Press Releases
RealDirect, online real estate company which gives homeowners innovative and cost-effective ways to easily market and sell their home, launches today
Posted 5/26/10
Site provides first web-based data driven marketing platform for NY homeowners to maximize their net proceeds; Company received funding by venture capital Investors Greenhill SAVP
New York (May 26, 2010) - RealDirect (www.RealDirect.com), a next generation real estate technology company and brokerage which provides homeowners with innovative new ways to sell their homes and maximize the net proceeds, launched their full service offering in closed Beta today with service for Manhattan sellers and buyers. Expansion to self serve will occur this summer, and service to the metro New York area is expected later this year.
RealDirect is the first web based, data driven real estate marketing platform that leverages advancements in online advertising, web analytics and interactive applications to allow homeowners to efficiently market and sell their property either on their own, or with the help of a RealDirect affiliated agent. Clients can pay on a fee for service basis that is as little as a few hundred dollars, or through variable "smart" commissions beginning at 1%. "We believe RealDirect represents the future of how homes will be sold," said Brian Hirsch, Managing Director, Greenhill SAVP., who will be joining the RealDirect Board of Directors.
RealDirect has raised a seed round of funding led by venture capital firm, Greenhill SAVP as well as individual investors including Scott Kurnit, Founder of About.com, Barry Silbert, Founder and CEO of SecondMarket, Jonah Neuman, President of Medley Realty and Jacob Pechenik, Founder and CEO of YellowJacket.
The core user interaction occurs in the proprietary RealScheduler, an advanced real estate scheduling system that allows buyers and sellers to instantly schedule home showings on the listing website without the friction of an intermediary. The RealScheduler then collects and feeds interaction data into RealDirect's powerful recommendation engine, which guides the seller and/or agent from listing to closing with personalized, data driven recommendations in the RealDirect dashboard.
"Selling a home is an expensive endeavor, as a large portion of the net proceeds is eaten up by sales commissions and closing costs. In our current economic climate, with more than 20% of all homes under water, and many more homes selling for less than their owners paid for them, many sellers simply can't afford to pay a standard 6% commission," said Doug Perlson, Co-Founder and CEO of RealDirect. "Now, sellers have more options."
"When I sold my own home several years ago, I realized that the seller side of a real estate transaction was an area where the market had not caught up with technology. Many owners have the desire to sell their homes on their own, but because of basic technology limitations, such as an inability to effectively advertise their listing on the web or through their local MLS and receive good data about how well they are performing with potential buyers, it was not practical. And it was not just the time commitment. Owners simply did not have the tools and information necessary to market their home to reach enough buyers," said Doug Perlson, a former real estate lawyer. "RealDirect changes that equation."
According to a Jan 2010 The Real Deal article, Cutting Out The Broker As Middleman, "more and more apartment hunters, armed with listing information gleaned from the web, are representing themselves rather than using a real estate agent.""RealDirect taps into this revolution in home buying by giving sellers the ability to directly reach a vast collection of potential buyers," said Mr. Perlson.
In Mr. Perlson, RealDirect is led by a veteran internet entrepreneur, who has succeeded with a number of online ventures. Prior to launching RealDirect, Mr. Perlson co-founded and led TargetSpot, the leading internet radio advertising company. As CEO, Mr. Perlson took the start-up from founding in 2007 to a current dominant market position as the leader in internet radio advertising.
Before co-founding TargetSpot, Mr. Perlson served as Chief Operating Officer of Seevast, the owner and operator of internet-based marketing services businesses. Prior to that, Mr. Perlson served as SVP Partner Development and Operations at About.com. Doug started his career as an attorney working as a real estate lawyer, and then as an Assistant Attorney General in the New York Attorney General's office of Investor Protection and Securities.
