Real estate platform Nobul lets agents compete for buyers and sellers
Online real estate company Nobul Corporation is the first and only digital marketplace for real estate agents to compete for active buyers and sellers. Now, the Toronto-based platform is expanding to the United States and targeting millennials.
“Millennial first-time home buyers are our target demographic,” Nobul Corporation CEO and Founder Regan McGee tells Yahoo Finance’s YFi PM. “We currently do the vast majority of our transactions as buy transactions with first-time buyers. Just like many other disruptor technology platforms, first-time millennials are going to generally tell their parents about it.”
Nobel research shows 4 in 10 millennial homeowners debated using more than one agent when buying a home, but 75% hired the first agent they met. The company hopes to educate rookie buyers for the best deal.
Consumers create a profile and answer a few questions about what they are looking for. Nobul then allows users to view proposals from agents matched with them based on their selected preferences. Nobul says it sees about $5 million worth in transactions initiated monthly on its platform, which services Canada.
And now the company is expanding into the United States.
“We are currently live across Florida. Our next states after Florida are Georgia and Texas. We will be rolling out across all of the United States over the next couple of years.”
McGee says buyers have the upper hand in the real estate market, especially on a platform like his that enables users to review brokers.
“Our platform really gives the power to the consumer for the first time ever,” McGee explains. “The agents are competing to pay you to use them. You’re going to see their transaction history. You’re going to see reviews from people who have actually used them… When people buy and sell real estate, they want to do it the same way they do everything else in their lives, like traveling or getting an Uber.”
Meghan Fitzgerald is a producer at Yahoo Finance.
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