Sawbuck Realty Launches Unique Online Home Search, Consumer-Friendly Business Model
Sawbuck’s “Free Mortgage” and “Free Settlement” are Industry Firsts
WASHINGTON, DC — January 30, 2008 — Online real estate broker Sawbuck Realty launched publicly today at
http://www.sawbuckrealty.com, offering homebuyers unique search tools and unprecedented access to real-time MLS property information. Additionally, Sawbuck’s groundbreaking “Free Mortgage” and “Free Settlement” services save buyers thousands of dollars at closing, hundreds every month, and six figures over 30 years.
Unparalleled Home Search Technology
Sawbuck’s technology sets a new standard for online home search. A live MLS connection ensures property data is always up-to-date. A map-based search interface updates listings instantly as buyers refine their search and scroll or zoom the map. At any point, buyers can easily save the search to share with others, post on a web site or set up instant alerts.
In addition to active listings, registered users can search and view sales comps. Any saved search can generate instant alerts for matching properties that come on the market, change price, go under contract or sell. Alerts are available online, by email or via a custom RSS feed.
“Information is power and we believe in giving buyers as much information as possible,” Sawbuck co-founder Guy Wolcott said. “We show you as much MLS data as we’re allowed: more than any other company. Then we give you the best tools around to search, filter and manage that data—better tools than most agents have.”
Sawbuck’s “Free Mortgage” and “Free Settlement”
Despite ever-larger commissions, most big real estate companies profit more from their in-house mortgage and title operations than from real estate. Sawbuck is turning this traditional model on its head.
Sawbuck has partnered with a major national lender to offer buyers a “Free Mortgage”: a below-market rate with no closing costs. Sawbuck uses a combination of negotiation and subsidy to give buyers the lowest possible rate—often as much as one-half percent below market—with no costs. Rather than making money on mortgages, Sawbuck subsidizes every loan to give its buyers an unbeatable deal.
Sawbuck’s revolutionary “Free Settlement” promises to deliver buyers the lowest possible settlement costs. At settlement, Sawbuck buyers pay only for title insurance and legitimate 3rd-party costs such as a survey, a title search or transfer taxes. These costs are never marked up, and buyers pay no fees of any kind — no settlement fee, no attorney’s fee, no document preparation fee, no title examination fee, no “junk fees”.
For example, on a $500,000 home purchase, Sawbuck buyers save $5,000 up-front, $92 every month on their mortgage, and $178,000 over 30 years. Every listing on the site breaks down the savings buyers can expect to realize at closing.
Use an “Xpert Agent”
Unlike other online brokers, Sawbuck believes that a great local agent is critically important when buying a new home. “They can help you find a better house, strike a better deal and have a less-stressful experience,” Wolcott said. “We can’t replace that with phone-based agents sitting in an office building—and we don’t try.”
Instead, Sawbuck uses its exclusive “Xpert Agent” process—objective criteria to identify and partner with the leading agents and agent teams serving each local community, without regard for the broker they represent. Sawbuck buyers work with a top local agent who knows the area, neighborhoods and homes they like. “Our buyers benefit from their local experience, local knowledge and local reputation,” said Wolcott.
Because Sawbuck doesn’t profit from mortgage or title operations, and has no cadre of local agents to support, its interests are totally aligned with its buyers. “We want homebuyers to get the best of everything—best tools, best agent, best mortgage, best settlement, biggest savings—while giving up nothing,” said Wolcott.
At launch, Sawbuck serves the greater Washington DC/Baltimore market, including Maryland, DC and Northern Virginia, with plans to add five new cities this year and ten more in 2009.
About Sawbuck Realty
Sawbuck Realty (www.sawbuckrealty.com)
is a web-based real estate broker headquartered in Washington, DC. Sawbuck’s unique business model: 1) empowers buyers with the best search tools, technology and information; 2) connects buyers with the very best local agents; 3) gives buyers a below-market mortgage with no closing costs; and 4) negotiates the lowest possible settlement costs for buyers. Sawbuck and its network of real estate agent partners currently serve the Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC markets.
Press Contact
Steve Cook
scook [at] sawbuckrealty [dot] com
Direct: (202) 257-3652