PodcastNational Housing Market Outlook

How iBrokers Will Change How We Buy Homes

Shelly_Chen_web
Dean_Wehrli_web

Shelly Chen

Dean Wehrli

November 22, 2021

You would not go to a second website to pay for your Amazon order, so why should you have to deal with multiple groups when purchasing a home? That is what inspired Court Cunningham to start Orchard. Orchard is providing next-level service by integrating almost the entire home buying process onto one platform. Keep reading below to learn how Orchard is innovating as an “iBroker” (a term cleverly coined by our host Dean Wehrli).

Featured guest

Court Cunningham, Founder and the CEO, Orchard

iBroker: The new way to home

  • Orchard fully integrates nearly all parts of the home buying process. This reduces cost and unnecessary complexity.
 
  • Move First turns customers into cash buyers. Orchard buys the new home for its customers so that they can move forward with the new home without waiting on the sale of their old home.
 
  • The guaranteed price of the old home is the customer’s Instant Equity.
 
  • Their Concierge service adds value by handling repairs or renovations for only the cost of labor and materials.

"That's part of our tagline...this concept that buying is romance and selling is finance."

Why it works

  • Orchard and the customer are on the same side. The company earns its profit off the typical fees, such as title fees and commissions, not off the underlying real estate.
 
  • Their realtors are employees, not independent contractors.
 
  • They are skilled at accurately pricing homes.

An optimistic future

  • The home buying process will be significantly simplified going forward with Orchard.
 
  • Orchard is currently in Denver, Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Washington, DC, as well as the major cities of Texas. The company is in the process of expanding its operations in Washington state, Portland, and Phoenix.
 
  • Market conditions are starting to normalize. Court believes over the next year or so the market will be in greater balance.

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About The Author

Shelly Chen
Research Analyst II
Shelly is responsible for working on various research projects as it relates to residential for-sale, including supporting our Burns Home Builder Analysis and Forecast report.
Dean Wehrli
Principal
Dean helps housing sector clients figure out not just what might work and what might not, but why.

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