Pioneering cash offer service Flyhomes Inc. is shutting down its real estate brokerage business to focus on a national rollout of its Buy Before You Sell loan products through lender partners and third-party real estate agents.
“All Flyhomes brokerage operations will be discontinued by the end of the month as the company’s agents transition to another brokerage,” the company announced Wednesday. “All currently active brokerage clients will transition with their agents.”
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Going forward, Flyhomes “will concentrate its efforts exclusively on enabling lender partners to offer Flyhomes’ bridge financing solutions, including through third-party real estate agents,” the company said.
As a wholesale mortgage lender, Flyhomes Mortgage works with more than 30,000 mortgage brokers in 36 states, and “plans to expand into more markets in the coming months.”
Flyhomes recently closed a $15 million Series D raise and secured $200 million in warehouse funding to support a nationwide rollout of Buy Before You Sell.
Competitors include Knock Lending LLC, which works with lenders nationwide to provide homebuyers with up to $1 million in bridge financing, and Rocket Mortgage, which launched a bridge loan product in June that gives homebuyers up to six months to sell their home and make interest-only payments during that period.
Launched in 2016 by Tushar Garg and Stephen Lane, Flyhomes set out to provide end-to-end homebuying services through subsidiaries including Flyhomes Brokerage, Flyhomes Mortgage and Flyhomes Closing.
Flyhomes was a pioneer of power buying, launching a cash offer product in 2017 that allowed homebuyers to make cash offers to sellers before refinancing into a long-term loan provided by Flyhomes or another lender.
A $150 million Series C funding round in 2021 helped Flyhomes expand beyond its core markets of Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland and Boston. But as rising mortgage rates cooled home sales in 2022, Flyhomes announced three rounds of layoffs.
In 2023, Flyhomes stopped providing mortgages to consumers directly and launched what is now its main line of business — buy-before-you-sell solutions that are offered through a nationwide lender partner channel.
Closing down Flyhomes’ real estate brokerage arm is “the final step in the company’s strategic shift to a third-party distribution model,” the company said.
Adam Hopson
“Nearly two years ago we eliminated our direct-to-consumer mortgage business to avoid channel conflicts with our loan officer partners,” Flyhomes Chief Operating Officer Adam Hopson said, in a statement. “Today we’re doing the same on the brokerage side. We’re now laser-focused on driving the success of all loan officers and agents by giving their clients a simpler, more cost-effective path to buying their next home.”
Flyhomes’ backup offer lets homebuyers use the equity in their current home for a down payment, exclude their monthly mortgage payments when qualifying for their next loan, and make cash-equivalent, non-contingent offers with as little as 5 percent down.
Flyhomes had previously sold an AI-powered home search portal it launched last year to The Real Brokerage Inc.
The Real Brokerage disclosed in August that it paid Flyhomes $3.25 million for the search portal and related technology assets, and that it also took a 2.3 percent ownership stake in Flyhomes for $2.5 million — a deal that valued the company at $108.7 million.
As of 2023, Flyhomes Brokerage was doing business in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, Texas and Washington.
Flyhomes currently employs 15 real estate agents and brokers in Washington, 13 in California and three in Texas, according to records maintained by the Washington State Department of Licensing, the California Department of Real Estate and the Texas Real Estate Commission.
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