A startup named Curbio wants to help homeowners sell for more by improving their properties before they go to market.
The twist is that the homeowner doesn’t have to pay for the renovations until settlement, meaning cash on hand isn’t an issue.
The Problem Curbio Wants to Solve
Say you want to sell your home, which you’ve lived in for the past 30 years. You think it looks great, but after a real estate agent stops by and chimes in, you get a rude awakening.
Apparently, the abundant doilies, giant draped windows, pink garage door, and outdated bathrooms and kitchen aren’t as fashionable as you thought.
You’re told the home you expected to list for $650,000 is better off being listed for $549,000. Ouch.
So do you chance it and defy the real estate agent’s best intentions and list for more, only for the property to stagnate on the market?
Or do you do as they say, lower the price, and then hope it sells, despite the many improvements needed?
Both scenarios probably don’t sound very appealing to the seller, and even if a buyer comes along, there’s a good chance there will be repair requests to get across the finish line.
This situation is all too common, and perhaps one of the reasons why iBuyers like RedfinNow and Zillow Offers have surged in popularity over the past few years.
The sell “as-is” thing worked when the housing market was on the up and up, but now that price gains have moderated, home buyers are looking for a better product.
And it just so happens that many properties going to market are like the aforementioned, in need of some serious TLC after years of neglect.
While an iBuyer will purchase your home as-is, they won’t do so at a premium. On the contrary, they’ll likely give you a lowball offer AND charge fees for repairs and so on.
Ultimately, none of these options are great solutions for the savvy home seller looking to capture maximum value for their property.
That’s where Curbio comes in, a company that describes itself as a “pre-sale renovation” company.
In a nutshell, they make renovations easier and more accessible for home sellers looking to boost their property’s value before listing it.
Curbio is comprised of licensed and insured general contractors in each of the markets they do business in, who also have connections to a network of vetted subcontractors.
Additionally, their team is stacked with experienced real estate agents, house flippers, and designers who know how to get maximum ROI on renovations.
You often hear that most home renovation projects don’t actually pay for themselves.
Curbio uses its expertise and proprietary technology to take the guesswork out of the equation and make the right improvements buyers in your area seek.
They refer to it as helping home sellers “flip their own home,” instead of accepting a lowball offer, only to see their home flipped months later by a savvy investor.
How Curbio Works
Assuming your home is located in one of their service areas, which currently includes Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, DC, Houston, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Tampa, you can request an estimate on their website.
They say they generally operate within a 40-mile radius of those cities, and expect to add Boston, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle over the next several months.
After submitting your property details, Curbio will provide you with a free estimate of proposed renovations to make your property more marketable, and importantly, more valuable.
The extent of the work will vary based on your home’s needs, but can range from kitchen and bathroom remodels to roof repairs, flooring and HVAC replacement, mold remediation, and more.
However, it should be noted that Curbio does have a $15,000 minimum project size.
With regard to pricing, Curbio says its uses a proprietary database of pricing data, which consists of national pricing from similar projects, adjusted for local markets. They believe this results in fair pricing.
Once the work begins, you’ll have a full-time general contractor who manages the project, along with an on-the-ground project manager to oversee the renovation work.
They will share real-time photo, text, and video updates to homeowners and their real estate agents via the Curbio app to see how the work is progressing.
Speaking of progress, Curbio aims to complete renovations a lot quicker, with projects about 60% faster than the average contractor thanks to their vast network and technology.
That reduces downtime and keeps agents happy, who may not want to work with a home seller who needs months to get their property to market.
What If My Home Doesn’t Sell After Curbio Makes Improvements?
- Home must be kept on the market until it sells
- With a 2% price reduction every 30 days if not sold during that time
- You can also pay Curbio directly for their work if you want to end the deal
- May make sense to shop around for other bids to see how Curbio pricing stacks up versus the competition
Now some of the what-ifs one needs to consider if using Curbio to make renovations.
Since they’re doing the work upfront for no charge, on the basis that they’ll get paid at closing, your home eventually needs to sell.
And they state their decision to take on a project is based on the homeowner’s equity in the property.
My assumption is they want you to have a healthy amount of it to allow for a flexible sales price.
Curbio does have an arrangement in place to ensure the properties do sell in a timely manner.
They say they’ll wait as long as it takes to get paid, and won’t charge additional fees or interest charges during that time.
And while there is no time limit, they do require that the list price be reduced by 2% after 30 days on the market, and an additional 2% every 30 days thereafter.
You must also agree to leave the home on the market until it sells, unless you choose to pay Curbio directly for their work.
The obvious downside here is that there’s no guarantee your home will sell for enough to cover the cost of renovations performed by Curbio.
But they seem confident that homes can sell for enough post-renovation to result in a healthy ROI.
I’m also curious if you can reside in the home while the work is being completed, or if you need to vacate the property.
You can always get an estimate from Curbio and then collect multiple bids from other contractors in your area to see how they all stack up pricing wise.
The downside is you’ll need to pay the other contractors upfront, though I’ve created a comprehensive list of the pros and cons of paying for home renovations via many different methods.
One could also argue that you should enjoy your home renovations before selling, so doing them early on may be more beneficial from a happiness standpoint.
The ideal situation is making renovations that benefit the homeowner while they’re in the property, and pay off once it comes time to sell.
(photo: Marco Verch)
I’m a realtor and I list houses. I am interested in knowing about your services, and particularly what happens after I get my client under a LISTING contract, where I get paid a a commission. In the past I normally listed the property with a 2 week to 4 week ‘delay’ before repairs actually got finished, and then I listed it and it hit MLS for offers. Any contractors would submit their bills to TITLE, who would then subtract the bills at close. Do you do the same thing?
Beware. This company is horrible and very unprofessional. They are attempting to do work without even pulling the proper permits. When I noticed that they didn’t have the permits and were covering up the work, they said, “Oh, we working on getting them.” This is illegal and totally unacceptable to install an entire HVAC system then close up the walls without any permit. They have left the jobsite dirty and trash has been outside for 5 months resulting in us getting a ticket and city violation for trash on the home exterior. The worker stole my mother’s brand new stair lift to help her get up stairs. I uninstalled it so they would not mess it up and they stole it. The also stole our antique safe and numerous personal items from the home. The alleged supervisor got mad because I made all the complaints in a professional manner and even included pictures showing evidence and that the work was being done very unprofessional and incorrectly. The tile person installed brand new tile on the walls and floors uneven and in the wrong pattern direction and Ashley Ogburn said they do not warrant or guarantee perfect work. She even tried to say that the age of the house is why they tiles are wrong. The gutted the bathroom down to the studs and installed brand new underlayment that was completely flat.
She got upset because I was raising issues about the job. The completion date was supposed to be 9/11/2022 and they blame a delay on the permits. The received the permit on 7/8/2022 and charged us almost $5000 saying it was expedited. When I looked on the city website, the permit was delayed because they made an error applying for it but refused to acknowledge this or adjust any costs associated with it.
I set up the entire project for my elderly mom because she is now disabled and can no longer navigate up and down stairs. We decided to remodel the house and sell it so she can have enough money to purchase a handicap accessible home to live out the rest of her beautiful life. Curbio is robbing her by sabotaging the construction, charging a premium to do the work, performing substandard and unprofessional work, and trying to circumvent the laws of the District of Columbia’s building and safety codes by not obtaining proper permits and conduct work up to standards and codes.
Do not allow Curio, Inc. to perform you renovation project. You are going to be taken advantage of and treated ill. They are trying to refuse to talk with me further because of all the complaints I’m making with them. I initiated the complaints in an efforts to resolve them and now the act as if I’m the enemy. I informed them that I have a Power of Attorney for my mother and her care and I am sorry if they believe that they don’t have to talk to me.
Curbio is not the company represented in their expensive marketing campaigns I hope this message reaches the masses so you will not have to go through the pains and problems that we are currently in. It’s going on a year and they are under 30% finish and I hope the city government will step in to help deal with CROOKIO…