When we went to the California Association of Realtors’ Expo this year, we talked with all sorts of interesting businesses supporting the real estate industry. We are highlighting some of the most interesting as part of our new Tech Tuesday series here on ReboReports.
As with the other videos in this series and on this site, this is not a paid endorsement.
In a marketplace like we’re currently experiencing, where listings are hard to come by, and listing agents have to compete fiercely to get business, companies like Hubzu are well-positioned to help make a difference in a real estate agent’s business. Not only is Hubzu an online real estate marketplace where buyers can directly offer on properties, but it also has the option of selling the property in an auction system rather than traditionally. Learn more in this interview between Benutech’s Brian Fox, and Hubzu’s Director of National Sales, Phil Felice.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Brian Fox. I’m with Benutech, and we’re here today in Long Beach, California at the Long Beach Convention Center. We’re going to be interviewing different tech companies, real estate companies, service facilities for you that hopefully can, you know, play a part and help enhance your real estate careers.
BRIAN FOX: Hello, everybody, it’s Brian Fox with ReboReports, and we’re here at the Hubzu booth at the Long Beach Convention Center. Phil, Hubzu. What is Hubzu about? Can you tell our readers and listeners about that?
PHIL FELICE: Sure. So, Hubzu is an online marketplace that allows licensed Realtors and agents to transact online. You can place your listings on the site if you’re an agent, and it gives you the flexibility to sell the homes in one of two ways. One way is through an auction, which is a time-based sale and it takes all the best components of what you’d find in an auction as well as the practicality of things that take place in a traditional real estate sale, or you can market the property as a traditional sale, where essentially it sits on as another marketing channel, and allows buyers to go directly online and place offers.
FOX: Very good. I imagine you have competing companies, I don’t know who they are. Who are the competitors and what makes Hubzu different?
FELICE: I think that’s a great question. Right now, fortunately we don’t have a whole lot of competitors that are really going after agents who are marketing traditional type of properties. I think we’ve sort of got the first mover advantage there, so I think we’re really trying to come up with new and innovative ways that people can take the online consumer experience to the next level by really offering the ability to physically transact online.
FOX: Very good. Again, we’re here with Phil Felice with Hubzu. What is the biggest benefit, then, to Realtors for the use of Hubzu?
FELICE: I think the biggest benefits are: Number one, it enables them to be able to generate leads. All of the properties that go on our website, only the listing agent will appear next to it. All those leads that they’d be able to receive from them are entirely free for them to keep and to market to. I think secondly, there’s no cost to them or their seller. We charge a nominal fee only to the buyer, and only if the transaction’s successful. And last and most importantly, we know that listings are at a premium right now, as inventory continues to diminish or stay low, and this is another avenue where a listing can come up. The listing agent can have a tangible differentiator at the listing table to win listings.
FOX: Very good. I appreciate your time. Thanks for the information.
FELICE: Thank you.
FOX: Thanks, Phil.
