Landian, a flat-fee and à la carte brokerage, gives $49 excursions and $199 for written gives to sellers, however the true bombshell could also be Sitzer’s involvement so quickly after the $5B Sitzer | Burnett verdict.
Whether or not it’s refining your corporation mannequin, mastering new applied sciences, or discovering methods to capitalize on the subsequent market surge, Inman Join New York will put together you to take daring steps ahead. The Subsequent Chapter is about to start. Be a part of it. Be part of us and hundreds of actual property leaders Jan. 22-24, 2025.
Josh Sitzer, whose final title turned well-known in the true property trade because of his function as a plaintiff within the high-profile Sitzer | Burnett fee lawsuit, has adopted up his authorized victory by co-launching an à la carte actual property platform.
The mission known as Landian, and in response to its web site it’s “a platform that schedules and coordinates service contracts between homebuyers and licensed real estate agents.” The corporate lets would-be homebuyers schedule excursions and make gives, and contains a number of totally different pricing tiers.
For shoppers paying fully à la carte, for instance, Landian expenses $49 per dwelling tour. A suggestion written by an agent prices $199, however “AI-Powered Offers” are solely $99. The corporate additionally has an “exclusive agent package” that prices $1,799, paid at closing. The bundle provides consumers as much as 5 excursions and two gives.
Clients utilizing the unique bundle who need extra excursions or to make extra gives are charged the à la carte worth for these extra companies.
A la carte and flat-fee companies are not new to the trade, and certainly have been among the many buzziest ideas in actual property over the previous few years.
However what could shock many within the trade is Sitzer’s involvement. Although it’s unclear what particular function he has in Landian, TechCrunch reported on Thursday — the day the corporate got here out of stealth mode — that Sitzer had “teamed up with Bryce Galen and Neal Batra.” Based on the TechCrunch profile of Landian, the corporate is designed to “take advantage of the new landscape.”
That new panorama stems from the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors’ landmark settlement that modified guidelines concerning agent pay. The settlement resolved a number of totally different antitrust lawsuits, considered one of which was often known as Sitzer | Burnett — a reputation that comes from its lead plaintiffs, together with Josh Sitzer.
Inman reached out to Landian Thursday with a request for remark. An organization spokesperson supplied to ship emailed inquiries to Galen, the CEO. Inman responded with a request for a telephone interview and had not heard again by the point of publication. This story can be up to date with any feedback the corporate supplies.
In any case, although, the corporate’s web site contains an exhortation for shoppers to “join the real estate revolution,” adopted by a quote from Sitzer.
“After our hard-won settlement paved the way for a new era of fairness and transparency, I’m thrilled to help launch Landian’s revolutionary flat-fee model for home tours and offer submissions, liberating homebuyers from the excessive commissions they were previously forced to pay,” Sitzer says on the web site.
The corporate’s web site moreover argues that it might probably save shoppers the “equivalent to a year of mortgage payments.” It additionally states that “sellers are increasingly declining to pay buyer agent commissions,” however that when sellers do supply buy-side commissions, consumers in the end nonetheless “pay agent commissions through the purchase price, which is higher than what a seller would otherwise accept for the property to receive the same net proceeds after commissions are paid.”
Customers can schedule a tour or make a proposal on a house by pasting a hyperlink to an inventory from one other web site, equivalent to Zillow, into Landian’s homepage.
Credit score: Landian
Along with working immediately with shoppers, Landian additionally contains an agent signup choice. Landian will not be a brokerage, and brokers who work with the corporate nonetheless have to hold their shingle some other place. However the web site does promise that brokers can “unlock a new era of success” by working with Landian.
Registration for brokers is free, however Landian’s web site doesn’t say how a lot cash brokers will make in the event that they do dwelling excursions or write contracts with the corporate. The web site additionally doesn’t say what number of brokers have signed up to date, or what sort of lag time shoppers may face when connecting with an agent for a tour or to make a proposal.
Brokers who write Landian gives will conduct “offer prep” classes with shoppers, in response to the corporate’s web site, throughout which they’ll talk about points equivalent to costs, phrases and contingencies.
“After the session, the agent will draft the offer and submit it to the seller (via a listing agent, if applicable) on your behalf,” Landian’s web site additional explains. The agent may also handle any counteroffers, offering steerage and assist till the supply is accepted, rejected, or expires. This service is offered for a flat payment, masking all features of the supply course of.”
Among the many trade modifications that resulted from the settlement in Sitzer’s and different circumstances is a rule that vendor’s brokers can now not make gives of compensation to consumers’ brokers inside their NAR-affiliated a number of itemizing service. The rule has raised questions on how precisely consumers brokers may receives a commission going ahead. One faculty of thought posits that they may receives a commission a lot as they’ve previously, with the caveat that brokers will merely have to speak privately to hash out commissions.
Nonetheless, one other faculty posits that sellers will — like Sitzer himself and different lawsuit plaintiffs — balk at paying consumers agent commissions and refuse to make gives of compensation. That will place the burden of paying for these brokers on the consumers themselves. Landian seems to be betting on this consequence, and that consumers will consequently gravitate to lower-cost choices.
Replace: This story was up to date after publication with extra particulars about Landian.
