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What Is HomeLight?

HomeLight is a real estate website that offers multiple services to home buyers, home sellers, and real estate agents. The core of this website is connecting home sellers and buyers with agents based out of their area. This company is known to go as local as it can. HomeLight aims to be an alternative to a DY search for a real estate agent by providing customers with a better and more convenient solution.

Like other agents providing services, there is no charge to sign-up on HomeLight and no obligation to use it after you have made an account there. But unlike other companies, HomeLight fails to provide efficient services beyond speed and convenience.

If you are dreaded by the idea of paying a hefty commission to real estate agents, some companies like Houzeo offer "For Sale By Owner" service that can eliminate the agent and their commission, thus saving you thousands of dollars.

At A Glance: Houzeo Vs HomeLight

Houzeo being an online Flat Fee MLS company, it eliminates all the manual efforts since it is 100% online. In case of HomeLight, the agents take a traditional listing route there, thus increasing the paperwork and consuming a high amount of your time. Lack of technology and savings makes HomeLight a questionable choice if high savings is your priority.

Let us look at other features that differentiate Houzeo from HomeLight. HomeLight reviews are highly based on these features too.
Notes:
💰 Incredible Technology, Incredible Savings

Houzeo's technology makes FSBO easy by giving you access to tools only agents have

Is HomeLight Legit?

Yes, HomeLight is a legitimate and licensed real estate brokerage in California. The ground rule of forming an agent matching service is that it must be licensed to collect payments from realtors. This is how they make money. There are A+ HomeLight reviews on Better Business Bureau (BBB).

HomeLight claims to have served $1 million customers with the strength of 28,000 agents across America. It also claims to make $1 billion in real estate transactions annually.

Call it weird or worrisome, the previously listed number of agents on HomeLight's website was 70,000. In the spring of 2021, the company changed that number to 28,000. The reason for this drastic reduction remains unknown.

🎯 Key Takeaways

Simplifies the search of buyers and sellers looking for a local real estate agent

Ideal for buyers in smaller towns and rural areas to work with more experienced agents

The algorithm of the company decides on showing you the matches

Lack of technical expertise can affect quality of the agents

There are alternatives to working with an agent where you gain more control over your listing and save thousands of dollars - this approach is called For Sale By Owner. Many FSBO websites offer you assistance in a way where you can easily take the lead and yet, fall back on their experts whenever required

How Does HomeLight Work?

Signing up to search agents on HomeLight is relatively easy - simply fill out the form. As a home buyer or a seller, HomeLight will ask you a series of questions. When you're done answering them, you will receive a call, an email, and a message from their concierge to understand more about your needs. Based on that, they will assign you agents.

Agents are ranked based on their statistics. You can see their ratings, the number of houses they have sold in your area, where those homes are located (with the help of an interactive map), how long the agent has been in business, and their notable achievements and specialties, if any.

Homelight For Buyers

A feature that makes HomeLight one of the most reliable agent matching platforms is their local agent search. If you're a buyer looking to buy in a house in your own locality, HomeLight will match you with agents that specialize in dealing within your selected radius. Not only this, they hold local connections, are a great negotiator, and know how to get you the best deal possible. In a seller's market, going local can be your best option if you're looking to work with an agent. Having said that, they will charge you a hefty commission, thus increasing your expenses.

If you are seeking agents to buy a house in your area, HomeLight will ask you for:

Your target area

This is ideal for buyers in smaller towns and rural areas to work with better and more experienced agents

What's your status on the home buying process (options range from researching to making an offer)

The type of property you're looking to buy

Your price range

Pre-approval from a lender - whether or not you have it

The purpose of purchase (primary residence, investment, flip a home, etc)

Your basic contact details

Homelight For Sellers

First-time sellers, local agents could be your best friends! They help you get through the local formalities, are well-versed with the state laws, negotiate as per the local on-going market standards, and try to get you a good price for your house. But HomeLight charges a 25% referral fee from the agents when they close deals with customers recommended by the agent matching platform. The chances of them charging you a hefty commission to break-even the referral fee are quite high.

For sellers seeking an agent in a particular area, these are the questions you need to have a crisp answer to

Your complete address with pin-code

Type of property you are selling (family home, condo, apartment, etc)

Estimated value of the property

The turn-around-time you are expecting for the sale

Your basic contact information

Once you've filled in all these details, HomeLight directs you to a customer dashboard where you can see your agent matches. These matches are automatically collated based on the company's algorithm. Like we said earlier, you can see every detail about your agent - from their rankings to their specialty.

A few minutes after you receive your agent matches, the company concierge will get in touch with you through various channels and so will your agent matches. Should there be a case where you don't like the agent matches, you can speak to your HomeLight concierge for more options.

After you interview and review your agent matches, working with one or walking away is entirely your choice. There is no obligation to work with HomeLight agents.

HomeLight Pros & Cons

✅ A plethora of options for real estate agents

✅ Extensive coverage of agents across major metropolitan areas

✅ A smooth user experience interface

✅ Reliable for sellers who are not familiar with the city

✅ A+ rating from the BBB or Better Business Bureau

⛔ Company's automated algorithm suggests the agent matches but misses out on details

⛔ Customers spend thousands of dollars on agent commissions

⛔ Compromising the quality of agents

⛔ HomeLight asks for a 25% referral fee for the listed agent

⛔ Users have been bombarded with cold calls and spammed with emails daily (according to one client's review)

How Much Does HomeLight Cost?

The agent matching fees at HomeLight is absolutely free for home sellers and buyers. You are in no way obligated to work with the agent you've matched with. You can explore more affordable options to make a better buying or selling decision.

However, once you commit to selling with a HomeLight agent, you will have to pay a hefty commission of 5-6%. This commission will then be divided equally between the buyer's agent and the seller's agent. Let's assume you are selling a house for $408,800 - here when you pay a pocket-burning commission of 6% you're practically paying $24,528 as agent commission.

If you opt for Flat Fee MLS websites such as Houzeo, you can save the entire 3% of your seller or listing agent's commission. Houzeo charges you a one-time flat fee (as low as $329), depending on your requirements. You do pay commission to the buyer's agent to attract good deals. So when you choose Houzeo over HomeLight, you end up saving a substantial amount of $11935.

How Does HomeLight Make Money?

We've said all throughout about HomeLight offering agent matching services for free. They make money by charging the licensed real estate agents a referral fee. Every agent is liable to the company a portion of their commission on deals they close with buyers and sellers referred by HomeLight. This is the way every agent matching company makes money.

The referral fee is 25% of their commission which is due 10 days after the closing. HomeLight charges a 30% referral fee on properties above $4 million and above.

This agent matching company is presumed to mint money by offering other complimentary services such as:

HomeLight Home Loans

HomeLight Elite - a tech platform for real estate agents

HomeLight Trade-in - helps you buy a new home before selling the current one

HomeLight Simple Sale - a platform where you can get cash offers from local property investors

🎯 Key Takeaways

Though HomeLight acts as a mediator between customers and real estate agents, you really cannot trust the quality of agents

HomeLight is free of cost when it comes to matching the agents with your requirements. However, the agents will charge you a hefty commission of 5-6% on your closing cost

They offer other miscellaneous services which is presumed to be another source of income for them

Our two cents on working with agents: If you want an agent to assist you in the home selling or buying process, be ready to burn thousands of dollars as their commission

Homelight Reviews

Based on 240+HomeLight reviews on Google, this agent matching platform has a 4.8 rate. While on the Sitejabber site, HomeLight has an overall consumer rating of 4.71 stars from 171 client reviews. Although some customers give positive feedbacks, we still have to be cautious and alert to some drawbacks.

Apart from all the services mentioned above, HomeLight offers additional services that facilitate comparison by giving you information about each agent in its dashboard. This way, you will know whether the agent is the right fit for you or not.

2. When interviewing an agent, make sure you see who is willing to go an extra mile for you and give suggestions that are without any selfish intent. Also, distance here matters a lot. If that agent is from the same town as you, communicating face to face becomes relatively easy.

3. When you enter your details as a seller or a buyer on this agent matching website, they won't charge you anything. However, they will make sure to spam you with agents the algorithm wants you to work with. You practically are opening doors for spam calls and constant emails or messages from them. This HomeLight review says it all.

4. Speaking of the Simple Sale feature, HomeLight still has a lot of things to fix to give a seamless user experience. Click bait advertising only works in your favor when you deliver services which are genuinely useful. This HomeLight review has something similar to say.

5. HomeLight real estate could be a great option to explore agents but are they reliable and uncompromising on quality? HomeLight real estate reviews being truthful is one thing, and bribing the customers to write a good review about them is another thing. Look what this review has to say.

What Is HomeLight Simple Sale?

When writing HomeLight reviews, we would never miss throwing some light on a feature they take a lot of pride in - Simple Sale.

HomeLight Simple Sale connects buyers and sellers with local property investors and home flippers who deal only in cash. The bids are taken from its investors and the relevant deals are then presented to you within 48 hours of signing up.

You do not have to accept the bid immediately. But if you do, the closing process fastens up since cash deals can close in as less as two weeks. Simple Sale works well in your favor if you are:

Selling a distressed property

Facing certain personal circumstances which has caused financial emergency and you need fast cash

Relocating to another state and you need to sell your home faster than usual

If you want to sell your home through Simple Sale, HomeLight will ask you not to list your home on the regular seller's portal.

Best HomeLight Alternatives In 2022

We know if you are reading this blog, you are already considering working with a real estate agent. However, if you would like to explore an option that helps you save thousands of dollars in exchange of a small flat fee, here are some options you can explore:

Houzeo

One of America's leading real estate websites, Houzeo offers the For Sale By Owner option by charging you a nominal fee. Starting from $199, there are several packages depending on your requirements.

By opting for FSBO as a home selling option, you will have more power over your listing, you will not be dependent on your agent to update or amend every littlest of things, and is also friendly for first time home buyers and sellers. Covering major states of America, Houzeo also lists your property on several other major MLSs across the country which has an intent-based viewership of millions of users every month. Higher the eyeballs on your listing, the chances of your property to sell are faster.

One of the best things about Houzeo is we understand your personal space and do not intrude in unnecessary spamming. Neither do we share your details to any of the local listing agents for you to get untimely calls inquiring about your property.

Introducing the Houzeo Mobile App!
Start Your FREE Listing NOW!
UpNest

Another agent matching website, UpNest likes to call itself a "real estate agent marketplace" where the agents aggressively compete for your business using this platform. Since there is a higher competition for your property, these agents have incentivized their proposals to lower rates to make it more attractive. Not necessarily their customer service would be significantly great.

Unlike some other brands, the saving potential here isn't that high.

Ideal Agent

Another agent matching website, UpNest likes to call itself a "real estate agent marketplace" where the agents aggressively compete for your business using this platform. Since there is a higher competition for your property, these agents have incentivized their proposals to lower rates to make it more attractive. Not necessarily their customer service would be significantly great.

Having said this, Ideal Agent only offers you one ideal agent match. So if you are someone who likes to interview and compare several agents and then choose the best, this one may not be the best option for you.

The Final Word On HomeLight Reviews

HomeLight reviews has been one of the most interesting reviews we have worked on. There are genuine advantages if you are considering working with a real estate agent. However, it comes with certain drawbacks too. You may end up spending a lot more than saving and the quality of service would still be questionable.

If you are open to the idea of selling your house For Sale By Owner, Houzeo is your best option. The main goal of this real estate website is to ease out the listing and selling process and make the transaction transparent and seamless. Listing houses as FSBO has never been simpler. This video tutorial will guide you in depth through the process.

Buying or selling a house is one of the major financial decisions you would be making. You may as well compare a couple of websites and companies before making a final call. Research is the key ingredient to finding the best option that's financially sound and safe.

Frequently Asked Questions About HomeLight Reviews

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HomeLight Reviews: The Truth You NEED To Know - Houzeo Blog

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HomeLight is a real estate website that offers multiple services to home buyers, home sellers, and real estate agents. The core of this website is connecting home sellers and buyers with agents based out of their area. This company is known to go as local as it can.