Compare Flyhomes and LemonBrew

For Sellers

Listing Rate
1%
Commission
Minimum commissions and other terms may apply. Buyer's Agent Commission (2.5%-3%) is not included, but you may be able to negotiate this as well. Flyhomes charges 1% to list a home.

For Sellers

Trade-in Program
1%
Service Fee
Minimum commissions and other terms may apply. Buyer's Agent Commission (2.5%-3%) is not included, but you may be able to negotiate this as well. Flyhomes does not provide Trade-in program participants a rebate on the buy-side.

For Sellers

Partner Agents
25%-40%
Referral Fee
LemonBrew 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 Buyers

Buyer’s Savings
33%
Commission Rebate
When Flyhomes represents home buyers, it contributes 33% of its Buyer's Agent Commission (2.5%-3%) to the buyer as a way to financially compete for a buyer’s business. Home buyers do not pay any taxes on the amount, the refund amount is always tax-free.

For Buyers

Cash Offer
1%
Service Fee
It costs 1% to make a Flyhomes Cash Offer, but buyers working with Flyhomes also receive 1% of cash rewards to apply towards closing costs. Cash Offer is not free since the buyer will not receive a commission refund when using a stand-in program. 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 Flyhomes.

For Buyers

Partner Agents
25%-40%
Referral Fee
LemonBrew 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.
Question: What is the difference between Flyhomes and LemonBrew?
Answer: Flyhomes is a full-service real estate agent and a stand-in cash program for buyers that offers savings to homebuyers and home sellers while LemonBrew is a referral fee network that enables broker-to-broker collusion with use of blanket referral agreements
Compare Flyhomes and LemonBrew 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: 01 September 2019
Last updated: 25 April 2021

Buying and Selling with Flyhomes

Flyhomes is a multi-state full-service real estate agent offers consumers listing savings and buyer’s refunds in select areas across Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Massachusetts, and California.

In Oregon state law currently does not allow Flyhomes to offer buyer’s rebates to consumers.

Flyhomes Pricing

Flyhomes offers listing savings to sellers (1% listing fee) and commission refunds to buyers (32% estimated rebate where allowed by State law.)

Flyhomes also offers buyers Cash Offers stand-in program, where the company either assures buyer’s offer or buys a home and resells it to the buyer for an added fee (1% service fee).

A similar Trade-in Program is available for sellers.

Listing Services

  • MLS Listing
  • Zillow, Trulia, etc. Listing
  • Accept and Deliver All Offers and Counteroffers
  • Hold Open Houses
  • Professional Photography
  • Professional Floor Plans
  • Yard Signage Installation
  • Spare Key Lock-box Installation
  • Schedule Inspection Services
  • Schedule Private Showings
  • Closing Duties

Buyer's Agent Services

  • Find the Property
  • Accept and Deliver All Offers and Counteroffers
  • Recommend Other Professionals
  • Attend Inspection Services
  • Schedule Private Showings
  • Negotiate Needed Repairs
  • Closing Duties

Flyhomes Editor's Review:

Flyhomes is a consumer-focused saving real estate broker that offers a wide variety of value-added propositions for home buyers and sellers in select areas where it operates.

Agent Listings
As a listing agent, Flyhomes works with a seller to prepare their home for listing, including taking professional photos, pricing home, and publishing marketing materials. Flyhomes lists all homes on the local MLS as well as typical MLS Aggregators.

Trade-in Program for Sellers
Flyhomes is not an iBuyer. Flyhomes offers sellers a Trade-in Program where the company runs a pricing analysis on seller's current home and sets a conservative price guarantee for the amount that it will pay to buy it outright.

Once a seller selects a new home and her purchase offer is accepted, the company lists the seller's current home on the market in order to sell it for more than the price guarantee amount. Once the home sells company accounts for its expenses. Flyhomes Trade-in Program is a value-added proposition and a viable alternative to iBuyer Offers. Unlike Flyhomes, with an iBuyer seller inevitably loses a lot of their home net equity in the process due to the risk of holding and re-selling the home by the iBuyer. Sellers using Trade-in Program do not lose equity and only pay a moderate fee in the process. Granted, Flyhomes does not offer "quick cash" iBuyer proposition, where the seller still needs to list their home in the open market and wait for better offers to come in and pay expenses back, but the equity savings is why we rate this program as genuinely consumer-focused.

Sellers who use Flyhomes Trade-in program do not receive a rebate on the buy-side and Flyhomes charges sellers 1% commission as a service fee (this does not include the buy-side agent commission) to list their home. Flyhomes evaluates seller's home before the seller can participate in Trade-in Program and reserves the right to request repairs prior to seller's inclusion in the program.

Buyer's Agent
As a buyer's agent, Flyhomes works with buyers to find a home, schedule inspections, negotiate repairs and finalize the purchase. Flyhomes offers overall great value to consumers looking to buy or sell a home including a convenient "request tour" option on the Flyhomes website in order to easily schedule home viewings with their service team.

Guaranteed and Cash Offers for Buyers
Flyhomes offers buyers a unique Cash Offers stand-in program where Flyhomes purchases a home outright from the seller on a buyer's behalf in as few as 2 days and sells it back at the same price to the buyer on an agreed upon closing date.

When a Cash Offer is not available, buyers can utilize Guaranteed Offer instead. For the Guaranteed Offer program, Flyhomes guarantees the seller that the home will close, and if it doesn't, Flyhomes will then buy the home for the same terms.

Cash Offers stand-in program is not free, it is also highly selective. Cash Offers program may come with added risks in the event the buyer decides to back out of the sale. Buyers should carefully review their agreement with Flyhomes before participating in 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.

Buyers can only utilize Cash Offers when working with Flyhomes, which means that if there is another local real estate agent who offers a buyer a better commission refund, such as a flat fee option, the buyer cannot take advantage of these larger savings with Cash Offers.

In some cases, an alternative savings model may better serve buyers financially than Cash Offers proposition due to a sheer price tag of standard real estate commissions.

Where does Flyhomes operate?

Flyhomes currently operates in select areas across Greater Seattle, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco Bay Area, and Boston.

Buying and Selling with LemonBrew

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

LemonBrew 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.


LemonBrew is a referral fee network designed to collect fees by matching consumers with local real estate agents willing to pay it. LemonBrew Realty NJ LLC operates as a New Jersey real estate broker under a license number 1863793, 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. In exchange for matching you with a LemonBrew Partner Agent, LemonBrew Realty is compensated by the said Partner Agent with an undisclosed percentage of their commission in a process known as a "blind match."

LemonBrew Pricing

LemonBrew 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

LemonBrew Editor's Review:

As a home buyer or home seller, LemonBrew is not representing consumers as a real estate agent. Instead, the company shares consumer's information for referral fees with various real estate agents, vendors, advertisers, and other third parties. LemonBrew does not control or supervise any Partner Agents, and LemonBrew is not responsible for their actions.

LemonBrew claims that all conditions between consumers and a real estate professional are governed by a separate legal agreement that does not involve LemonBrew, but we find these claims to be false. Using its website, LemonBrew engages in a process known as price-fixing because it offers consumers a portion of Partner Agent's commission as a cash rebate at closing using the network. For, example, for home buyers, LemonBrew sets a $3,750 buyer's commission rebate amount when buying a home valued at $750,000. This is about a 10% rebate from the typical 2.5%-3% buyer's agent's commission. It is easy to see that while LemonBrew likely collects about 25%-40% in referral fees from the broker's commission, the consumer only receives a 10% rebate. LemonBrew pay-to-play bias doesn't just cost consumers thousands in junk fees, it also results in improperly negotiated commissions.

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 Partner Agents across the United States, LemonBrew 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 LemonBrew 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.

Where does LemonBrew operate?

LemonBrew currently operates in select areas across United States.