We closed on December 19th - after all the starts and stops, I can’t believe it’s finally a done deal. I guess I’m one of the lucky RealDirect customers who saved on both ends; no brokers for seller OR purchaser. At the end of the day, assuming a 6% broker commission, even after my RealDirect fees I think I saved over $18,000K. That’s amazing. I think you have a great business model, and I hope you have a lot of success in 2013.
I felt compelled to write a review after my very positive buy + sale experience with http://RealDirect.com. This is the first time I have ever written a review - anywhere - so I hope it is helpful to those reading.
First, a bit about myself and personal experience. I was mainly just tooling around, looking to both buy a new apartment and sell my existing place but not overly serious about the entire affair. I read about RealDirect in the New York Times and thought - what the heck - my downside is limited (on the buy side) so let's give them a shot as I'm looking for a new place... I don't need that much hand-holding!
Second, their web site describes all of the functionality and advantages of the "direct" model so I won't bother rehashing or discussing all of those merits - you can and should read all the FAQs and information for yourself. Many people say that this may or may not be "right" for you, or people in different circumstances... but I kinda disagree. If you like saving money - and I mean a lot of money - you would be foolish not to at least *try* RealDirect and their service. I don't understand how people can pay away 6% of probably the largest transaction of their lives and not at least attempt to reduce that cost.
I'm giving RealDirect the highest 5-star rating because they actually deliver on the direct model. You can talk about the savings to death, but if a firm fails to execute, those savings are just theoretical and will never materialize. On my buy experience, it was really easy using all the various web tools (Streeteasy, NYTimes, individual broker sites, buyfolio, etc.) to compile a list of apartments that fit my search criteria. Doug was very helpful setting up aggregation services, contacting other (sometimes difficult) brokers to set up appointments, explaining pros/cons of various apartments/brokers/listings/etc. and helping me organize my open house blitz. Within a month, I found a very appealing apartment and was already in contract.
Whoops! That meant I needed to sell my place too, so I thought again, why not continue? With a twinge of fear, I prepared my place for listing and signed up to sell my place on RealDirect. Here's where things went very smoothly... Doug was very helpful taking all the experiences from my buy side (look at this place, they did this well, this is wrong with this listing, you're better off doing this, do this in your listing text, etc.) and folding them in to create the most effective apartment listing possible. I used the "a la carte" service, took photos, went through the clean, excellent web interface to type in my info, and had my info up within a few hours. Quickly it replicated to all the other outlets (NYTimes, Streeteasy, RealDirect, REBNY, etc.) and I was up and running.
I had one open house, four private showings, and the apartment sold five days after I listed. Now I know I'm making this sound very easy... it was a lot of hard work and I had to list at the right offering price. All I'm saying is that RealDirect technology was very easy to use, very effective, and Doug was super transparent and helpful along the entire journey. You get a tremendous amount of real estate experience, good technology and access to all the listing sites, effective and helpful recommendations and suggestions... Doug's interests are always aligned with yours. You can't ask for much more than that.
I echo the other reviews on this site. Yes, RealDirect's web site and software platform is slick, connected, and easy to use. That's very important. But Doug and his team take that software functionality much farther through transparent, honest service. Five stars from me, it's a no brainer. And I hope to use this company again if or when I make another move in the area!
RealDirect has been my partner of choice for four separate apartment sales. In each instance, they provided me with the platform, data, support and listing exposure to get my properties sold while saving me over $100K in total commissions.
RealDirect's listing platform is efficient, intuitive and easy to use. They made sure my listings were distributed to all the places where potential buyers would be searching (ROLEX, Streeteasy, NYTimes, etc.) and unlike any other service, their system allowed buyers to schedule property showings online. They also provided me with real-time stats about how many people were viewing my listings and valuable recommendations to help me sell. As incredible as RealDirect's technology is, their company is also really about the people. Their team was there to help when I needed it, and provided valuable feedback throughout the process. I would work with RealDirect again and can enthusiastically recommend them to anyone looking for a smart, efficient and cost-effective way to buy or sell a home in NYC.
I used RealDirect to help me sell my Co-Op in Chelsea, which just closed. I had a very good experience. Their software platform is excellent, but their customer service was the key for me. I felt like I was getting honest, knowledgeable, and unbiased advice. Doug and the crew at RealDirect gave me the tools to sell my own apartment. I saved a lot on commissions and I sold the place for a very good price.
The decision to work with RealDirect over a more traditional agent was an easy one and the results proved us right. From taking photos for our listing to discussing the impact of pricing our apartment and negotiating with potential buyers and their brokers, the people at RealDirect were responsive, reliable and always professional. We sold our apartment quickly and saved a ton of money. We will use them again for all of our real estate needs and recommend them to everyone we know.
