Real estate tech company aims to replace

Posted: Aug 7, 2017

A real estate technology company that aims to lower the cost of home-selling by using robots and “big data” instead of commission-based real estate agents has opened a Long Island office — its first outside of California. REX Real Estate Exchange, which charges a selling commission of 2 percent instead of the usual 5 percent to 6 percent. The Los Angeles-based company expects to start listing New York-area homes on its website, rexchange.com, later this week. Traditional real estate fees “are just crazy high compared with every other industry in the United States,” said Jack Ryan, Rex’s chief executive and a former partner at Goldman Sachs. Decades ago, investment brokerages charged 12 cents a share for stock trades, but now they charge less than a penny, he said. Another new entrant to the housing market is EasyKnock, a Sag Harbor startup that is rolling out a website designed to match sellers with buyers without the intervention of brokers. In a typical home sale, the commission gets split between the seller’s and buyer’s brokerages. If a home sells for $300,000 and the seller pays a 6 percent commission divided equally, each brokerage receives $9,000 and pays out a portion of that to the agents. That could change once sellers and buyers discover how much they could save, REX’s Ryan said. For instance, he said, if the seller or buyer of a $500,000 home saves 3 percent on real estate brokerage fees, that adds up to $15,000. It's working brilliantly in southern California,” where the company closed 30 home sales in June, he said. Moreover, he said, when his home sold for $518,000, “we saved $21,000 by using REX. That’s indelibly inscribed in my head.” ;