Whether you are looking to buy or sell a home, doing real estate transactions is a tough nut to crack. The event is expensive, stressful, and rare for most people.
You have a variety of options when it comes to buying or selling a home today as you do not just rely on the traditional real estate process anymore. Companies like Houzeo, Ideal Agent, and Upnest are a new wave of discount real estate companies that connect buyers and sellers with real estate agents.
As per Ideal Agent reviews, the company offers great savings on realtor commissions by offering pre-negotiated listing fees of 2% instead of the standard 3%. Also, UpNest reviews suggest that after you sign up on the platform to find an agent, they compete with one another to get your business. In this way, you are able to get lower commission rates. UpNest matches you with a local realtor.
About UpNest
UpNest is a free website that connects you with local full-service agents whether you want to buy or sell a home. You provide some of your basic information to UpNest and within 24 hours you start getting proposals from multiple agents.
UpNest is different from other agent-finding services as real estate agents compete with one another to get your business. Upon signing up, you get proposals from many realtors that include their rates and services offered.
But, while the competition is supposed to get you lower commission rates, the reality is different. UpNest is no doubt quick and even its network agents are solid. But as the company does not pre-negotiate commission fees on your behalf, savings aren’t very good enough as compared to other discount brands.
As per one of the UpNest reviews, even when UpNest agents offer discounted rates, the savings you end up making are pretty small. The offerings of UpNest do not include guaranteed savings or high discounts.
How UpNest works?
You can sign up on UpNest by entering basic information about your sale or purchase like location, property type, timeline, and estimated value. You can compare different agent proposals on your dashboard. While you may get a couple of proposals instantly, others may take up to a few days.
You also receive an email and a phone call from an UpNest person who will explain the process and your preferences in an agent. You can choose the agents you want to meet and choose one that you feel is the best. If you don’t find an agent that matches your needs, you can request more agents or just walk away.
About Ideal Agent
Let us dig some Ideal Agent reviews. The agent matching service also connects you with licensed real estate agents in your locality. Ideal Agent claims that it deals with the top 1% of high-quality agents. Also, with Ideal Agent, their agent pre-negotiates commission so that you directly get discounted rates.
Ideal Agent agent matching service charges you a 2% commission as their listing fee, lower than what HomeLight or UpNest offers. If you think the agent isn’t a good match for you, you can walk away from Ideal Agent as well and explore other options.
How Ideal Agent works?
Typically, there are four steps involved with Ideal Agent:
- First, you fill-up the required details of your house. Ideal Agent collects your house’s basic information with an online form. The information consists of your property details and description, contact details, and timeline of a home sale.
- Ideal Agent stores all your information in their database and matches you with an agent based on your zip code and availability.
- After connecting you to an ideal agent, the website is left with not much else to do. You don’t have an agent’s dashboard to see details about an agent. Instead, the prospective agent gets in touch with you to understand your requirements and start listing paperwork.
- The final step is to sign the listing agreement and let your agent take things ahead. After the signing, your house gets listed on the MLS and your home selling process begins.
Is UpNest good for you?
UpNest is good for you if while selling your house finding a good agent is your top priority even when you have to spend a greater amount of money and if you don’t care about customer service.
UpNest is the best platform for you if you want to get matched with quality agents having strong sales records. But you have to do the final check because sometimes, as per the UpNest reviews, the algorithm is wrong and you may be matched with an agent not working in your area.
If you are looking to buy a house, the buyer rebate program of UpNest could save you a lot of money. However, it comes with many restrictions and you can save more money by working with other companies.
UpNest is good for you but it is not the only agent matching platform out there. We suggest that you compare UpNest with other options like Houzeo. Again, as per many UpNest reviews, its savings and customer service are not at par and you can find a better agent matching platform for that.
Is Ideal Agent good for you?
Ideal Agent is another great agent matching service that matches you with experienced, registered agents all over the country. Real estate agents can’t pay to join Ideal Agent. Instead, they have to pass the vetting process of Ideal Agent before they can work with its customers.
However, just experienced real estate agents may not be great for you. You must look for an agent who you trust and whose personality you like for your peace of mind during the buying or selling process.
As per Ideal Agent reviews, the challenge you may face with Ideal Agent is that it has fewer agents in its network. So, there’s a good chance you may be left with fewer options to begin with. Again, even if you find an experienced agent with Ideal Agent, she might come from a different town or have a lack of experience, unable to fulfill your home buying or home selling needs.
UpNest vs Ideal Agent Reviews
Below are some of the comparisons drawn between the agent matching platforms with the help of UpNest reviews and Ideal Agent reviews:
Ideal Agent has no doubt, qualified agents. In fact, the company claims to have in its network the top 1% of agents. UpNest also mostly connects you with good-quality agents.
As per one of the Ideal Agent reviews, the company promised a Limited Savings Mark of 2%, but the actual realtor charged 4.5%. This might include both listing agent and buyer agent commission. But still, it is pretty high. UpNest has its buyer rebate program but you can save much more with platforms other than these two.
What do you want as a homebuyer or seller? A smooth and uninterrupted transaction would surely make it to the top of your list. However, the method may not save you much money. Also, Ideal Agent sometimes makes inconsistent agent matching. Even UpNest may match with you an agent not functional in your area and you may have to do a check yourself.
Using UpNest is easy and quick. Once you quickly sign up on the platform, your agent contacts you within an hour. With Ideal Agent, it may take you some time.
Also, as per some UpNest reviews, as commission rates aren’t decided beforehand, it’s not guaranteed that you’ll save. Discounts can range from thousands of dollars to even zero. The lowest listing fee rate you can get is 2%, not good compared with the typical rate Ideal Agent and other platforms may offer.
Final word
So, our final verdict in this UpNest vs Ideal Agent review piece is that UpNest lets its agents compete to get your business while Ideal Agent offers you one agent or a few agents to choose from. However, even after many UpNest agents send you proposals with their services and rates, they charge an average commission of 5.2%, near to the traditional agent commission of 5 to 6%, not offering much savings. On the other hand, Ideal Agent can sell your home for a commission as low as 2% and if you want to buy a home, the commission you’d be charged is about 2.5%.
