Coldwell Banker Real Estate is expanding its RealVitalize
program that helps sellers get their property looking ship shape for the sales
market.
The service connects Coldwell Banker clients with a project manager who oversees home improvements that can help a home sell faster.
The brokerage giant partnered with the digital marketplace,
HomeAdvisor to beta test the service over the past year. To participate, a
Coldwell Banker agent connects their home seller with a HomeAdvisor project
consultant who manages a project from start to finish.
Whether is an interior paint job, a new kitchen or sprucing
up a garden, the consultant finds service professionals to complete the
improvements, allowing the agent to focus on marketing and selling the home.
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage covers the upfront costs and gets paid back when the home sells, which the company says, on average, will be 25 percent faster than everyone else and within four percent of the list price.
“We are more than halfway toward our goal of making
RealVitalize available to our entire network of more than 94,000 affiliated
agents within the next year who handle a total U.S. sales volume of $240.1
billion, a true advantage that most brokerages can’t match. Now, even more
consumers will have access to this unique program that can help sell their home
faster and for more money,” said M. Ryan Gorman, president and CEO of Coldwell
Banker Real Estate
RealVitalize is currently available in 29 markets nationwide
but will expand into every market, including New York, over the next several
months.
The announcement comes as more Americans improve their homes
during the coronavirus pandemic.
The National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) and John
Burns Real Estate Consulting (JBREC) released their Q2 2020 Kitchen & Bath
Market Index (KBMI) the industry’s outlook is “promising.”
Almost all of the survey respondents (99 percent) reported
an increase in requests for DIY-project assistance. Homeowners are looking to
DIY to save money, which in turn leads to more small-scale projects.
And almost all (98 percent) of contractors have seen a rise
in the desire for wellness products in response to COVID-19.
From no-touch
appliances and anti-microbial materials to outdoor kitchens, homeowners are
thinking long-term about how they use their kitchens and baths in a world where
health and sanitation are top-of-mind.
More consumers are also considering changes to their homes
that allow them or their relatives to age in place, rather than turn to
retirement homes and communities.
Designers are still feeling the pinch, according to the NKBA
survey, although 32 percent of design firms say clients are requesting more
proposals for future projects as a result of being sheltered in their homes,
and 82 percent have been able to make progress on projects virtually means.
