Amazon has proven themselves over time to be a global phenomenon for customers looking for quick purchases. It is no wonder they generated $200 billion in sales last year. This is a great gift for consumers in cultures like the United States, which demand instant gratification. As an Amazon customer, you can buy shoes, computers, smartphones, and many more items through the ecommerce giant’s website.
Amazon recently made a big breakthrough. You can now use Amazon to buy your next house. As the Washington Post reports in a recent article, this very savvy and well-recognized largest retailer in the world is partnering with Realogy, the largest residential brokerage in the U.S., to match those hunting for houses with agents.
By using a program called Turnkey, those who are looking for property will be able to go to their Amazon account, click on TurnKey, put in vital details about their optimal home, and then be appropriately matched with a Realogy agent. For the effort, customers get up to $5,000 of Amazon products and services along with a “Move-In Benefit”.
The Move-in-Benefit includes vital help with setup duties and product installation through the new division of the popular retailer called Amazon Home Services. Because we simply could not leave her expertise and recognizable candor on the sidelines, the ever-present soothing voice of Alexa has a crucial role in this new endeavor. Customers can also put their credits to use to set up a smart home run with a bit of intuition from the virtual assistant.
The products include items like flat-screen TVs and other home fixtures, which are then installed professionally by Amazon crew. The process of moving can definitely be overwhelming, and the move-in benefit will be a bridge of sorts for homebuyers to tailor the offering to their specific needs, as assisting with smart home device set-up, putting furniture together and tasks such as deep cleaning.
These two giants are in essence setting Zillow and its Premier Agent program dead in their sights: a similar model that matches buyers to agents who negotiate payment for a fee. Last year it resulted in nearly $898 million in revenue for Zillow, a very positive jolt in a landscape that is experiencing change and various growth patterns nearly daily.
Realogy is the parent owner of NRT, the largest brokerage in the Nation in terms of the number of agents and total dollar volume of completed transactions. Among other Realogy brands are Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA, Sotheby’s International, and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. The TurnKey Service is currently available in 15 major metro areas, including Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Seattle, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.
The final price of the home is what determines the amount of the credit for Amazon services and products, ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. Homes purchased for between $150,000 to $399,000 will receive the $1,000 benefit, closings between $400,000 and $699,000 will acquire the $2,500 Amazon credit, and properties that have a final ring in of over $700,000 will receive the $5,000 benefit.
This partnership with Amazon will likely provide a large boost for Realogy, which now has more than 50,000 agents working hard for them in the trenches of the current market every day. Efforts such as this have been heavily underway the last three years especially, as vital partnerships that use the all-important web portal to offer more than one service will be the new model for long-term sustainability.
Yet the question still looms will the more seasoned and more talented and skilled agents be willing to use this service that the two companies and trying to merge together. Besides this will real estate consumers seek these options over their neighborhood specialist. This was tried before with C21 and Costco in the early 2000s, so only the test of time will tell.
One market that has seen a drastic increase as far as investor/buyer interest is Phoenix, where homes are priced reasonably considering all of the available recreational opportunities as well as weather. Companies such as Dorrmat are taking advantage of these changes to provide just as vital and needed services as TurnKey, assuring that you obtain a quick cash offer as well as an abundance of help with moving preparations and any extended stay needs as well!