Compare Xome and Flyhomes
For Sellers
For Sellers
For Buyers
For Buyers
For Buyers
Answer: Xome is a referral fee network that enables broker-to-broker collusion with use of blanket referral agreements while Flyhomes is a full-service real estate agent and a stand-in cash program for buyers that offers savings to homebuyers and home sellers
Buying and Selling with Xome
WARNING: Unlawful Kickbacks, Broker-to-Broker Collusion, False Marketing, Wire Fraud, Price Fixing.
Xome) is a broker-to-broker collusion scheme, where "partner agents" unlawfully agree to pay massive kickbacks to receive your information and engage in market allocation, consumer allocation, false advertising, unlawful kickbacks, wire fraud, and price-fixing practices in violation of, inter alia, 18 U.S.C. § 1346, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, 15 U.S.C. § 1, 15 U.S.C. § 45, 12 U.S.C. § 2607, 12 C.F.R. § 1024.14. As a consumer, you will always significantly overpay for Realtor commissions subject to hidden kickbacks and pay-to-play steering promoted in this scheme.
United States federal antitrust laws prohibit consumer allocation and blanket referral agreements between real estate companies.
Be smart; do not allow your information to be "sold as a lead" to a double-dealing Realtor in exchange for massive commission kickbacks paid from your future home sale, or your future home purchase.
Xome is a referral fee network designed to collect fees by matching consumers with local real estate agents willing to participate.
Xome operates as a licensed real estate brokerage in California under BRE License #001932600, but it does not produce any services that are typically offered by real estate agents and does not represent consumers when buying or selling real estate in any State.
When consumers submit information to Xome, this information is simply sold to real estate agents who are willing to pay for it with 25%-40% share of their commission.
Xome Pricing
Xome revenue comes from referral fees and sale of user data.
Listing Services
- This Service Does Not Represent Sellers
Buyer's Agent Services
- This Service Does Not Represent Buyers
Xome Editor's Review:
Xome is a licensed real estate broker that collects a 25%-40% referral fee from all real estate agents that participate. Agents are accepted into the referral program at no upfront cost, instead, all fees are back-loaded into the agent’s commission and result in a much higher cost to consumers.
All agents in Xome Agent Network must pay Xome a referral fee for each closed deal and report on the progress with private transaction details using Xome portal. Xome itself does not create an agency relationship with consumers and has no financial obligation for the actions of Referred Agents.
Consumers work with these agents through separate written agreements. The terms of any agreement between consumers and real estate agent in the network are not endorsed or recommended by Xome.
All real estate agents using Xome pay a referral fee depending on the final cost of a house. On a $250,000 house, the agent could pay around $2,800 in fees to Xome. This amount could be easily offered as a refund or commission savings to consumers, but instead, it becomes a deterrent for real estate agents to offer competitive terms.
Xome Agent Network plays fees down to consumers, but it rigidly locks every participating real estate agent into a referral fee attached to the back-end of every contract. As a licensed real estate agent that doesn’t perform any real estate services or takes any responsibility for the transaction, it is not entirely clear how this process works under the Business and Professions Code and RESPA.
Clearly, real estate agents only sign-up with Xome because the price of the referral fee can be easily incorporated into their client’s agreement with excessive commissions.
Xome receives the second lowest score because this service is clearly biased and it claims to provide the complete opposite of what it actually does. Xome must be well aware of this issue but continues to operate on pay-to-play methodology in order to collect fees that needlessly make home buying and selling more expensive. In the end,
Xome is a referral fee network that operates a limited pool of real estate agents willing to pay 25%-40% of their commission for each lead.
Where does Xome operate?
Buying and Selling with Flyhomes
Flyhomes is a multi-state full-service real estate agent offers consumers listing savings and buyer’s refunds in select areas across Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Massachusetts, and California.
In Oregon state law currently does not allow Flyhomes to offer buyer’s rebates to consumers.
Flyhomes Pricing
Flyhomes offers listing savings to sellers (1% listing fee) and commission refunds to buyers (32% estimated rebate where allowed by State law.)
Flyhomes also offers buyers Cash Offers stand-in program, where the company either assures buyer’s offer or buys a home and resells it to the buyer for an added fee (1% service fee).
A similar Trade-in Program is available for sellers.
Listing Services
- MLS Listing
- Zillow, Trulia, etc. Listing
- Accept and Deliver All Offers and Counteroffers
- Hold Open Houses
- Professional Photography
- Professional Floor Plans
- Yard Signage Installation
- Spare Key Lock-box Installation
- Schedule Inspection Services
- Schedule Private Showings
- Closing Duties
Buyer's Agent Services
- Find the Property
- Accept and Deliver All Offers and Counteroffers
- Recommend Other Professionals
- Attend Inspection Services
- Schedule Private Showings
- Negotiate Needed Repairs
- Closing Duties
Flyhomes Editor's Review:
Flyhomes is a consumer-focused saving real estate broker that offers a wide variety of value-added propositions for home buyers and sellers in select areas where it operates.
Agent Listings
As a listing agent, Flyhomes works with a seller to prepare their home for listing, including taking professional photos, pricing home, and publishing marketing materials. Flyhomes lists all homes on the local MLS as well as typical MLS Aggregators.
Trade-in Program for Sellers
Flyhomes is not an iBuyer. Flyhomes offers sellers a Trade-in Program where the company runs a pricing analysis on seller's current home and sets a conservative price guarantee for the amount that it will pay to buy it outright.
Once a seller selects a new home and her purchase offer is accepted, the company lists the seller's current home on the market in order to sell it for more than the price guarantee amount. Once the home sells company accounts for its expenses. Flyhomes Trade-in Program is a value-added proposition and a viable alternative to iBuyer Offers. Unlike Flyhomes, with an iBuyer seller inevitably loses a lot of their home net equity in the process due to the risk of holding and re-selling the home by the iBuyer. Sellers using Trade-in Program do not lose equity and only pay a moderate fee in the process. Granted, Flyhomes does not offer "quick cash" iBuyer proposition, where the seller still needs to list their home in the open market and wait for better offers to come in and pay expenses back, but the equity savings is why we rate this program as genuinely consumer-focused.
Sellers who use Flyhomes Trade-in program do not receive a rebate on the buy-side and Flyhomes charges sellers 1% commission as a service fee (this does not include the buy-side agent commission) to list their home. Flyhomes evaluates seller's home before the seller can participate in Trade-in Program and reserves the right to request repairs prior to seller's inclusion in the program.
Buyer's Agent
As a buyer's agent, Flyhomes works with buyers to find a home, schedule inspections, negotiate repairs and finalize the purchase. Flyhomes offers overall great value to consumers looking to buy or sell a home including a convenient "request tour" option on the Flyhomes website in order to easily schedule home viewings with their service team.
Guaranteed and Cash Offers for Buyers
Flyhomes offers buyers a unique Cash Offers stand-in program where Flyhomes purchases a home outright from the seller on a buyer's behalf in as few as 2 days and sells it back at the same price to the buyer on an agreed upon closing date.
When a Cash Offer is not available, buyers can utilize Guaranteed Offer instead. For the Guaranteed Offer program, Flyhomes guarantees the seller that the home will close, and if it doesn't, Flyhomes will then buy the home for the same terms.
Cash Offers stand-in program is not free, it is also highly selective. Cash Offers program may come with added risks in the event the buyer decides to back out of the sale. Buyers should carefully review their agreement with Flyhomes before participating in Cash Offers stand-in program so to fully understand the fees and potential penalties for backing out of the Cash Offer once it is made.
Buyers can only utilize Cash Offers when working with Flyhomes, which means that if there is another local real estate agent who offers a buyer a better commission refund, such as a flat fee option, the buyer cannot take advantage of these larger savings with Cash Offers.
In some cases, an alternative savings model may better serve buyers financially than Cash Offers proposition due to a sheer price tag of standard real estate commissions.