Arkadiusz Halaj, a REALTOR® at Realty ONE Group serving Orange County, has found a new information advantage in a market with increasingly savvy clients. He uses predictive analytics from HouseCanary to delight his customers with insights they can’t get anywhere else.
“I started using HouseCanary religiously about a year ago. As a millennial real estate professional, HouseCanary was a no-brainer; the simplicity, data availability, and elegance of the market intel really blew me away,” he says. “It helped me increase my business because my clients saw me as the professional of the neighborhood, some before I even saw them face-to-face.”
Halaj had tried using other CMA programs in the past, but was turned off by the fact that most were longer than 100 pages, saying, “In this day and age, it’s tough to sift through that many pages of a market analysis.”
One of the things he loves about HouseCanary is the executive summary feature.
“I would have never thought you could fit so much valuable information on one page,” says Halaj. “It gives you home value, rental value, property information, recent similar sales graphs, purchase history, and value forecast. When I share the PDF with my clients, they’re always amazed as to the accuracy and simplicity of the report.”
However, his favorite thing about HouseCanary is that for the first time, he’s able to share market intel with a buyer rather than a seller.
“Most CMAs are geared toward the seller, showing everything from pictures of the comparable homes, market analysis, etc.,” says Halaj. “For buyers, there wasn’t a product that answered two simple questions in the same analysis: ‘How much could this house be worth?’ and ‘Once I purchase, what are some projections and forecasts for the future?’ Once I started sharing the value reports with my buyers, they loved it.”
Recently working with a client who was trying to decide between three homes, Halaj was able to assist in the decision-making process by pulling out the value report and showing the client that the home they loved most was listed for about $10,000 over the HouseCanary value.
“I decided to take that information and use it in my negotiations with the seller’s agent,” says Halaj. “Fast-forward 45 days, and my clients were in their brand-new home, which they bought for $10,000 cheaper.”
Best of all, HouseCanary allows his clients to have peace of mind, knowing that they purchased their home at the accurate market value.
“Imagine your client being on vacation and still being able to choose from 10-plus homes from their iPad,” says Halaj. “My clients know they’re getting the most aggregate and accurate data in the market. Plus, it’s free for them. I’ve never charged my client for a HouseCanary report. I use it as a real estate professional value-add.”
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