- A legal ruling about how real-estate agents are paid has opened new possibilities in real estate.
- Home sellers have more flexibility in how and how much they pay their agents and buyers' agents.
- These startups promise to save home sellers money compared to the traditional commission structure.
Last year, a landmark court decision rocked the real estate world.
The National Association of Realtors, which represents 1.5 million agents nationwide, settled multiple class-action lawsuits over claims that its practices unfairly drove up commissions for both homebuyers and sellers.
As a result, NAR created new rules that give sellers more flexibility in how they pay their agents. Instead of home sellers paying the standard 5% or 6% of a home's purchase price — which pays their agent, who in turn passes along half to the buyer's broker — sellers now have more options that could reduce those costs. Also as a result of the settlement, buyers may be more likely to have to cover their broker's fee themselves.
In reality, not much has changed so far. Many real estate brokerages have found workarounds to ensure their agents keep getting the highest commissions. Only 6% of sellers listed their homes for sale by owner, and 86% of homebuyers still used an agent, NAR found, according to 2024 NAR data.
Startups have long tried to challenge the traditional model of buying and selling homes and its reliance on real estate agents. The court settlement gives their missions new relevance.
For example, a newly launched online marketplace called Galleon allows sellers to list their homes for sale by owner.
Listwise, meanwhile, allows sellers to put out a call for their dream agent, including the level of experience they desire and their ideal commission structure. Agents then bid for the opportunity to sell the home, and the seller has the option to choose one offering lower fees.
Below are six startups, listed in alphabetical order, that are trying to save home sellers money by shaking up the role and pay of the traditional real estate agent.
Galleon
Think Craigslist, but for homes — that's the idea behind Galleon.
Galleon is an off-market, for-sale-by-owner residential marketplace that lets homeowners name their prices to see if any buyers bite.
"We believe that there should be a free and open consumer-led marketplace," Amanda Orson, the CEO and founder of Galleon, told BI.
While similar to platforms like Zillow and Redfin, Galleon removes brokers and agents entirely — a move the company said can save sellers $30,000 or more, presuming a typical 6% commission.
Galleon doesn't post days-on-the-market data for its listings, which Orson said gives sellers "no incentive not to try" going without a broker. On traditional platforms, a high days-on-the-market figure on a listing might lead prospective buyers to think a property is either priced too high or that something is wrong with it.
Creating a listing on Galleon's app or website is free.
For $299, sellers can upgrade their listings with professional photography, a digital yard sign with a QR code so sellers don't have to post their phone numbers publicly, and featured placement on Galleon's website for added visibility.
For those wanting more support, Galleon's $899 package includes tools like a scheduling calendar for inspections and appraisals, an offer management dashboard, in-app e-signing, and access to legal support — all aimed at simplifying the sales process and cutting down out-of-pocket costs for the seller.
"We don't think there is a future without agents," Orson told BI. "We think that there is a minority of people who want to be able to transact without one. That's who we're here to support."
The platform is free for home buyers and available nationwide.
Listwise
Listwise isn't trying to push real estate agents out of the picture — its aim is to help home sellers find the right one.
The platform, aimed primarily at sellers, uses an incentive-based commission model designed to boost competition between agents and improve transparency for home sellers.
Here's how it works: On Listwise's digital platform, sellers share the commission amount they're willing to pay a listing agent and what they're looking for in one — including number of years of experience, importance of local market knowledge, or whether they prefer someone from a big-name brokerage or a smaller local firm. Sellers also propose how much they are willing to pay the buyers' agent.
Listwise then matches the sellers with qualified listing agents in its network who meet those preferences.
Each listing agent then bids for the listing by submitting a personalized offer that includes their commission charge. If a seller chooses one of those agents and the home sells, that agent pays Listwise a referral fee or commission for helping them win the business.
Off-Markt
Alison Bernstein first got the idea for a real estate app when a friend sent her a fitness influencer's Instagram video.
Bernstein liked the flow of the influencer's apartment and messaged her directly to see if she'd be interested in selling. They ended up closing an off-market deal. Bernstein then found an off-market buyer for her own apartment.
It inspired her to create an Off-Markt, an app with an Instagram-like interface that lets homeowners show off their spaces and attract prospective buyers year-round — without ever formally listing them.
"The consumer should own the story of their home. They should own that digital footprint," Bernstein, who is based in New York City, told Business Insider.
On Off-Markt, a user creates profiles for their home. They can post photos showing off the best features of their property. Bernstein's hope is that homeowners feel like they can "own the narrative" of their space and better attract future buyers.
"The average consumer is very savvy," Bernstein said.
Real estate agents create a profile on the app for $50 a month and offer their services to users who might need extra help.
Off-Markt declined to share how many homes and cities are currently listed on the site.
Redy
Josh Altman, a real estate agent featured on "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles," cofounded Redy in 2020 to encourage transparent competition among agents.
On Redy, agents compete for the opportunity to sell your home by offering incentives like a "cash bonus" and competitive commission prices.
"For the first time, sellers get paid cash to pick an agent; as a result, agents are directly invested in the sale," Altman said in a 2024 press release. "All agents have the opportunity to own local seller listings, which will, in return, help them own the local market they operate in and level the playing field for listings. When you own local seller listings, you own your local market."
Kenneth Bloom, who used Redy to sell two homes in Michigan, told BI in 2024 that he appreciated having agents come to him. Otherwise, he said, he would've had to do a lot of legwork to find the right person to sell his homes.
He said he was able to find an experienced agent who was familiar with his area and could get his homes sold fast, which was a priority for him. He ended up finding a buyer for one of the homes in one day through the agent he found on Redy.
Bloom said he received a $1,200 cash bonus for the first house he sold through Redy and $1,040 on the second. He estimated he saved nearly $10,000 on broker commissions between the two transactions.
Ridley
When the tech entrepreneur Mike Chambers wanted to sell his Boulder, Colorado, home in February, he didn't see the point in using an agent.
He described his five-bedroom, four-bathroom home as a "turnkey house in a desirable neighborhood." He wasn't sure how much an agent would have to do besides uploading the home's photos online and unlocking the door for tours.
So Chambers listed the home himself for $2.725 million and started an Instagram called @realtorshateme to document his for-sale-by-owner adventure. The account, which has nearly 18,000 followers, quickly drew the ire of local Boulder agents. Chambers told BI he saw videos of agents on social media saying they wouldn't take clients to his house.
Chambers found an out-of-state buyer through Instagram, but his family ultimately decided to pull their house off the market and stay in Colorado.
The experience opened Chambers' eyes to the possibilities of — and appetite for — a broker-less way to sell your home.
Enter Ridley, a new app that's set to launch by the end of May. It will offer homeowners a suite of AI agents who can help people who want to list their property for sale by owner, or FSBO.
"Technology has basically made almost every step of this process more efficient, and there's been no reflection in the price or in the costs associated with these transactions to reflect that," Chambers said.
The AI agents can do things like write a listing description or book photographers. Sellers would pay a one-time fee of $999 or $1,999 to add an on-call lawyer.
"A product like this that empowers consumers to take control of this process and save lots of money is really good," he added.
Turbohome
Turbohome is a real-estate brokerage that pays agents a salary rather than a more typical commission-based compensation and gives buyers the option to pay a flat fee.
"They have healthcare, they have a salary, and they have consistent work," Ben Bear, Turbohome's cofounder and CEO Ben Bear, said of his agents.
"It's appealing for people who just like working with clients without that pressure of knowing how they're going to pay their next rent check," he told BI in 2024.
Instead of paying a percentage commission, buyers pay a flat fee to the Turbohome agent — between $5,000 and $10,000 — and the commission given to the agent is then credited to the buyer.
Turbohome's site has a "cash back calculator" that shows buyers their refund based on a home's price. For example, a buyer would be refunded $35,000 on a $1.5 million home purchase.
Arnab Dutta used Turbohome to buy a home in the Bay Area in 2024 after trying the traditional route without success in years past, and his offer beat out other offers because he said the seller didn't have to pay his agent's commission, he previously told BI.
Turbohome launched in 2024 and had raised $3.85 million as of March. The brokerage currently operates in California, Texas, and Washington.
