Are you looking to relocate soon but worry you won’t sell your current home in time? Trying to balance buying and selling at the same time is a common issue faced by homeowners, especially if you need the profits from the sale to make your down payment on the purchase.
Flyhomes aims to help homeowners solve this dilemma by offering a buy-and-sell solution that allows you to conduct both transactions simultaneously. It can also be used to simply buy or sell a home and has a robust listing portal. Read on for everything you need to know about the company and how it works.
What does Flyhomes do?
Flyhomes is an online real estate platform that facilitates the buying and selling of houses. It has its own team of agents and mortgage loan officers, and it can enable all-cash offers for clients trying to buy in competitive markets. Sellers can list their home with Flyhomes as well.
One of the company’s key features is a buy-before-you-sell option that can help clients buy their next home first, before selling and moving out of their current one. (As it promises on its website, “skip the hassle of hunting for short-term housing, moving furniture twice and worrying about storage.”)
How Flyhomes works for sellers
The platform offers what it calls an “all-inclusive listing service” to help you sell your home. Each seller is assigned a local agent who can coordinate with the company’s network. Here’s a breakdown of the process:
- Home prep: Flyhomes gets your home show-ready, including cleaning and staging, in “as few as two weeks.”
- Marketing: It promotes your listing through targeted online ads, emails, signs and flyers. This includes taking professional photos and creating virtual tours.
- Showings: It hosts open houses and coordinates with other ones nearby to maximize foot traffic and attract the most house-hunters.
Note that when you sell with Flyhomes, you do still have to pay real estate commissions — typically 2.5 to 3 percent of the purchase price to the company, acting as the listing agent. Sellers may also have to pay another 2.5 to 3 percent to the buyer’s real estate agent; the details will vary depending on the transaction.
How Flyhomes works for buyers
To help buyers in cities with fiercely competitive real estate markets, Flyhomes can help you make a cash offer. Here’s how the cash-offer purchase process works:
- Work with their team: Buyers get pre-underwritten for a home loan through Flyhomes Mortgage, then house-hunt with a dedicated Flyhomes agent and secure a loan through a dedicated Flyhomes loan officer.
- Make a cash offer: Once you find the home you want to buy, you will make a cash offer to purchase it. The funds come in the form of a short-term loan (with interest) from Flyhomes Mortgage.
- Close and move in: The company promises a payout and closing in as few as 14 days. Once the home is yours, it will refinance your short-term loan into a long-term mortgage. (Keep in mind that this requires two sets of closing costs.) You can also use the lender of your choice if you prefer, within three months.
If you need to back out of a purchase after the seller accepts your offer, as long as all contingencies have been met, Flyhomes says it will buy the house themselves so you don’t have to. If they are able to sell it for a profit, they will return your earnest money deposit (minus the costs of holding and selling the home).
Flyhomes AI
The company also recently launched Flyhomes AI, an AI-powered home search tool that lets buyers discover and learn about available properties based on specific criteria. For example, you could ask Flyhomes AI to find homes in quiet neighborhoods, near highly rated schools or close to public transportation. It also highlights “unique data points” like permit history, store delivery options in the area and cellular service provider coverage.
‘Buy Before You Sell’
Flyhomes’ “Buy Before You Sell” program lets you buy your next home before selling your current one — so you’re both buying and selling homes with the company. This lets you avoid having to pay both mortgages at once for a period of time, and it also means you don’t have to move out until you have a new place to move into. All the guidelines for buyers and sellers above apply to this program, with an additional guarantee that your home will sell — if it still hasn’t after 120 days, you can choose to sell it to Flyhomes or keep it on the market. Note that if you are using a Flyhomes cash offer with this program, you will be charged an additional fee.
How does Flyhomes make money?
Flyhomes is a brokerage, and it collects the same 2.5 to 3 percent commission that a real estate agent would normally make on a transaction. It also generates earnings through its mortgage company (which offers home purchase and refinance loans) and its title and escrow service, Flyhomes Closing. In addition, “Buy Before You Sell” customers who are also making a cash offer through the company are charged a daily holding fee.
Flyhomes service areas
As of August 2024, Flyhomes operates as a brokerage in just four states: California, Washington, Texas and Massachusetts. However, Flyhomes AI is available in 28 states plus Washington, D.C., with more coverage expected soon.
Flyhomes pros and cons
Pros
- Make a cash offer: Flyhomes enables all-cash offers for buyers, to make their bids more attractive to sellers.
- Avoid paying two mortgages: The “Buy Before You Sell” program lets clients purchase a new home before having to sell their current one, so there’s no need to pay both mortgages at once.
- Close quickly and fuss-free: Buyers can choose a closing date as soon as 10 days after their offer is accepted. Sellers can sell their home faster than with a traditional transaction as well, and without having to stage it.
Cons
- Limited availability: Flyhomes doesn’t operate in every state, so it might not be available in your area.
- Fees: Sellers pay a 2.5 to 3 percent commission fee to the company. In addition, if you use the “Buy Before You Sell” option with a cash offer, you’ll pay holding fees and fixed-rate interest on the short-term loan.
- Closing costs: Flyhomes clients pay their own closing costs.
Flyhomes competitors
Flyhomes isn’t the only option on the market. Many home-buying companies, like HomeLight, Knock, Offerpad and Orchard, offer relatively comparable programs to “Buy Before You Sell,” and most of them operate in more areas than Flyhomes does.
Flyhomes vs. real estate agents
When you hire a local real estate agent to sell your home or help you find a new one, you’ll typically interview multiple candidates to find the one you click best with. With Flyhomes, you are assigned one of their in-house agents. In addition, working with Flyhomes does not save you the money you’d typically pay an agent in commission fees — the company draws a 2.5 to 3 percent commission, which is about the same as an agent would make in a traditional sale.
Bottom line: Should you use Flyhomes?
Flyhomes AI is a useful search tool, and the company can be a good option if you want to relocate without having to move into a temporary living situation in-between. It can also be a big help to buyers in super-competitive markets, where a cash offer can help you stand out from the other bidders. However, it only operates in a very limited number of markets, and while it might save you time, it might not save you much money.
FAQs
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Flyhomes does not charge a fee to use its services, technically. However, it does collect the same amount of commission that would usually go to a real estate agent — typically 2.5 to 3 percent of the home’s purchase price. The customer also pays their own closing costs, and there can be additional fees involved in using the “Buy Before You Sell” service.
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No. Flyhomes does help clients buy and sell homes through a process that is initiated online, like an iBuyer does. But it does not follow the iBuyer business model of buying the homes itself and then flipping them at maximum speed for a profit.
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Yes. Flyhomes was established in 2016 by Tushar Garg, who serves as CEO and worked at Microsoft before co-founding Flyhomes, and Stephen Lane. The company is based in the Seattle area and has raised significant venture capital funding. It has bought and sold more than $3.5 billion in homes. Its leadership team and board of directors are listed on its website.
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