Wonder

Realtor Automation

Delivered December 12th, 2019. Contributors: Gloria M., Julie G., Stan R., Evan P., George K., Hrisiraj B., Fiona C., Hillary O. and

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Realtor Automation: Insights

Some insights into the automation of the real estate industry include accurate and faster property valuations, improved responsiveness and reliability, improved client satisfaction and new inexpensive ways of buying and selling homes.
Accurate And Faster Property Valuations
Automation of the real estate industry leads to improved accuracy and efficiency in the determination of property value.
The real estate industry automation eliminates human error and provides more accurate information about the properties.
Also, automation in the real estate industry improves the simplicity of gathering and organizing the required information through AI-powered systems of appraisal for the property.
Real estate automation helps companies to remain compliant with available regulations and complete all the necessary steps faster than when there is no automation.
Improved Responsiveness and Reliability
The use of chat bots to offer support to real estate clients improves responsiveness and reliability of the various online real estate platforms.
Chat bots can maintain a 24/7 availability to answer clients' questions and provide any needed information.
Moreover, online platforms in the real estate industry help clients to gather potential properties based on their specific criteria.
The criteria may include proximity to quality schools and shopping malls and other landmarks.
Automation ensures improved reliability as chat bots can offer information on any process as required by clients, including questions on mortgage loans and making bids.
Also, the fact that automation provides updates and feedback in real-time to the clients improves responsiveness and keeps the process in progress even in the absence of real estate agents.
Moreover, given specific client criteria, automation can offer relevant recommendations of property to clients.
Inexpensive Process of Buying and Selling Homes
Sellers can list their properties on online platforms such as www.redfin.com, and sellers access these properties and can pay for them via online transactions.
The process of buying and selling homes in the real estate industry using face to face agents is quite expensive as several costs are incurred.
Automation in the real estate industry leads to increased efficiency due to automated transactions, which allows buyers and sellers to transact on their desired property.
Improved Client Satisfaction
Real estate automation embraces virtual tours of the property in which clients show interest.
Therefore, online platforms provide all the necessary assistance to ensure that clients pay for property that satisfies their needs to avoid any future dissatisfaction.
Thus, real estate automation ensures the achievement of clients' satisfaction.
The automation in the real estate industry allows for clients to read through other people's experiences and make decisions on the houses that they buy.
Research Strategy
To identify insights into the automation of the real estate industry, we sought to understand the meaning of automation in the real estate industry. Further, we searched through trusted sites and available opinions and reviews from industry experts to identify the insights into the automation of the real estate industry. We came across experts' opinions on the subject as well as information on trusted websites that pointed out the insights into the real estate automation industry.

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Realtor Automation: Pros

The automation of the real estate industry is growing in popularity among buyers/sellers and brokers/agencies with benefits in reduced costs of real estate processes, extensively expanded exposure and market networks, and higher turnaround times with increased data efficiency and financing options.
Reduce or Eliminate Costs to Buyers/SellersRemoving in-person agents from real estate processes means seriously reducing or even eliminating commission fees; buyers and sellers can pick and choose which level of representation they need.    
Through automated digital means, buyers enjoy a large reduction in commission fees, a $3,500 average refund via Redfin, which has proven to be a huge attraction.  
Sellers also see large cost savings, reducing standard commission rates to as low as 1%.
Expand Client BaseBrokers and agencies can widen their reach and form new client relationships through online mediums which they wouldn't be able to do so extensively through traditional means.   
Online shopping continues to increase, especially amongst millennials: In 2019, 60% of their purchases were made online.  This indicates a further likely increase in use and dependence on digital means of shopping and purchasing as newer generations mature, including in real estate, heavily increasing reliance on automated real estate services.
Social media usage continues to surge: 44% of all buyers browsed for properties online, while 76% of all buyers found their home via mobile applications. This indicates an increasing majority of home buyers that use automated electronic means for their real estate inquiries.
Through the use of digital property viewing options and even virtual reality stagings, potential buyers can view properties without a physical real estate agent present and consider estate options on a much wider scale, including homes and commercial spaces outside of their normal travel range.
Increase Efficiency and Improve Turnaround TimeAlgorithms make it easier to determine optimal price points for properties across a wide range of markets.
 Buying and selling strategies are also improved and expanded by real estate based algorithms.  
"Instant Offers" make it possible for quicker buying and selling turnaround times, including more streamlined access to funds.
With virtual property viewing options, real estate customers can assess a much larger amount of available properties in far less time, without appointments, increasing their ability to narrow their options of viable properties and more efficiently seek actionable purchases.

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Realtor Automation: Cons

There are several cons to the automation of the real estate industry. Some of the main ones include inaccurate information, small market reach, and a lack of expertise.
Inaccurate InformationThe estimates provided on automated real estate websites should not be trusted and relied upon. The listing status, previous sale prices, and other pieces of information provided are only estimates.
Home price estimates are evaluated by an algorithm and not by an actual evaluation. This leads to the estimates rarely being accurate.
Small Market ReachThe majority of the market still relies on traditional real estate agents for assistance in buying a home. Only 20% of buyers use automated services such as Zillow.
With Zillow specifically, for sale by owner homes are omitted from the default search results, thus further limiting the reach of the 20% mentioned above.
Clever Real Estate explains a further detriment to market reach is that some of these automated, multi-listing services are not able operate in all markets. This yet again decreases the market of buyers who will see a home.
Lack of ExpertiseWebsites that allow the automation of the real estate industry are also allowing real estate agents to place advertisements on their web pages. These agents may target any zip code they wish, whether or not they have the expertise in that particular neighborhood.
One source states that Zillow makes 80% of their revenue "by selling consumer contact information to real estate agents in the form of buyer and seller leads". Couple this with fact that multi-listing sales platforms like Zillow often attract newer and more inexperienced agents and it leads to real estate agents with less expertise offering to sell a home.
 Professional services such as photography, negotiation, and personalization for the sale are all foregone by the automation of the real estate industry.

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Realtor Automation: Buyer Demographics

The typical home buyer is 99 percent likely to use the internet at some point in weighing residential real estate options, however, all but 11 percent will use an agent to actually make the purchase. Regrettably, there is not enough information available from publicly accessible sources to resolve a clear picture of the demographics of online home buyers.

Helpful InsightsThe typical American home buyer is a white, married millennial or young Gen-Xer without a 4-year college degree and with a household income of around $87,500.
The typical global home buyer is 46 years old, also married and equally educated, but with a $91,600 median household income.
There is a 95 percent chance that any given home buyer used the internet at some point in considering their purchase.
This jumps to 99 percent if the buyer is a millennial.
However, there is an 89 percent chance that any given home buyer used a real estate agent to complete the residential purchase, as opposed to making the final purchase purely online or in-person without an intermediary.

Research StrategyUnfortunately, exhaustive research failed to reveal a clear picture of the demographics of online home buyers, nor enough information to allow your research team to generate a high-confidence estimate of that demographic data.

Research began through leading online residential real estate marketplaces, such as Emoov, Purple Bricks, Redfin, and Auction.com. We had hoped that by exploring these companies' websites, press releases, financial disclosures, and other public-facing information centers, we might gain access to compiled demographic data on their customers. Unfortunately, none of these companies have released detailed customer demographics into the public domain.

The next step in research included market research sources, such as IBISWorld, Markets and Markets, and Market Research, among others. While these firms focus on market wide data and analysis, their reports often contain demographic data as a part of that analysis. Few of these sources offered fragmentary demographic data of online real estate customers, and none broke out data with enough detail to isolate or estimate the online home buyers' data.

Our third strategy was the most successful. We turned to both industry press and business media sources, such as Business Insiders and Forbes and their peers, as well as real estate and online market organizations' websites, such as Properties Online and Realtor.com. This avenue of research unveiled a number of reports breaking out data on home buyers, home sellers, realtors, and their associated demographics. We had hoped to find among these reports an isolated profile of online buyers, but the data lacked the granularity to resolve a picture of online home buyers separate from general home buyers.

In addition, a variety of ways were attempted in recombining the data to conclude some estimate of the demographics specific to online home buyers from the data. We tried working backward from the estimate 11 percent of home buyers that do not use an agent and the various generational numbers on the use of the internet in home buying to form a new profile, however, nothing that emerged from this strategy could be described as a high-confidence estimate. Other than concluding that online home buyers will likely skew younger than average and spend more time looking at home options, both online and in-person, we were unable to resolve a specific profile.

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Realtor Automation: Seller Demographics

Based on the data from the 2018 National Association of Realtors (NAR) report, sellers who sell their homes online on sites such as Redfin are White/Caucasian married couples or females with a median age of 59 years, a median income of about $85,000, and located in suburbs or small towns in the Midwest. 
AgeThe median age of online real estate sellers in the United States was 59 years in 2018. This is the oldest age group among all home sellers in the U.S. in 2018 whose median age was 55 years. 
IncomeThe median income of online real estate sellers in the United States was $85,000 in 2018. The median income for all home sellers in the U.S. in 2018 was $98,800.
Marital StatusIn 2018, married couple accounted for 70% of online home sellers in the U.S. Overall, 71% of all home sellers were married couples. 
GenderAt 22%, single females made up the second largest demographic to purchase homes online in 2018. This was much higher than single males at 4%. Combined with the ones who are married, sellers who sold their homes online were predominantly female in 2018. 
LocationIn 2018, online real estate (home) sellers mostly sold homes located in suburbs (36%) and small towns (29%). They were also most likely to be located in the Midwest and least likely to be located in the West. 
RaceThe population of real estate sellers who sold houses in the Midwest was predominantly White/Caucasian at 95%. About 91% of all U.S.-based home sellers in 2018 identified as White/Caucasian. Almost all (99%) identified English as their primary language at home. 
RESEARCH STRATEGYTo provide a demographic analysis of online real estate (home) sellers, the research team searched through real estate magazines, financial and mainstream media resources, and marketing resources for any readily-available information on the subject. From our preliminary research, we realized that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) seemed to be the main or most trusted source of real estate data in the United States. This was because most authoritative sources ranging from real estate-focused publications such as Realtor Magazine to leading financial magazines include Forbes relied on data from its annual research. Therefore, the research team explored the latest NAR reports and we managed to provide the required information based on the available data. Kindly note, FSBO is an acronym for 'for-sale-by-owner.' Below is an explanation of the logic used. 

The 2018 NAR report grouped home sellers into four categories: FSBOs who knew their buyers (4%), FSBOs who did not know their buyers (3%), sellers who used agents (91%), and others (2%). Logically, the FSBOs who did not know their buyers before the transaction were the ones that we were interested in because they would require alternative marketing strategies to sell their homes. Consequently, this demographic was the most reliant on third-party aggregators such as Redfin (40%), social networking sites (23%), online classifieds (10%), for-sale-by-owner sites (8%), and multiple listing service (MLS) sites (7%). Simply put, we established that the 3% of home sellers in FSBO sellers who did not know the buyers before the transaction are the ones who sold their homes online on sites such as Redfin. We have therefore provided an analysis of this demographic, as provided by the NAR report.

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Realtor Automation: Selling Trends

Some major trends visible in the online home selling segment are quick selling to online real estate companies, selling with the help of online / hybrid agents and the increasing demand for technology by home sellers. The detailed description is given below.
Trend #1 Quick Sell Home Online to Real Estate CompaniesAn increasing number of home-owners in the US and UK are selling their homes online  to real estate companies like Opendoor, Redfin and Zillow for quick cash.
Once the seller fills up the online form with all the details, the company sends a representative for walkthrough before handing over a confirmed offer. Usually, the closing date is from a week to 3 months from the day of signing.
However, there is a catch for the homeowners, as the company will charge a fee which can be anything between 6% to 25% of the asking price of the property.
Trend #2 Sell Homes Through Purely Online Agents or Hybrid AgentsHome owners are also taking the services of cheap online agents who act as listing services as well as provide other types of services including professional photos, floor plans etc. They usually charge a cheap flat fee, anywhere between $100 to $2500 and are much cheaper than the percentage-based commissions charged by the high street agents.
Some home-owners are taking the help of hybrid online agents, who are similar to other online agents, but bring with them local expertise and can also provide other services provided by traditional agents like viewing etc. They still come much cheaper than high street agents and usually charge between £800 and £2,500, depending on the level of services required.
Trend #3 Rising Demand of Advanced Technology According to research, the real estate sector in general is expected to continue adopting new technologies in the coming years and by extension, online home sellers will be using more and more advanced technologies while selling their homes through such online platforms. The number of startups and hi-tech companies servicing this industry will be on the rise, which will translate into increasing number of options for sellers to market and sell their homes.
The online referral service Clever has identified augmented reality, virtual reality, drones, and virtual staging as four new technologies gaining popularity with online home sellers as they try to market their homes:
       a) Augmented Reality: Sellers are beginning to use augmented reality so that all details related to the home     they are selling are easily available to the prospective buyer.
       b) Virtual Reality: Sellers are now uploading 3D virtual tours of their homes to online platforms, where prospective buyers can view it without physically undertaking home walkthroughs.
       c) Drones: Sellers are using drones to create photos and videos of property and its neighborhood from above so that prospective buyers can have a feel of not only the property but the neighborhood where it is located.
       d) Virtual Staging: Online platforms help sellers of vacant homes to fill vacant spaces inside the home with images of furniture, rugs, fixtures etc to make the buyers see the homes in a way that speak to them.
Sellers are increasingly using housing trends and forecasts made available by online platforms through the use of artificial intelligence, big data and machine learning to take data-driven decisions rather than simply reacting to situations on gut feelings.
Research MethodologyTo determine the trends driving the online home selling market, we browsed through numerous marketing reports, press publications, expert blogs, and news articles related to the inquiry to gather any insight about the current trends. Clear data about exact behavior of online home sellers are not available, particularly for certain parts of the technology sections. However, by analyzing demands from online buyers and also the different tools currently being offered by the online platforms to the buyers; we made a reasonable extrapolation that the same technologies would also have to be used by sellers, at least from a data entry perspective.

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Realtor Automation: Buying Trends

Some trends in buying homes online via platforms include appealing presentations, e-sign documents, and social media platforms usage. More information related to the aforementioned trends is provided below.

Appealing PresentationsAn online presentation is an important aspect of the customers' purchase decisions and a current trend according to many real estate experts. With an effective online presence, potential customers may experience the surrounding of the home without visiting the property. 
 Jeff LaGrange, the Vice President of the RE/MAX Northern Illinois Region, stated that online shoppers tend to be more detailed in viewing properties. Thus, it is important to use an alluring series of photos to present a home to attract customers. 
According to Mike Cluck, a RE/MAX broker, captivating photos of homes will attract the most showings and fastest sales. To capture the feel of a home's surrounding effectively, RE/MAX experts advise using a drone. Experts also agree that minimizing clutter, emphasizing cleanliness, and doing a bit of staging may create effective marketable photos of properties.
Other than presenting still-photos or videos, a virtual tour is considered the trend in the real estate industry. Customers may "navigate on their own and move from one room to another, go to all the floors and check out every detail of the house". Additionally, a real estate operator also may attach an information point on any product in the house for a customer to view.
By including a virtual tour as an aspect in the real estate platforms, customers may find the company to be more reliable due to the genuine interest in the properties that the company showcases.
Zillow, a real estate company, has a tool that allows its agents to shoot a virtual tour.
E-Sign Documents Real estate transactions have been considered time-consuming, confusing, and complicated due to the amount of paperwork that a customer and real estate operator must sign. However, the long and tedious process is revolutionized by the emerging trend of the e-sign document.
E-sign document is short for electronic signature document that enables real estate clients to sign a contract or other document with a digital signature using a desktop, web, or smartphone application. This innovative system has been increasingly popular to use in the real estate industry due to its convenience.
A couple of notable electronic signature software include DocuSign, eversign, PandaDoc, SignNow, and SignEasy.
Zillow, a modern real estate platform, acquired Dotloop to innovate the real estate transaction process by using e-sign documents.
Social Media UsageAs of 2017, approximately 99% of Millennials prefer to search online when buying a home. Additionally, around 80% of Millennials purchased a home on a mobile device in 2018.
Due to the convenience of the internet, Millennials can research and understand the real estate market before they go through with the buying process. 
 Social media platforms are particularly important for real estate operators to market the home they sell. People, especially Millennials, tend to heavily rely on online reviews and social media to make purchasing decisions. For instance, about 65% of home shoppers agree that they’re
 influenced by online friends' posts about home buying on social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
According to Nicky & Karen, online presentation is a critical aspect of the success of selling a home. For instance, showcasing homes on Instagram may increase the interest of Millennials.
Based on the research conducted by Facebook, some real estate digital marketing best practices include creating video ads, stories, slideshow, instant experiences, and carousel.
To boost the market and attract customers, real estate operators are advised to create personalized content. For instance, around 51% of Americans who use digital devices are more likely to purchase an item after viewing personalized content.
Redfin, a modern real estate company that offers a mobile app for its customers, still uses various social media platforms to market its services and increase brand awareness. The social media platforms that this company uses are Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Research StrategyTo determine the trends in buying homes online via platforms, our research team browsed through numerous expert blogs, marketing reports, press publications, and news articles related to the inquiry to gather any insight about the current trends. We also reviewed real estate experts' opinions regarding the trends in a home purchase. Our research team specifically curated these trends based on the latest and most updated topics that experts and real estate professionals widely discussed. 

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Realtor Automation: Part 1

Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin, and Trulia are some of the top software and online platforms that allow users to avoid the traditional Realtor face-to-face interaction in buying or selling a house. The requested information on them has been entered into rows 2 to 5 of the attached spreadsheet.  
Zillow Founded in 2006, Zillow is used for buying, selling, and renting homes. The platform can also be used to find mortgage lenders.
It is known as one of the largest real estate websites.   
It offers tools such as Zestimate that allow home sellers to price their home correctly. 
The company reported a 2019 revenue of $2.16 billion. 
Realtor.comRealtor.com is an online real estate platform with more than 18 million unique visitors monthly. 
It allows people to sell and buy homes without needing a traditional face-to-face Realtor interaction. 
The fact that Realtor.com is licensed from the National Association of REALTORS makes it trustworthy. 
Realtor.com overs access to over 100 million properties in the US.
Its parent company, News Corp, reported a 2018 revenue of $2.46 billion. The company made $131 million from Realtor.com alone. 
RedfinRedfin helps people sell their home for a listing fee that is as low as 1%.  
The platform also helps users search for a new home and offers the option to connect with top-rated agents, as necessary. 
Its 2018 revenue was $487 million.
TruliaTrulia is a real estate and rental search platform that offers features like mortgage rate calculation. 
The platform also provides neighborhood data on the homes it has for sale. 
It has an annual revenue of over $250 million.  
RESEARCH STRATEGYTo gather four of the top software and online platforms that allow users to avoid the traditional Realtor face-to-face interaction in buying or selling a house, we corroborated three to four lists of the best real estate websites. We leveraged lists offered by trusted and credible sites like Hubspot. We selected the four companies that appeared in at least two of these lists. We also ensured that these companies allow people to directly buy and sell their homes online. 

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Realtor Automation: Competitive Landscape Part 1

Zillow has more than 4,000 employees, while RedFin has almost 3,000 employees, Trulia has over 1,000, and Realtor.com has 2,000 employees. The requested data on these companies has been entered into rows 2 to 5 of the attached spreadsheet.  
ZillowHeadquartered in Seattle, Washington, Zillow is an online real estate marketplace used for buying, selling, and renting homes.  
The fact that it is free to use sets it apart from competitors. Zillow also has a mobile app. Its database has more than 100 million homes for sale and rent in the US. 
The company has almost 4,500 full time employees. 
RedfinRedfin was founded in 2004. It is a real estate platform that allows people to sell their homes for a listing fee that is as low as 1%. 
Based in Seattle, Washington, the company has more than 80,000 customers to date and has saved them over $400 million.  
Redfin had 2,993 employees as of December 2018. 
Trulia Founded in 2005, Trulia is a real estate and rental search platform that offers features like mortgage rate calculation. 

In 2015, Zillow acquired the company for $3.5 billion. Trulia is currently headquartered in San Francisco, California. 
According to Statista, it was the second most popular real estate website as of January 2019. The platform sees 23 million unique visits monthly. 
Its competitive advantage is that it has a neighborhood map that offers insight into what it is like to live in a home around that neighborhood. 
The company has over 1,000 employees. 
Realtor.com Founded in 1995, Realtor.com allows people to sell and buy homes without needing a traditional face-to-face Realtor interaction. 
According to Statista, it was the fourth most popular real estate website in the US as of January 2019. 
Currently, it has about 2,000 employees. 

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Realtor Automation: Part 2

HomeFinder, ForSaleByOwner, RE/MAX, and MLS are some of the top software and online platforms that allow users to avoid the traditional Realtor face-to-face interaction in buying or selling a house. The requested information on them can be found in rows 6 to 9 of the attached spreadsheet.  
HomeFinder
 Founded in 1999, HomeFinder is a real estate listing service that helps home buyers find homes and sellers list their homes for sale.
The company also allows users to search for single family homes and apartments for rent. 
Compared to competitors who cater to the US alone, HomeFinder operates globally.  
ForSaleByOwner ForSaleByOwner helps people find homes for sale and sell their own home. 
The company was founded in 1999. Its mission is to "empower sellers and buyers with all the resources they need to sell or buy properties directly." 
RE/MAX
 Established in 1973, RE/MAX is a leading global real estate company that helps people buy and sell their homes. 
RE/MAX was ranked by Statista as the ninth most popular real estate website in the US based on monthly visits. 
Although the company offers access to real estate agents, transactions can be done online alone, if necessary. 
MLSMLS is a free multiple listing service that allows users to find new, resale, and foreclosed homes for sale. 
The platform also allows people to see new construction, commercial property, and land.  
MLS.com offers real estate news and classes. This gives the company an upper hand.
RESEARCH STRATEGY
To gather four additional top software and online platforms that allow users to avoid the traditional Realtor face-to-face interaction in buying or selling a house, we corroborated three to four lists of the best real estate websites. We leveraged lists offered by trusted and credible sites like Hubspot. We selected the four companies that appeared in at least two of these lists. We also ensured that these companies allow people to directly buy and sell their homes online. 

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Realtor Automation: Part 3

Coldwell Banker, Homesnap, Homes.com, and Movoto are additional online platforms that allow users to avoid the traditional Realtor face-to-face interaction in buying or selling a house. These companies have been entered into rows 10 to 13 of the attached spreadsheet. 
Coldwell Banker Coldwell Banker offers a digital platform that allows people to search for homes in almost any neighborhood. 
It also offers the ability to sell homes and find agents. 
Coldwell Banker offers brokerage services as well. It is headquartered in Madison, New Jersey.  
Although established in 1906, its digital platform was introduced in 2014.  
Homesnap Established in 2008, Homesnap is an online platform that offers real estate services for buyers, sellers, and agents. 
The company is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.  
The fact that it has a mobile app that works on condos, unlimited homes, and apartments sets it apart from competitors. 
Homes.com Launched in 1993, Homes.com offers a wide range of real estate services, including brand advertising, marketing solutions, and listing exposure. 
The company is headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia.  
The company's portal allows users to scour homes for sale, rent, and rental properties in general.  
MovotoMovoto was established in 2005 with a mission to make real estate easy. 
It is a full-service real estate brokerage that offers agents and brokers marketing support and an unmatched technology.  
In addition, Movoto offers a comprehensive search platform for home buyers and sellers. 
It claims it is the "second-largest, 50-state fully licensed online real estate brokerage in the US." Movoto has more than 350,000 daily visitors. 
RESEARCH STRATEGY
To gather four additional top software and online platforms that allow users to avoid the traditional Realtor face-to-face interaction in buying or selling a house, we corroborated three to four lists of the best real estate websites. We leveraged lists offered by trusted and credible sites like Hubspot. We selected the four companies that appeared in at least two of these lists. We also ensured that these companies allow people to directly buy and sell their homes online. 

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Realtor Automation: Competitive Landscape Part 2

RE/MAX has more than 3,500 employees, while HomeFinder has just 75 employees, and both ForSaleByOwner and MLS.com have a little over ten employees. The requested information on them can be found in rows 6 to 9 of the attached spreadsheet.  
RE/MAXRE/MAX has 3,790 employees in the US alone. It has 8,229 employees worldwide.
RE/MAX was ranked by Statista as the ninth most popular real estate website in the US based on monthly visits. 
Its revenue was $212.6 million in 2018. 
HomeFinderHomeFinder has about 76 employees.  
It is a privately held company that does not offer its financial data to the public. The company's estimated revenue is $20 million.  
Most reviews about HomeFinder have to do with the company's impressive website layout. 
There were some reviews about inconsistent listings that seem fake. 
ForSaleByOwner.comForSaleByOwner claims it is America's "leading “by owner” real estate website, 5x the size of its closest FSBO competitor." 
It has over 10 employees and an estimated revenue of $9.5 million. The company was bought out by Tribute Company in 2006.
ForSaleByOwner is rated 4.9 out of 5 based on 273 reviews on Trust Pilot. 
Most reviews mention that the website is easy to use. There are also comments about the customer service team being helpful. 
MLS.comMLS has more than ten employees. It is a privately held company that does not offer its financial data to the public. However, it has an estimated revenue of $14.3 million. 
Founded in 2004, MLS is a free multiple listing service that allows users to find new, resale, and foreclosed homes for sale. 
The company is headquartered in Los Alamos, California.  

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Realtor Automation: Competitive Landscape Part 3

Coldwell Banker has more than 5,000 employees, while Homes.com and Homesnap have less than 350 employees. The requested data on these companies can be found in rows 10 to 14 of the spreadsheet.  
Coldwell BankerColdwell Banker has 5,200 employees worldwide. 
Coldwell Banker's parent company, Realogy, had a 2018 revenue of $6.1 billion. It is unclear what percentage of this came from Coldwell Banker alone. 
Coldwell Banker is rated 1.7 out of 5 based on 117 reviews on Trust Pilot. 
Homesnap In 2019, Homesnap was named one of the fastest growing company in the US. 
Within the past three years, the company has grown by over 6,000% and now has a revenue of $17.5 million. The company has 85 employees.  
Homesnap mainly operates through mobile app. It has a 4.1 out of 5 rating based on over 4,500 reviews on Google Play. On Apple Store, it has a 4.8 out of 5 rating based on more than 32,000 reviews. 
Homes.comHomes.com is a privately-owned company that does not offer its financial data to the public. However, its estimated revenue is $19.6 million. 
It has over 300 employees. 
Homes.com is rated 2.4 out of 5 based on 188 reviews on Best Company. 
MovotoMovoto was on the 2019 Inc. 5000 list due its three year growth of 95%. 
The company had a 2018 revenue of $17.4 million and currently has 280 employees. 
Movoto is headquartered in San Mateo, California. On Trustpilot, Movoto is rated 3.1 out of 5 based on 157 reviews.
FizberFizber defines itself as a "cutting edge real estate website that is designed to help home sellers’ market and sell their homes themselves." 
It also offers users the ability to buy homes directly from home-owners/sellers. 
Although a private company, Fizber has an estimated revenue of $10.3 million. 
The company has around 29 employees. 

Sources

From Part 01

The Automated Realtor: AI in the Real Estate Industry

experfy.com

Publication Year: 2018

Quotes

"If you've searched for an apartment or home, you know the search process doesn't abide by usual waking hours in many cases. Between touring neighborhoods and fretting about the quality of the local schools well into the night, it's clear real estate agents, no matter how attentive, aren't available around-the-clock. Even if they were, they might not have instant recall for some of the issues that might be on a client's mind. "

What’s The Future Of Real Estate? 18 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily

disruptordaily.com

Publication Year: 2019

Quotes

"Currently, selling homes is very expensive. This expense is driving a trend toward more automation for increased efficiencies. The future of real estate is all about transaction automation to enable buyers and sellers to seamlessly transact on their desired home purchase using one platform."

How Redfin Works: Business Models and Revenue Streams

insights.daffodilsw.com

Publication Year: 2019

Quotes

"Redfin connects both buyers and sellers with local agents, who provide listing recommendations based on the needs and local market. The agents prepare a comparative market analysis (CMA) for properties in the neighborhood area. Buyers can schedule a meeting with the agents to take a tour of the properties that fit their requirements. "

Real Estate Platform Brings Automation to a New Industry - Robotics Business Review

roboticsbusinessreview.com

Publication Year: 2018

Quotes

"First, when a new lead comes into the system, we need to enrich and validate that data so that it’s accurate,” he explained. “It’s scored by quality and priority, which never existed in the $80 billion industry, from a commission perspective, before."

Real estate automation – Why and how?

customerthink.com

Publication Year: 2018

Quotes

"Automation will significantly reduce time on processes and release resources to the required areas and keep you ahead of the market and your competitors."

From Part 02

Another real estate evolution: New Redfin program will enable home purchases with no agent

marketwatch.com

Publication Year: 2019

Why Automation In Real Estate Is A Blessing, Not A Curse

forbes.com

Publication Year: 2018

A new era for home-buying: How Zillow, Redfin and their rivals plan to revolutionize real estate, again

geekwire.com

Publication Year: 2019

From Part 03

StreetWise Property Investing | Real Estate Online: the Pros and Cons of Zillow, Trulia, and the MLS

streetwisepropertyinvesting.com

Publication Year: 2013

3 Biggest Pros & Cons of the Zillow Make Me Move Tool

homebay.com

Publication Year: 2019

The Pros & Cons of Using Zillow

piersonrealestate.com

Publication Year: 2016

The Pros and Cons of Discount Real Estate Brokerages - Transparent Mortgage

tspmortgage.com

Publication Year: 2018

Zillow Offers: Reviews, How It Works, Pros & Cons | Clever Real Estate

listwithclever.com

Publication Year: 2019

From Part 04

The Typical American Home Buyer - Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report 2017

zillow.com

Publication Year: 2018

Realtor.com Presentation

nar.realtor

Publication Year: 2019

Highlights From the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers

nar.realtor

Publication Year: 2018

Properties Online Trends Report

propertiesonline.com

Publication Year: 2019

2019-home-buyers-and-sellers-generational-trends-report-08-16-2019.pdf

docs.google.com

Publication Year: 2019

emoov | Online Estate Agents | Move with confidence

emoov.co.uk

Publication Year: 2019

No. 1 at selling houses, for two years running

purplebricks.co.uk

Publication Year: 2019

Auction.com

auction.com

Publication Year: 2019

Redfin

redfin.com

Publication Year: 2019

From Part 05

2018 PROFILE OF HOME BUYERS AND SELLERS

nationalmortgageprofessional.com

Publication Year: 2019

From Part 06

9 New Real Estate Trends & Forecasts for 2020 and Beyond - Financesonline.com

financesonline.com

Publication Year: 2019

Quotes

"The real estate sector is no stranger to technology. The industry is expected to continue adopting new tech in the coming years. Technologies that are expected to find applications in the sector include smart home tech, online home selling platforms, and apps. "
"An uptick in the number of startups and high-technology companies servicing the sector is also on the horizon, with many paying close attention to making transactions faster."

4 Cool Real Estate Technology Trends That Help Sell Homes | Clever Real Estate

listwithclever.com

Quotes

"Want to know the latest tech trends in real estate? The top four are augmented reality, virtual reality, drones, and virtual staging. Find out how each can help you sell your home."
"1. Augmented Reality With augmented reality, you can find out about a property by pointing your phone's camera at the house. You can see details about the house such as the listing or rental price. It also provides current valuation estimates and the last sold price data. Using augmented reality you will be able to find out how many bedrooms and baths the house has as well. Upcoming features in virtual tours of properties will include augmented reality as well. Agents will be able to add notes and highlight key features of a property."
"2. Virtual Reality Once only visible using photos or 360 videos, companies are now able to offer clients a 3D virtual tour. You can use your phone, tablet, computer or a virtual reality headset to view a home in a matter of minutes."
"3. Drones With the use of a drone, a seller can create on-demand real estate photos, including videos of a property. It's becoming increasingly common to see video footage of a property from above."
"4. Virtual Staging Virtual staging can take the blank slate of a vacant home and fill it with furniture and fixtures. Virtual reality does this by using the digital photos of the property."

Don’t Miss these 5 Real Estate Tech Trends in 2018

inc.com

Publication Year: 2018

Quotes

"3. Big data, AI and machine learning These three technologies are at their most effective when they work together because AI can be used to process the data through the process of machine learning, identifying new patterns that we might not have seen before. Just imagine how powerful it would be to have advance notice of a trend that will affect house prices such as if a large number of college graduates are suddenly flooding into the area."