One of the biggest obstacles current homeowners face in obtaining their dream home is navigating that in-between time, when they’ve found the home they want, but haven’t sold – or perhaps even listed – their current house.
An Atlanta-based online real estate company called Knock, which aims to help solve that challenge with what it calls home swapping, has announced an expansion into the Jacksonville market.
Knock offers what it says is a competitively priced mortgage and an interest-free bridge loan, which covers the down payment on the new home, home prep and up to six months of mortgage payments on the old house.
"At Knock, we are leveraging technology to flip the process, allowing homeowners to make a non-contingent offer on the home they want before they even list their current house. It's given thousands of homeowners the confidence they need to make the move that's right for them," said Knock co-founder and CEO Sean Black in a news release.
Knock is entering the Jacksonville market as housing values are going up fast. Home values rose 13.7% in May year over year to a median price of $272,909, according to a Zillow report released Wednesday.
Knock now has 14 Florida metro areas in its 10-state coverage area, including Daytona Beach, Orlando, Miami, Naples and Tampa.
Knock says it makes its money by working with realtors, charging their clients a 1.25% convenience fee on the purchase price of a new home. Knock says that’s comparable to the origination fee that other lenders charge.
Nationwide, the Knock Home Swap is available through 215 real estate brokerage firms with 90,000 agents in Arizona, Southern California, Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
Knock plans to expand to more than 100 markets by 2023. The company was launched in 2015 by the founding team members of Trulia.com, another online realty company that Zillow acquired in 2015 for $2.5 billion.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
