Faira is a multi-state savings broker, offers consumers listing savings and buyer’s refunds in select areas across Washington, Arizona and California.
Faira offers savings to sellers (charges 0.5% platform fee to the buyer with an optional 1% listing fee) and commission refunds to buyers (2% of the purchase price).
For its in-house listings platform offers self-represented buyers a 2.5% independent buyer discount, to account for the fact that there is no need for Buyer's Agent Commission (BAC) expense for self-represented buyers.
However, we recommend that all Buyers work with their own competitive buyer's agent who offers a buyer's refund. Faira also offers Premium Listing option for a 3% listing fee.
Faira is a consumer-focused real estate agent that successfully represents consumers across Washington, Arizona, and California and offers sizeable savings.
Faira listing service includes posting home on the MLS and MLS Aggregator services, professional photos in addition to all typical services offered by a traditional real estate agent.
Faira gives sellers access to a well-designed dashboard with great communication features. The pricing model at this brokerage may be an issue for some Buyers and Agencies who are unable to work with it due to the "platform fee" structure.
Buyer's commission rebate structure is also subjective with ambiguously defined savings. What is considered standard real estate services are advertised by Faira as Premium for a significantly larger fee.
While Faira does offer sizeable savings for Buyers and Sellers, we find that some service offerings by Faira are difficult to substantiate, especially when it comes to its Premium listings.
HomeVestors (also known as We Buy Ugly Houses) is a franchise network where each individual local franchisee considers the condition of a home and makes an offer to pay cash for the property. In determining the offer, each franchisee discounts from the estimated retail value after it’s fully renovated.
HomeVestors franchisees make money with a difference between buying and selling each home. Typically an offer equal to 70% of home value is expected from this type of sale after any cost of the repairs and resale.
HomeVestors franchisee will buy a home at a price that is below market value due to necessary repairs, renovation, and other factors. After the franchisee buys the home, it renovates and resells it for a profit or rents it out to qualified tenants.
With the low offer price, comes a convenience of an all-cash closing when selling a home. HomeVestors franchisee typically closes a home in 30 days of receiving cash offer.
Typically each franchisee uses the following factors when determining the offer: existing condition of the home including repairs needed, time it will take to finish needed repairs, value of a home compared to other comparable homes in the area, real estate commission required to resell, costs associated with maintaining a home during repairs, including taxes, payments, insurance, utilities and homeowner dues.
The main disadvantage of using HomeVestors is high losses in homeowners' equity. HomeVestors is a "heavy" model, ready to buy homes in all-cash transactions.
As any real estate investor, HomeVestors franchisee is susceptible to losing money in any given transaction. This model is prone to a number of risk factors, high operational costs and a continued need for higher-than-average Return on Investment (ROI) with each flip.
HomeVestors franchisee is not legally bound to represent consumers, its main legal obligation is to its stakeholders. Moreover, because most homes in the United States are financed, homeowners own only partial net equity in their home.
Banks receive the same amount of the remaining mortgage sum regardless of how any given home is sold, or how much of homeowners' net equity is lost in the transaction with HomeVestors.
Today, there are a number of highly qualified real estate agents who offer competitive listing rates and flat fee listings across the United States. Unless a situation absolutely requires a quick sale, HomeOpenly recommends that consumers first consider using a licensed real estate agent working on competitive terms to properly list their homes on the open market before turning to HomeVestors option.