How HouseCanary Is Giving Agents a Competitive Edge
Editor’s Note: The following is the cover story in the December issue of RISMedia’s real estate magazine.
It’s no secret: The value of the real estate agent is under attack. With a slew of disruptors determined to diminish their role in the real estate transaction, it’s become incumbent upon agents to bolster their value proposition to the consumer with more service, more guidance, more information…whatever it takes to stand apart and make themselves an indispensable advisor in an increasingly competitive and crowded market.
That’s where data comes in. But while consumers seem to have access to all the real estate data they could possibly want these days, there are vast discrepancies in the quality of that data. Every real estate agent out there probably has at least one tale to tell of how an inaccurate home valuation bungled a deal. And that’s exactly what makes HouseCanary a game-changer.
Not only has the San Francisco-based firm redefined the practice of home valuation in terms of accuracy—with a median error of 2.5 percent and declining every month as the company’s algorithms process more data—it is helping real estate professionals set themselves apart with the burgeoning power of predictive analytics, elevating them from average real estate agent to invaluable financial advisor. By leveraging 40 years of U.S. home sales and a billion transactions to predict the direction of virtually every metro, zip code and block in the United States, HouseCanary can provide agents with branded, property-specific reports that depict how their client’s home value has increased, where the value of the home is headed, and which improvements will have the biggest impact on that value. Now, instead of the typical listing presentation, agents can explain—in precise detail—the “why” behind a home’s current and future value.
Co-founded by CEO Jeremy Sicklick and Chief of Research Chris Stroud in 2014 to help investors and lenders make better real estate decisions, HouseCanary created one of the most accurate forecasting models in the industry, then packaged it into easy-to-use software solutions for appraisers, brokers, investors and lenders, including Wall Street investors like Blackstone and the nation’s top three mortgage lenders; $64 million in venture capital funding from the likes of Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google parent Alphabet, former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, and top venture capital firms helped solidify HouseCanary’s status as the real deal.
In 2016, HouseCanary made that same data available to real estate professionals—now, that same information lenders had been using to decide whether or not to extend a loan, could also be accessed by a real estate agent working on the front lines with the consumer. Imagine being able to sit down with clients and walk them through the exact financials of why they should make a particular offer—an offer based on real data and real numbers. Interactions like this cast the real estate agent in a whole new light.
“Innovative lenders and savvy loan originators are leveraging HouseCanary’s data to give their clients confidence in the home purchase decision they’re about …read more
From:: Real Estate News