When co-founder and COO of beycome.com, Nicolas Jodin, was selling his first home, his journey led him to uncover a troublesome truth. “I realized almost immediately that hardly anyone was willing to work with a FSBO home,” he recalls.
If you’re not familiar with real estate jargon, FSBO is shorthand for For Sale by Owner, a concept in which homeowners sell their property without the assistance of a real estate agent or broker. This is a notion that Miami-based beycome is trying to standardize throughout the industry.
The Goal
“If you were to Google information about FSBO right now, all you’d find would be horrible and scary articles stating that this is the worst thing homeowners could do… almost as if selling your home – YOUR home — was the most ludicrous idea a person could think to do,” Jodin laughs, “but it’s absolutely ridiculous — it is not a law that people need to use an agent to sell (or rent) their home, so why are you paying strangers 6% of your final sale (or 10% of your annual rental income) if you could do it just as well?”
This question led to the launch of beycome, a new company intent on shaking up the real estate market.
Based in Miami, FL, beycome is the first and only property listing web platform that allows homeowners to realize 100% of their home transaction online. Due to their tech and consumer-focused business model, they’ve been able to help Florida (and most recently, New York) homeowners cut out agent commissions. Additionally, within their first year, the company has now surpassed the $7.3 million mark in money saved.
“So far, we’ve helped 597 beycomers (what they call their homeowners) close on their homes,” Jodin explains, “and this is just our first year.” Additionally, on average, properties who list with the platform close 11 days earlier than the Florida average, and with a 96.5% sale-to-list ratio; 2% better than industry standards, and 8% better overall when including the 6% sales commission being saved.
The Tools
beycome’s business model doesn’t just disrupt the traditional home selling and renting process by digitizing it, but make it their mission to provide support rather than sales. However, this has led to them repeatedly receive the question, “so… how do you guys make any money?”
Like most freemium services, beycome offers varying service packages, each fitted for the specific needs of a homeowner. But even so, the pricing structure is still among the most competitive when compared to similar services. For example, should a Florida homeowner want to list their property on their local MLS, they could choose to purchase beycome’s Flat Fee MLS package at a one-time cost of $79, a rate that has yet to meet its match.
But what this pink-logo company is most commonly known for is its exclusive offer-generation tool, which makes it easy for buyers and renters to make a legal contractual offer to homeowners, as well as for their their $9 up-front/$149 after-home-closing MLS package that comes with yard signs galore and other essential marketing materials, intended to help properties promote themselves better both online and on their own front yard.
“Do you want a yard sign for your home?” Jodin asks rhetorically, “Well, we do you one better and give you a customized yard sign, personalized with your home’s most important details, and we even include your own unique QR code to direct prospects to your home’s property profile on beycome.com. How about a background check? We give you three. Do you want flyers? We let you create your own and throw in your own personalized business cards. We at beycome want to make sure you do not fail at selling or renting your home, so we give you everything – everything – you need to succeed.”
The Future
Though beycome has certainly enjoyed its increasing success, it hasn’t come without some growing pains. Jodin was recently quoted by Entrepreneur.com explaining that one of the biggest challenges that his company has had to face has come from the real estate industry itself disliking what they’re selling – the notion that you don’t need an agent to close on your home: “…we’ve already started feeling the heat from the current real estate market, who don’t want us to educate homeowners on all of these beneficial options easily available to them… [w]ho else provides homeowners with their own legal contracts to close a selling? beycome does — and without the commission.”
The disdain of the real estate industry won’t stop beycome from spearheading the “no commission real estate” concept. While it may not be your grandparent’s version of real estate, it may provide a major change in the world of purchasing homes.
