A high-profile settlement to resolve nationwide antitrust lawsuits last year upended traditional real estate commission structures. Now a new startup is looking to capitalize with a tech-driven platform that lets homebuyers submit purchase offers without using an agent.
HomeBuyMe was founded in 2024 and launched its consumer service earlier this year in San Diego. The company is now expanding into the Seattle area this month.
The company’s platform allows buyers to create a purchase offer step-by-step with help from AI. It integrates with Docusign for contracts, and ensures offers are reviewed by processors and independent attorneys.
“This is a huge disruption to the entrenched homebuying process,” said Tim Harader, a Seattle-area tech vet and CTO at HomeBuyMe.
For decades, the U.S. residential real estate market operated on a model where the home seller paid the commission for both their listing agent and the buyer’s agent — typically 5-to-6% of the home’s selling price, split between the two agents.
- This system meant buyers rarely saw a direct bill for their agent’s services, but the costs were baked into the transaction price.
In March 2024, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) agreed to a $418 million settlement to resolve nationwide antitrust lawsuits. Plaintiffs claimed NAR rules forced sellers to pay inflated commissions by requiring offers of compensation to buyer’s agents.
- Sellers can still choose to offer compensation, but it’s no longer embedded as a default expectation in most Multiple Listing Service systems. Buyers are also now required to sign a contract with agents at the outset of a homebuying process.
Harader said the ideal HomeBuyMe customer is someone who has identified a home they want and is ready to make an offer — but also avoid the lock-in that comes with a buyer-agent relationship.
“They want to have more control over the process but they still need guidance in creating the offer and in navigating the important steps that come after the seller accepts,” he said.
Buyers using pay $499 to $899 per offer, though it’s free when making an offer on a partner builder’s property.
HomeBuyMe started with a consumer offering and is now making a B2B push by partnering with homebuilders, including Blackwood Homes, a real estate developer in the Seattle region.
Harader said homebuilders can use savings from the buy-side commission to offer additional value to customers through upgrades or cash-back incentives.
He said the company’s biggest competition is the status quo.
“The residential real estate buying process hasn’t changed in over 60 years,” he said. “Even with the new rules enacted in 2024 due to the NAR settlement, it will take some time for buyers and sellers to become aware of what they can do through HomeBuyMe and for us to earn their trust.”
HomeBuyMe’s value could be strongest for buyers who already know the home they want. But many buyers still rely on agents to find properties, get access to showings, or understand the broader residential real estate process.
The startup has raised money from angel investors and employs 22 people.
Harader previously worked at Microsoft for more than 13 years across two stints. HomeBuyMe CEO Bill Goldberg and COO Frank Martin (another Microsoft vet) are also based in the Seattle area.
