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Sawbuck Launches Online Real Estate Service in Greater Los Angeles

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 July 2009, 00:00 CDT

Adds Savings Guarantee, Home-Selling Service, New Website Features

WASHINGTON, July 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Online real estate broker Sawbuck Realty (http://www.sawbuck.com) today launched its real estate e-commerce service in the Greater Los Angeles area, covering Los Angeles and Orange counties, and the Inland Empire. The company also introduced a savings guarantee for buyers, a service for home sellers, and upgraded its website to include a Facebook-like news feed of homes for sale.

In conjunction with the launch, Sawbuck closed a $2 million series A financing led by A. H. Belo Corporation. Sawbuck will use the financing to continue its national expansion and enhance its website.

Sawbuck streamlines the home buying and selling process, without asking customers to compromise on either service or cost. Consumers start their home search on Sawbuck.com, where they can search by property type, neighborhood or address to find homes for sale, local market stats and recently sold properties. A Sawbuck advisor then connects buyers with experienced, vetted, local real estate agents, and streamlines their transactions.

Buyers working with Sawbuck receive unbeatable savings and coordinated service on mortgage and settlement from industry leaders such as Bank of America and First American. In addition to negotiating reduced fees for its customers, Sawbuck is the first real estate broker to subsidize every transaction for its home buyers. The result is a mortgage and closing cost package that saves customers thousands up front and hundreds more every year. It's all backed by the new Sawbuck Savings Guarantee, which promises $1,000 if a customer finds a better mortgage and closing cost deal.

With today's announcement, home sellers now can take advantage of Sawbuck's partner agent network by paying reduced commissions while a top listing agent markets their property locally and Sawbuck guarantees best practices in vital online marketing. Sellers receive a 20 percent refund of the listing commission at closing; for a $500,000 house that would normally pay a seller's agent commission of three percent, the savings would be $3,000.

"We decided to use Sawbuck to sell and buy a home," said Jeff Westphal of Alexandria, Virginia. "We were very pleased with our agent, as well as the savings, especially since we got a lower interest rate than we expected and saved several thousand dollars in closing costs. We could not have been happier with the whole process."

"I've been working with Sawbuck-referred clients for over a year now," said Cindy Holland, a top producing agent with Long & Foster in Washington, D.C. "Because they spend countless hours on Sawbuck's website before I talk to them, they are extremely knowledgeable about the local market. They also love Sawbuck's mortgage and closing cost savings."

"Sawbuck's consumer focus is perfect for today's real estate environment," said Lillian Pastora, a Sawbuck partner with RE/MAX Masters in San Gabriel Valley, Calif. "We look forward to working with their customers in our area."

Features of the new Sawbuck.com website include:

• News Feed: live market activity within search results -- new listings, price changes, contracts and sales -- much like Facebook's status updates. Sawbuck is the only company that does this.
• More views: see homes in a list, gallery or map view with an outline of the search area. When zoomed out in map view, close-together homes are grouped to represent more than one listing; and nearby areas show the number of matching listings, giving an accurate preview of homes for sale in other areas.
• Market Guide: an overall look at the local housing market, including total listings, new listings, price reductions, days on market, months of inventory, median sales price, contracts and total sales; filter by property type and number of bedrooms.
• Market Health Score: Sawbuck's unique score combines metrics for inventory, change in median sales price, "pull-through" (percentage of contracts that close) and "equilibrium" (the balance between new listings, price reductions, contracts and sales); compare the market health of any city, zip code or neighborhood in Sawbuck's coverage areas.
• Instant Updates: easily track cities, zip codes, neighborhoods or individual listings with email alerts or a custom RSS feed.
• My Sawbuck: a snapshot of rated listings, most recently viewed listings, saved and recent searches, and mini-market guides for favorite areas; quick link to set up home tours of your favorite listings.

"Our whole team has been hard at work for the last six months to bring the new site to life and prepare for expansion to the rest of the country," said Guy Wolcott, Sawbuck's CEO. "We're excited to unveil it to the public, and looking forward to working with home buyers and sellers in Southern California."

Since launching in January 2008, Sawbuck has completed more than $30 million in real estate transactions in the Washington, D.C. area. In 2008, Sawbuck was named "Most Innovative Brokerage" by Inman News for its compelling technology and unique business model.

About Sawbuck

Sawbuck Realty (www.sawbuck.com) is an online real estate broker that combines an industry-leading website with an award-winning, consumer-friendly business model. The company connects buyers and sellers with top local real estate agents, streamlines their transactions and saves them money at every turn. Buyers who work with Sawbuck's agent partners get a below-market mortgage with the lowest closing costs and settlement fees, saving thousands up front and hundreds every month. Sellers receive a 20 percent refund of the listing commission at closing; saving $3,000 on a $500,000 sale, with a typical seller's agent commission of three percent. Sawbuck's site, service and model provide radical transparency and consumer value that is unique in the world of real estate. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Sawbuck's network of real estate agent partners currently serve the Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Greater Los Angeles area markets. The company will expand into Texas and further into California this summer.

SOURCE Sawbuck Realty

Source: PR Newswire

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