Buying a house is one of the biggest financial decisions you will ever make. It ranks alongside marriage and job changes in major monetary impacts on your life. Buying allows you to start growing your wealth while selling can give you a financial boost or increase your comfort by changing homes.
It’s surprising that so many people don’t take the time to carefully choose a Realtor – the representative who can get competitive bids from buyers and make sure offers are noticed by sellers. Each year, people hire friends and family members or simply pick a Realtor based on online reviews without interviewing them first. There has to be a better way.
This is where FastExpert comes in. This company makes it easier to choose a qualified real estate agent while lowering the risk that your Realtor of choice is a poor fit. Get to know this company, its competitors, and what FastExpert reviews have to say about using this tool.
What is FastExpert?
FastExpert is a site that curates real estate agents to make it easier to find the right one. With this site, you don’t have to worry about scouring Google reviews or checking out Facebook pages. These Realtors are pre-vetted and have a proven track record of success.
FastExpert has been in business since 2014. It is led by CEO Andrew Te, a business professional who has been on all sides of the real estate process and uses this knowledge to move the company forward.
FastExpert has a network of more than 50,000 agents, making it one of the top recommendation engines on the market. It has helped more than 500,000 clients find Realtors to work with. Through its agent network, FastExpert has put more than $9 Billion of property listings on the market.
How Does FastExpert Work?
The first step to working with FastExpert is to submit the zip code where you want to buy or sell into the search bar. That’s it. You don’t have to submit your address. You don’t have to share your email – and you definitely don’t have to submit your phone number.
FastExpert is different from other Realtor recommendation engines because it doesn’t take your personal information and share it with agents. You don’t have to worry about your phone blowing up just because you were browsing for Realtors. This creates a calmer, safer experience for buyers and sellers to look for real estate representatives.
FastExpert creates profiles for each Realtor the company works with that help you get to know them better. Immediately, you can see whether the agent specializes in your type of home and how many transactions they close each year. One key metric that they share is the average price point for homes the agent works with. This way you aren’t contacting an agent who is only interested in $800k+ buyers when your budget is $250k.
These profiles also contain personal information. You can find a Realtor who speaks your native language and who can break down complicated real estate jargon in simple terms. FastExpert also shares community groups the agent is associated with – like the local food bank or animal shelter. Agents can customize these profiles with relevant information about themselves and the types of clients they want to work with.
If you see a Realtor you like on FastExpert, you can message them through the site. You have the power to start each discussion and end it as you see fit. You are completely in control throughout this process.
How Much Does FastExpert Cost?
For buyers and sellers looking for agents, FastExpert is completely free. The company’s goal is to pair you with an agent who will sell your house for as much as possible or who will help your bid get accepted as a buyer. You can spend hours reading profiles and talking with agents and won’t have to pay for the service.
FastExpert does not use discount Realtors to attract users. Some websites require their agents to accept only 1-2% commission on the sale in order to win over customer business. However, this isn’t fair to the Realtor for multiple reasons. First, the other agent (buyer’s agent or seller’s agent) will still receive a 3% commission, which means one Realtor is getting paid more for the sale.
Next, a Realtor that isn’t getting paid as much as they could doesn’t have the incentive to perform their best and work carefully with clients. If you hire a discount Realtor, you might not get the service you expect. Finally, FastExpert wants to attract experienced agents who know their worth. As a seller, you can expect to pay six percent in commissions on your home sale. This is split evenly between the buyer’s agent and the seller’s agent.
Realtors don’t pay any start-up fees to work with FastExpert. If the lead closes on a home, they will give 25% of their commission to FastExpert. This is considerably lower than other recommendation engines, which can take between 35-40% of agent commissions at closing.
FastExpert Reviews Across the Web
Once you have a strong idea of what this company does, you can turn to FastExpert reviews to see if it delivers on its promises. First, start with its website. You can read nearly 8,000 verified FastExpert reviews from past customers. You can sort these reviews between buyers and sellers to read comments that are relevant to your needs. While this is a great place to start, you can also search for third-party reviews to make sure there isn’t any bias.
FastExpert, Inc. is an accredited company by the Better Business Bureau. It has an A+ rating with only two customer complaints in the past three years. However, there aren’t any reviews of the company published yet.
The next place to turn is Google. FastExpert has a 4.7-star rating out of 5 stars with 13 Google reviews (as of June 2023). This might be the best place to find objective reviews of the company itself. Agents and customers have left comments and shared their experiences with the company.
One of the biggest challenges of reading FastExpert reviews is that people often review the Realtors they work with, not the company itself. If you are trying to buy a house in Boise, it doesn’t matter how a Chicago Realtor performs. However, these reviews can highlight how the company strives to work with quality agents.
Another place you can check to learn about FastExpert is Glassdoor. The company has a 3.7-star rating out of 5 stars with nearly 80% of employees recommending this company. They have a smaller workforce so it makes sense that there aren’t a lot of reviews. However, this could be a good sign. Any concerns or complaints you have are more likely to be noticed by the customer care team.
FastExpert Competitors
FastExpert isn’t the only recommendation engine on the market. Here are a few alternative options you can consider in your process of hiring a Realtor.
Clever
Clever is one of the biggest competitors of FastExpert. This company is a big name in the real estate market. It promises that agents will sell your home for a 1.5% commission rate.
This could be a good competitor to consider if you are looking to save on Realtor fees. However, you want to make sure that you are maximizing the potential profits from the sale of your house and a more dedicated agent might push to market it at a higher price.
Redfin
Redfin used to be a big name in real estate. While the brand is widely recognized, the company has made some changes in the past few months to restructure. While you can hire a Redfin agent to sell your home for a 1% commission, this only applies if you then buy a house from that agent within a year. Redfin also ended its buyer perks, which means there isn’t an incentive to hire a Realtor through this company as a buyer.
Redfin is currently pivoting to attract more luxury clients. While you can still find quality Realtors through this company, they might not be as interested if you have an entry-level or middle-class home.
Effective Agents
Effective Agents relies on its algorithm to pair buyers and sellers with Realtors. You will submit information related to the type of home you want to sell and the area, then the company will recommend three or four agents from dozens in your area.
This is a good option if you don’t want to look at a lot of profiles. You can pick a pre-vetted agent quickly. However, if you don’t like the agents that this company recommends you will need to restart your search on another site.
Should You Work With FastExpert?
There aren’t any major red flags in FastExpert reviews that should dissuade you from working with this company. In fact, one of the main benefits in its favor is your privacy – your personal information is completely safe unless you decide to share it with a Realtor. This is great if you don’t want half a dozen Realtors trying to win you over at the same time.
Consider working with FastExpert to speed up the Realtor search and find an agent you can trust. Buying and selling a home is a huge financial decision, make sure you choose trust tech partners and quality Realtors from now through the closing process.