalties of up to $100 million for a corporation and $1 million for an individual, along with up to 10 years in prison. No legitimate Realtor® will ever willingly allow themselves to be exposed to such massive liability.

The best, highly-experienced, well-educated, law-abiding, honest, and ethical Realtors® will never participate in price-fixing because it is a felony that carries massive penalties. The best Realtors are able to recognize price fixing as wrong because they respect the true value of honest negotiations.

The prices set by Clever Real Estate are not for the services that they offer, but for services offered by their direct competitors – other brokers. When Clever Real Estate refuses to compete with these brokers and instead organizes "partner agents" into a network, it breaks an entire host of basic principles that guide our open and fair markets. Moreover, Clever brokerage, which is based in Missouri, extends this conspiracy all across the United States, making the scheme highly damaging due to the scaled use of the Internet to transmit collusion. The Internet, like any other scaled information medium, can be used to transmit competition just as easily as collusion.

The short answer is: Clever Real Estate's intent to fix prices is directly tied into the kickbacks it receives from the "partner agents." This dynamic is archived by allocation of consumers to competitors and by the restraint of genuine competition. The "standard commissions" problem in the residential real estate sector can only be fixed legally by encouraging Realtors® to set and advertise competitive prices to consumers at scale without paying any kickbacks. Kickbacks cost thousands in open market savings lost to consumers.

Update: on June 19, 2019, Clever Real Estate has originated a request to the editor asking for this review to be removed.

The following is a link to the notice originated by Clever Real Estate, dated June 19, 2019.

The following is a link to the reply written by the editor of this review, dated June 28, 2019.

Where does Clever Real Estate operate?

Clever Real Estate currently operates in select areas across United States.

Buying with Ribbon

Ribbon is a multi-state stand-in cash-backed offer program that aims to help buyers when purchasing a home, it is not a real estate agent, nor is it an iBuyer.

Ribbon is a cash program for buyers that may help the buyer to make a competitive offer. Ribbon program also comes with added risks and sizable fees.

Despite the fact that the program costs an additional 1.95% service fee when used properly, Ribbon Cash Offer may be beneficial to the buyer in cases when a seller is highly motivated by a faster sale. If you are a buyer looking into this program, we recommend that you read the entire Editor’s Review for unbiased tips on how to navigate this process.

Ribbon Pricing

Ribbon also offers buyers Cash Offers stand-in program, where the company either backs buyer’s offer or buys a home and resells it back to the buyer for an added fee (1.95% service fee)

Listing Services

  • This Service Does Not Represent Sellers

Buyer's Agent Services

  • This Service Does Not Represent Buyers

Ribbon Editor's Review:

Ribbon is a consumer-focused cash-backed value-added proposition for home buyers in select areas where it operates. Ribbon claims that buyers are able to make offers to sellers that are less than the asking price due to the added security of each offer. In this review, we focus primarily on this claim when placed against the fact that the program costs an additional 1.95% in fees. Placing additional fees into real estate process almost never leads to savings, however, making secure offers does offer certain benefits. Using Ribbon Offers does not preclude the buyer from negotiating a buyer’s commission refund with their real estate agent.

Guaranteed Cash Offers
Ribbon offers buyers a Cash Offers stand-in program where Ribbon purchases a home outright from the seller on a buyer’s behalf, and sells it back at the same price to the buyer on an agreed upon closing date. Ribbon guarantees the seller that the home will close, and if it doesn’t, Ribbon will then buy the home for the same terms. Cash Offers stand-in program is not free, it is also highly selective.

Ribbon extensively qualifies clients with a complete financial background check prior to doing business. Cash Offers program also comes with added risks in the event the buyer decides to back out of the sale. Buyers should carefully review their agreement with Ribbon before participating in the Cash Offers stand-in program so to fully understand the fees and potential penalties for backing out of the Cash Offer once it is made.

In order to maximize their options, Buyers should utilize Ribbon Cash Offer alongside a traditional non-Ribbon Offer that does not include the added 1.95% Ribbon Fee. Ribbon allows this as an option and buyers should always place two offers on the table before the seller so that the seller can pick whichever option suits them the best. Unless a buyer places Ribbon Offer and non-Ribbon Offer before the seller, another buyer who makes non-Ribbon Offer may be at an advantage because it comes without the Ribbon fee.

If the seller chooses non-Ribbon Offer, they will not pay the Ribbon fee, but they still have an option to go with Ribbon Offer if they want.

If hustle and risk of placing a Ribbon Offers genuinely comes with added savings, buyers should theoretically be able to place a winning Ribbon Offer at 95% value of their traditional non-Ribbon Offer. This becomes the ultimate test - if the seller decides to accept a lower Ribbon Offer due to added security, buyer genuinely saves 5% in this type of transaction. If the Seller accepts a traditional non-Ribbon Offer, then this program didn’t help the buyer, but it didn’t cost anything either.

If the buyer only places a single Ribbon Offer on the table before the seller, there is nothing to compare savings against and, instead, all parties may have just wasted 1.95% on fees without any reason to do so. Before placing this review, we had asked Ribbon team for details about the program:

Question 1: Ribbon states that if the Buyer backs out from the purchase after making the Ribbon Offer they would lose the Due Diligence Deposit (if applicable) and Earnest Money Deposit. How much are these penalties, and how are these calculated? When are these applicable? Does this penalty remain in place if the appraisal comes in below the Ribbon Offer? Are there any other penalties for backing out of the Ribbon Offer?

Ribbon Answer: The buyer contributes their standard DD / EMD fees that are typically 1% of the purchase price. These are funds that are preserved and credited back to the buyer when they repurchase from Ribbon. Ribbon buys and reserves the home for the consumer buyer. If the buyer chooses not to purchase the home, these funds would be credited back if Ribbon resells the home back into the open market above the original purchase price. Less than 3% of buyers choose not to purchase the home after we step in to buy on their behalf so this is an uncommon outcome. Additionally, consumers requested that when we buy, to provide consumers with a 1-year lease so they have the peace of mind of the home they are living in. We introduced this feature and buyers carry standard responsible for a 1-yr lease that would terminate immediately upon their purchase of the home from Ribbon.

Question 2: Ribbon states that Ribbon Offer typically commands a 5% discount relative to competing bids which have financing contingencies. Do Ribbon terms allow Buyers to make two concurrent bids to the Seller - one set at 100% of the home price with typical financing contingencies as a non-Ribbon Offer and another as the Ribbon Offer made at 95% of the same offer amount? If the Buyer were to propose this option to Ribbon, what would the reply be?

Ribbon Answer: Yes, a buyer can make a Ribbon and Non-Ribbon offer. We believe consumers should have a choice in how they buy and we enable this for them. We have enabled this for other buyers and this is one of several ways in which we calculate the true cash discount rate.

Question 3: Ribbon states that Ribbon Offer typically commands a discount of 5% or more of the home price, when compared to the 1.95% Ribbon fee. Can Ribbon show proof of this statement? Is there a possibility that the Seller considers Ribbon fee a deterrent in light of a competing offer without the fee?

Ribbon Answer: We establish a cash discount based on the following methodology: where did the Ribbon offer clear relative to other offers received by the seller. We often receive this input from the listing agent. If not, we calculate cash discounts based on the predicted and actual appraisal value of the home.

Question 4: When Ribbon purchases the home, instead of the Buyer, Ribbon pays Buyer's Agent Commission under its own agreement with the Agent. In this scenario, Buyer's Agent does not take any risk nor has any added expense in case the Buyer backs out of the deal. This gives the Buyer's Agent, effectively, two clients instead of one. Why should the Buyer believe that this Agent is not looking out for her own interest since both Ribbon and the Buyer are represented by the same Agent and are subject to the same commission structure? How can the same Agent fairly represent two distinctly different Buyers in the same transaction?

Ribbon Answer: Ribbon stands in as the backup buyer to the original buyer represented by the realtor. If, and only if, the original buyer is unable to close on time, Ribbon stands in to purchase the home on their behalf at the exact same terms as the original offer. As such, we have zero conflict of interests as the original buyer sets the price and terms with their realtor. Ribbon provides, upfront, the max terms that we will back the home for (this includes, max purchase price, minimum DD/EMD fee, minimum DD time period and minimum time to close). The realtor represents the original buyer up until the point where the contract is assigned to Ribbon prior to close.

Ribbon clearly offers the buyer an interesting value-added alternative, despite the added 1.95% fee. Buyers should place two side-by-side Ribbon and non-Ribbon Offers to capture savings. These offers may be equal, or 5% less of each other, depending on how far the buyer wants to test the savings claimed by the program. Buyers should also fully understand all risks for backing out of a Ribbon offer before using the program. If the buyer makes only the Ribbon Offer without the non-Ribbon alternative, the added fee may simply backfire because the seller may accept another equal or lower traditional offer from another buyer.

Where does Ribbon operate?

Ribbon currently operates in select areas across New York City, Charlotte, Raleigh, Nashville, Atlanta, San Antonio.