If you want to make the home-buying experience simpler, Homelight is a company that will give you convenience and speed by helping you find the best local agents.
Here’s an overview of Homelight. We’ll talk about how it works, who it’s for, and so much more. From here, you can determine if Homelight is the correct service for you to utilize to make your home-buying experience simpler.
How Does Homelight Work?
Homelight is best known for its agent matching service. The way it works is Homelight introduces buyers to its partner agents, who pay Homelight a referral fee if a deal is closed. While Homelight is just a middle-man they offer a better service than competitors like Zillow who will simply sell your personal contact information to the highest bidder.
Homelight works like this:
- You sign up for free with your email address and phone number and specify the type of place you want to purchase in by putting in specifications like your budget
- You get a list of three agent recommendations, from which you can choose the best match or refresh until you find your perfect agent
- You look at the details of the agent, which includes the number of homes they’ve sold, brokerage, clients they’ve helped, years active, achievements, and a map
- You communicate with the agent if a form you feel comfortable in
- A Homelight concierge will call you a few hours later to give you the results, which you can take and move forward with
Once these steps end, you’re ready to get your next home.
This process seems simple, but some customers have reported they’ve ended up with agents they didn’t enjoy. You need to be careful with the options presented and be picky about the realtor's experience.
In addition to their agent matching services Homelight also offers a variety of other services including Homelight Cash Offer, a home loan program that helps turn you into a cash buyer, and Homelight simple sale, a type of iBuying program which helps sellers get multiple offers from real estate investors and house flippers.
Is Homelight Safe?
Homelight is a safe and reliable service. We know this because:
- It has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau
- HomeLight's average customer reviews are 4.7
- Homelight has helped over one million people with their home purchase
- It has 28,000 real estate agents under its belt that currently operate on the market
- It has a $1.6 billion customer value and a credible founder
We can confirm that Homelight is safe to utilize for investors.
Regardless of its quality, you can feel safe downloading and taking advantage of the free services Homelight has to offer. Now, let’s talk about who Homelight is for in the buying and selling world.
Who is Homelight For?
Homelight is for people who need help with the real estate process. It’s for those who don’t know about the realtor options in their area and need assistance finding someone who fits their specific needs. Homelight can get investors out of a pickle.
If it’s your first time buying a home or you need help fast, Homelight can provide excellent assistance for you. Even if you know what you’re doing, you can make life easier by incorporating Homelight into your process.
Homelight is also for real estate agents that want to help customers. If you can benefit people looking for a home, you can become part of their team.
How Much Does Homelight Cost?
Homelight costs nothing on the surface - but that’s just for the matching process. You will still need to pay the agent fees, which don't discount if you utilize Homelight. On average, expect to pay the national commission rate for agents. Right now, this is around 6%. Cutting costs is helpful.
While Homelight will initially save you money, it may cost more to work through it at the end of the day. Commission discounts are more helpful than free account creation most of the time.
Is Homelight a Real Estate Broker?
Homelight is a licensed real estate broker, but they operate as a referral company, connecting buyers and sellers with other top agents in the area, rather than brokering their own deals. In return for referring their customers out, they collect a 25% referral fee.
Homelight Reviews
Homelight generally has positive reviews, as the majority of buyers are pleased with their agent matches. After all, Homelight agents need to have a lot of experience and are generally some of the best real estate agents in the country.
Homelight Pros and Cons
Let’s talk about a few of the biggest ones that could impact your choice to utilize Homelight for yourself. It's vital to know about the good and the bad before concluding.
Some of the pros for Homelight include:
- Chance at excellent agents, no matter where you are
- User-friendly system and interface
- It’s free to use
- You can select from multiple agents at once
These will benefit your experience. Now, let's talk about the not-so-good.
Some of the cons for Homelight include:
- Lack of automatic savings when you utilize Homelight
- Potential to be matched with a poor-quality agent
- Bombardment of notifications even after the process is complete
These could steer users away from making Homelight their own.
It’s critical to compare the pros and cons of any tool to each other before deciding it’s the one for you. Homelight is helpful and user-friendly, but it can also be faulty in its matching system and tends to hit customers over and over again with notifications. There’s also no savings method built into the intricate system. Is it worth it?
Is Homelight Worth It?
There is no doubt that Homelight can make the home-buying process simpler. It works hard to match you to a quality agent and simplifies connections that might otherwise feel impossible. Its dashboard is also simple to interact with and user-friendly on a whole new level.
Unfortunately, Homelight has little to offer beyond speed and free download. Though they have many excellent agents, there’s also a chance of getting one that’s not so helpful in your home-buying process. Many customers reported bombardments of texts, calls, and emails. Savings are minimal.
If you’re looking for an agent, Homelight can work. However, if you’re looking for savings and a chance at an incredible agent every time, look elsewhere. It’s worth a shot to test out the free service, but we suggest going with a company like Movoto, Redfin, or Upnest for your home.