Kayla Horwat and David Bramante (Credit: BRE Investment, iStock)
A new company has entered the increasingly crowded iBuyer market promising quick and easy sales without charging sellers premiums.
Go iBuyer is a privately funded startup that launched this week out of Malibu, California, according to Inman. It was founded by Keller Williams agents David Bramante and Kayla Horwat — the same team behind My Home Agent, a lead generation company that works with voice technology including Amazon’s Alexa.
Go iBuyer looks to carve out a space in the market by focusing on duplex and multifamily properties that are vacant or owner-occupied. To date, the firm has raised $10 million from private investors for its offers.
There’s increasing competition in the iBuyer space around Los Angeles. Zillow expanded its program to Riverside in December. Redfin has operated its own program, Redfin Now, in Riverside since early 2018. Opendoor plans to launch in L.A. this year.
Go iBuyer will stand out, its founders claim, by using proprietary software to analyze a property’s profitability (targeted returns are at least 20 percent) and make offers with lesser discounts than competitors. The company will also not charge sellers transaction fees.
Bramante accused existing iBuyer programs of hurting agents and sellers, calling them “greedy investors.”
“They’re not only trying to get the property, but they’re trying to get rid of the commission and charge a fee on top of that. It’s a little corrupt,” he told Inman. “If you’re going to sell your house online, why would you have to pay a discount?” He added that “there’s so much money to be made that the Realtors’ commission doesn’t have to be squeezed, it can be protected.”
Go iBuyer will be linked to Bramante and Horwat’s My Home Agent service, which allows agents to “buy” coverage of a zip code to receive leads when someone searches for homes in that zip code using voice tech. That agent, who can be with any brokerage, will then automatically become the exclusive listing agent for Go iBuyer listings in their zip codes. [Inman] – Dennis Lynch
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