Washington, D.C.-based web site Sawbuck Realty recently expanded their services to Baltimore, Los Angeles and California's "Inland Empire" and wil soon be coming to Chicago, Dallas, San Diego, and the San Francisco Bay area. While there are plenty of web sites out there for buyers and sellers, Sawbuck's approach streamlines the home buying and selling process and saves consumers money by subsidizing every transaction so that the mortgage and closing cost package costs less.
Buyers start by searching for homes on the web site and then Sawbuck connects them with local real estate agents and then streamlines the transacation. Washington, D.C.-area real estate agents listed on their site are among those with the best reputation in the area.
Some of the interesting features about Sawbuck's site are:
- a news feed similar to Facebook which provides status updates for homes such as price changes, open houses or going off the market;
- a service for home sellers which allows them to receive a 20% refund of the listing commission at closing;
- Sawbuck Savings Guarantee - if consumers find a better mortgage and closing cost deal Sawbuck will pay them $1,000;
- Market Health Score , which combines metrics for inventory, change in median sales prices, pull-through and "equilibrium" (balance between new listings, price reductions, contracts and sales).
Visitors to the site can see listings in a list, gallery or map view and can also find a market guide with an overall look at the local housing market.
AVAILABLE NOW FOR PRE-ORDERS FROM CAPITAL BOOKS:
"HOMEBUYING: Tough Times, First Time, Any Time" by Michele Lerner
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