Keller Williams announces new iBuyer platform

Property big shot decides to launch its own portal for buying and selling property in the US

Following a path previously laid out by the likes of real estate search engines Zillow and Redfin, and taking a page out of the playbook of iBuyer platforms Opendoor, Offerpad, and others, real estate agency Keller Williams is about to start buying and selling houses.

Next month, Keller Williams will launch an iBuyer offering, which will be called “Keller Offers.”

The news of Keller Williams expanding into direct homebuying was first reported by Andrea Riquier of MarketWatch.

According to details provided, Keller Offers will initially launch in the Dallas/Fort Worth market in May 2019. From there, the company plans to expand its homebuying and selling operations.

Keller Williams Spokesperson Darryl Frost explained that the company expects Keller Offers to be operating in six to eight “major” markets by the end of this year.

“While we believe the addressable market for iBuyers represents less than 10% of the overall market, we do see this as an important additional option for KW agents to be able to offer their sellers,” Frost said in a statement. “Our goal is to minimize the cost to the consumer.”

According to Frost, unlike other iBuyers, consumers using Keller Offers will have a fiduciary (a KW real estate agent) working on their behalf and serving as “trusted advocate” throughout the process.

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