Real estate brokerage Brown Harris Stevens launched two new services last week to help homesellers get top dollar for their houses, sell them faster, and transition to new homes.
Each service is a lending program: One to provide financing to fix up or stage a house and the other to provide bridge loans to purchase a new house immediately while waiting for an old house to sell.
The home improvement service is dubbed Curate, and the homeowner is only responsible to pay back the loan value once the sale of the house closes. Participating homesellers will receive a design consultation to determine the budget and the best enhancements for the property.
Matthew Leone, the head of business development at Brown Harris Stevens, said a question he asks agents every day is, what do you need to take your business to the next level?
In economically challenging times, agents are looking to offer their clients a suite of services to get them to the finish line, he said. That’s where Curate and the bridge loan program come in.
If a home has a glaring problem that is an impediment to it selling, the problem needs to be dealt with, Mr. Leone explained. But not every homeowner can, or wants to, lay out money to do so.
It could be an estate sale, or the owners may be facing financial hardships, he said. “They’re not looking to put any more money into their home.”
Brown Harris Stevens has partnered with Zoom Casa on Curate. Brown Harris Stevens provides analytic support and recommends vendors, while Zoom Casa is the financial partner.
“We are not acting as a bank,” Mr. Leone noted. “We are not the lender. We are a real estate company.”
Zoom Casa will cover the upfront costs for any projects that increase the perceptional value of a home. That could be as simple as decluttering, painting, landscaping or staging, or as involved as a kitchen renovation.
“The homeseller is provided a quote in the beginning,” Mr. Leone said. “It’s an interest-free loan of sorts.”
Zoom Casa will collect a nominal service fee for project management, which is included in the quote.
The program has no price ceiling. A research team considers each application on a case-by-case basis. “We evaluate whether or not the expense is a smart expense,” Mr. Leone said.
Licensed and insured local vendors will be enlisted to get the work done.
Such fixes and changes not only help raise the final sales price of a house or apartment, they also help sell homes faster. According to Brown Harris Stevens, homes that Zoom Casa has prepared for sale have sold for 3.3 percent more and twice as fast as others.
Curate was tested in Fairfield County, Connecticut, before rolling out in the Hamptons and all other markets where Brown Harris Stevens does business.
“It’s an opportunity for someone who is looking to sell their home in a market that is very competitive,” Mr. Leone said. “There is not much out there — you can make your home into a perfect home and sell at an incredible price.”
He pointed out that there was nearly $1 billion in home sales in the Hamptons during the third quarter of 2020. “Our agents are saying it’s never been crazier out there,” he added.
The new bridge loan service is in partnership with Zoom Casa and other financial institutions. The loans have an interest rate of 6 to 6.5 percent, with a term of one year. Homeowners use the loans to buy their next homes while waiting for their old homes to sell.
“In this market that we’re in right now, you’re seeing people migrate — some might be going into the city, some might be going out of the city, and those markets might not necessarily be working in the same way,” Mr. Leone said.
With a bridge loan, clients can buy in a hot market quickly, without the contingency of waiting to receive the proceeds from the sale of a home in a cool market.
“Some markets, quite honestly, are going to take a bit longer than others,” Mr. Leone said.
He said both Curate and the bridge loan program are ideas that have been brewing for some time, as Brown Harris Stevens has looked to provide additional levels of service and to stand apart.
“The real estate business is simply getting more competitive each day,” he said.
Not only are more agencies cropping up, there are iBuyer companies that make low-ball offers for houses, site unseen, in hope of quickly flipping them for a profit.
Mr. Leone said Brown Harris Stevens is redefining what a real estate professional is: “We are what we always were. We are someone who is full service, soup to nuts, who is going to help you in all aspects of your home.”
