Seller FAQ’s
In today’s supply constrained housing market, there are certainly more buyers than sellers. Buyers want to be able to compete to buy your home. Today, you start with a list price and then buyers guess at what it will take to buy your home. With SparkOffer, they no longer have to guess. Buyers can see what everyone is willing to pay and decide if they want to pay more in real time.
The short answer is no. As long as you sell your property to a buyer through SparkOffer, then the buyer pays our technology fee. If you decided to select a buyer outside our platform, then our fee would be due from you, the seller. It is a small .15% ($150 per $100,000) technology fee.
Your agent plays the same typical role in selling your home. SparkOffer is not a real estate agent, we are a transparent offering platform. It’s your choice on the type of agent, fee structure and service that you choose.
Your agent will still be listing your home on the MLS. SparkOffer becomes an additional platform that buyers see your home, but it does not replace the syndication offered from your agent. So your home will still be seen on Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, etc.
We realize that not all buyers are created equal, and you still may want the option to choose. SparkOffer’s terms afford you the ability to choose either the highest buyer, any other buyer, or no buyer at all.
This really depends on your agent's advice. If your goal is to maximize equity, you want to make sure that the highest probability of potential buyers can come see your home. That is not always in 3 days. We often suggest 7 days, but it is between you and your agent.
You handle showings in the traditional manner that you decide with your agent. Your schedule and style of showings is your personal choice.
You schedule your appraisals and inspections as you normally would, and you should be deciding with your agent if you are accepting appraisals or inspections as part of your sale.
We provide your agent with special instructions for use with the MLS. When you put your property on SparkOffer, you want to drive all your offers through the platform to give every buyer the opportunity to buy your home.
SparkOffer provides an online platform designed to connect sellers and buyers of residential real estate. It is not a real estate broker or auctioneer. We are not aware of any restrictions or legal impediments regarding the use of such online platforms in any state.
We are not responsible for any paperwork in your transaction. We have one form that you sign along with your listing agreement to agree to have your home on SparkOffer. The rest of the transaction has the same contracts and paperwork your agent is accustomed to in your local market. Our main difference is that instead of getting 10, 20, 30 offers that you have to sift through and present, you have a winning buyer and one contract at the end of your Event.
We only need you to sign the Seller Registration Form to give your agent permission for your home to be on SparkOffer.
Deal terms are 100% up to you and your agent. Imagine that you have one purchase contract with the exact terms that you want. Write those terms down, and they become your deal terms for your Event that all buyers offer against to win. Think of it like a transparent best and final.
Fortunately, your agent will have a list of qualified buyers that participated in your Event. Your agent can either contact one of them to put in another offer, or we can reoffer your home in a new Event. It’s up to you.
We are focused on transparency. First we encourage you to have all buyers participate on SparkOffer. But some simply do not want to and want to submit a “paper offer.” We also encourage agents to tell the buyers that you are committed to transparency and their offer will be posted on SparkOffer. But ultimately if you want to accept an offer outside of SparkOffer then that is your choice. Our technology fee simply reverts from the buyer to you.