8 unavoidable truths about instant offer programs

We’re going to start off by apologizing. We’re sorry to the real estate agents, brokers and office managers we’ve angered already with the first two parts of this series. And we’re sorry to those of you who are just plain scared out of your minds by all this.

We’re sorry.

Now, get over it. Why? Because today we have some harsh facts about the realities of what is going to take place as instant offer programs move from larger test cities to your own backyard.

For those Game of Thrones fans out there: Winter isn’t coming — it’s here.

Set aside your ego for a few minutes, and remember that the largest fortunes have been made during the greatest times of change. Industrial revolution, anyone? And many more revolutions since then.

Instant offers can be your real estate revolution if you’ll accept it and embrace these eight points:

1. iBuyer companies will flourish whether the market is up or down.
2. iBuyer companies will seize market share. Need proof? In Arizona, one brokerage is closing on 100 homes per month with the intention of putting those homes for sale next year. Do the math, and then pray that isn’t in your immediate marketplace.
3. iBuyer companies will own the buyer leads.
4. Zillow will tightly align itself with all major iBuyer companies. And you thought Zillow selling leads was the problem? Wait until it gets into the referral business!
5. iBuyer companies won’t ‘need’ the MLS. Stop thinking of the MLS as some kind of “golden calf.” Zillow won that battle a long time ago.
6. The fastest growing segment in all this is institutional investors and the industry is not ‘getting it.’ Listen to the podcast as we break this one down and pull back the curtain!
7. The iBuyer movement is not the same as “we buy ugly houses.”  This is way bigger, and once they control the listing side, they will control the market.
8. Say goodbye to buyer-agent co-ops. They want buyers going direct! Here’s one more reason buyer’s agents are a dying breed.

You must be feeling like you’re under attack. You must see this for what it is; an all-out attack on how business is done. These programs won’t just affect the listing side either.

Our strong belief is that in the next 12 months, if you do not have your own instant offers program, you will lose out to them and other agents who do.

Given what you now know, can you see how not offering an instant offer/iBuyer program is akin to not putting your listings online?

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, those who didn’t “believe in the internet” made themselves obsolete.

Brokers, wake up! Instant offers is a killer tool to recruit agents. What if any major brokerage decided to team up with an institutional investor to form their own instant offer program?

Every agent who worked there would be able to take listings via instant offer. Imagine if you had to compete with that, both in sales numbers and in recruiting?

Do it now, or you’ll be toast!

If you live in a market like we did where a shift in real estate trends (or any other trend for that matter) comes at a glacial pace, then instant offers may not be coming to your market for another couple of years, after it’s been rolled out in major markets.

It doesn’t matter. If you’re a smart, forward-thinking agent or broker, you need to get ahead of the market now.

Listen to our podcast today as we roll out the details of how to market your own instant offers/iBuyer program, and make sure to take action on the very specific task we ask you to do to ensure your success!

Stay tuned for the final installment of the series as we talk next about how to present your instant offer program and answer all the burning questions we know you have about the financing aspect.

Are you getting excited yet?