Knock Home Swap Reviews

Knock is an online real estate platform that functions as a lender and allows prospective home buyers to start their journey towards purchasing a home faster. 

Table of Contents:

What is Knock.com?

How does Knock Home Swap work?

What is the catch with Knock?

How much does Knock Home Swap charge?

Is Knock Different from an iBuyer?

Where is Knock Home Swap available? 

What is Knock Nest?

Is knock home swap legitimate?

How much are Knock Home Swap fees?

How do Knock’s fees work?

What is Knock.com?

Knock is an online platform dedicated to the purchase and sale of homes. The founding members of this company were all members of Trulia.com before moving on and starting their own company and platform. Knock brands itself as a technology company that has created innovative home loan products, such as the Knock Home Swap, which is a signature program that allows one to get approved for a mortgage prior to selling their old home. In a way, Knock is a lender and not just a real estate platform as they can provide potential homeowners with the assurance that they need to start planning the purchase of their next home. 

• Knock.com is a technology company that functions as a lender for homeowners
• They are partnered with Real Estate Agents located throughout the country
• Knock is not a free service but rather it has certain fees associated with their services
• Using Knock buyers can receive pre-approval for their mortgage and gain confidence in that way for when they go shopping. 

How does Knock Home Swap work?

One of the most popular programs available on Knock. Com is The Knock Home Swap, which empowers future buyers when they enter the real estate market looking for a new property. This is normally done before the buyers have even sold their original home for its maximum value. The way the program works is simple:

1. Get an underwritten home loan

After you have come in contact with Knock.com, they will prepare for you a new home loan which will include the down payment. This contact will be fully underwritten and will be given to the buyers so that they can start making offers without any delay.

2. Finding the right home

Once you have secured a winning offer on your dream home and there are no further sale contingencies you will be able to move into your new property. During this time the buyer will be responsible for paying their new mortgage and Knock will pay your old mortgage using the Knock Equity Advance. This will be done for up to 6 months.

3. Selling your Home

The maximum loan that Knock will provide you with to prepare your old house for sale is $25,000. With that amount you will be able to list your home in the open market, ensuring in this way that it will both sell fast and for a really good amount. After the sale of the house, you will be required to pay Knock back for the loan that they provided you with to secure your new home.

This program can be used for condos and town homes as well, the only prerequisite is that the home you are going to be selling is your primary residence. If you are looking to begin a new construction and get your new home that way then you can still use Home Swap. The caveat with this is that your builder will need to be funding most of the cost of construction before you close on the home. This is common practice so finding a builder that does that should not be too hard.

What is the catch with Knock?

The biggest thing to know before signing on with Knock is the amount that you will be called to pay for the service that they are providing. While on their website they state that their convenience fee or service fee of 1.25% is similar to most lenders’ origination fees that are not always the case. Many lenders have origination fees that are lower than that 1.25% and therefore in the end you may end up spending more because of the convenience of the service they provided. Additionally, you will need to also pay the fees to cover processing and underwriting the loan. 

Finally, not so much a catch but rather something to keep in mind is that Knock is only available in about 15 states right now. This means that while the service could be useful to you in theory, in practice it is very likely that you are not located in one of the cities where their programs are available. 

How much does Knock Home Swap charge?

Knock in general claims to offer competitive rates for all of their programs and that rate may vary depending on the one that you choose. For Home Swap specifically, they charge a 1.25% convenience fee on the price of the new home. This is as they say is similar to the origination fee often charged by other lenders. 

Another way in which Knock makes extra money from Home Swap is by selling your loan after closing in the secondary market, whether that be a bank or a loan service. This sale does not cost the borrower anything and it usually has no impact on any of the terms of your loan. The only change that you will be able to notice after this sale has been completed will relate to which lender you are sending your mortgage payment to. After your loan has been sold in the secondary market you will no longer need to make your monthly payment to Knock, instead, you will now need to be making it to the owner of your home loan or mortgage. 

Is Knock Different from an iBuyer?

iBuyer or instant buyer is a transaction model that is used by companies that purchase homes from individuals fast and for cash. Normally these sales lead to temporary ownership, as an iBuyer will always buy houses that they are able to resell fast. This means that if you are using an iBuyer you will have sold your home before you start looking in the market for the homes that are available for purchase in your area.  

Knock is different, as the home trade-in service does not include purchasing your old home. Instead, what they do is that they let you borrow the money without having ever sold you home. For this loan that they have provided, they will have you pay a convenience fee of 1.25%, which usually can be a larger amount than what you would be called to pay if you had a simple origination fee to pay. Apart from the fee associated exclusively with Knock’s services, those using the program should also be prepared to incur the cost for the sale of the property. Usually, this included some of the closing costs that you will need to pay including the real estate commission fee. 

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Where is Knock Home Swap available? 

Knock home swap has recently been expanded and it is now available in 15 different states. The locations in which knock can be used are: 

1. Washington

• Longview

2. Oregon

• Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro
• Eugene-Springfield
• Salem
• Albany-Lebanon
• Corvallis

3. California

• Bakersfield
• Los Angeles
• Orange County
• Riverside/Palm Springs
• San Bernardino
• San Diego
• Santa Barbara
• Ventura

4. Arizona

• Phoenix
• Prescott
• Tucson
• Yuma

5. Colorado

• Colorado Springs
• Denver
• Boulder
• Ft. Collins
• Greeley

6. Texas

• Austin
• Dallas-Fort Worth
• Houston
• San Antonio
• Sherman-Denison

7. Minnesota

• Duluth
• Minneapolis-St. Paul
• Rochester
• St. Cloud

8. Michigan

• Detroit
• Ann Arbor
• Flint
• Monroe

9. Illinois

• Chicago

10. Maryland

• Baltimore

11. Tennessee

• Knoxville
• Memphis
• Nashville

12. North Carolina

• Charlotte
• Raleigh-Durham
• Burlington
• Hickory

13. South Carolina

• Charleston
• Columbia
• Greenville
• Spartanburg

14. Georgia

• Atlanta
• Athens / Clarke County
• Gainesville
• Dalton
• Rome

15. Florida

• Cape Coral/Fort Myers
• Deltona/Daytona Beach/Ormond Beach
• Fort Lauderdale
• Jacksonville
• Lakeland/Winter Haven
• Miami
• Naples/Marco Island
• Bradenton/North Port/Sarasota
• Orlando
• Palm Bay/Melbourne/Titusville
• Port St. Lucie
• Punta Gorda
• Sebastian/Vero Beach
• Tampa
• The Villages
• West Palm Beach

What is Knock Nest?

Knock Nest is a new program offered by Knock. Those who have homes that qualify for the program can sell them to knock for cash. This means that they would be able to avoid taking on any extra debt and they would be able to sell their home quickly now that the real estate market is higher than it was previously. Those wanting to know if they qualify for this program will need to click on the “Gel qualified” button on the Knock nest page and begin their journey with Knock from there. 

Is knock home swap legitimate?

Knock is a completely legitimate business that provides buyers with home loans that allow them to start their journey towards buying their future home that much sooner. They also have loans available for sellers who need the cash to be able to list their homes. Their business is not only completely legitimate but also follows the same pre-approval process that most traditional mortgage lenders do. What makes their service different when compared to normal lenders are the two following aspects. 

• Knock Home Swap allows you to make a non-contingent offer on your new home even before you have sold your old property
• Knock will be able to cover your mortgage payment for the first six months. During this time, you will be able to find a buyer for your property and start repaying your loan in that way. 

How much are Knock Home Swap fees?

The Knock home swap fees on their own are not incredibly high. The convenience fee set by knock is 1.25% which can be more than what the origination fee from a lender would be, but that is not always the case. Since Knock home swap is essentially the start of your mortgage using this real estate service will not save you money on using a real estate agent. Instead, you will still be required to spend around 5-6% on the real estate agent’s commission. This is something to remember when choosing to use this service as it can oftentimes mean that you will need to pay more money than what you may have originally anticipated. 

How do Knock’s fees work?

While Knock makes money in two ways only one of them is associated with the prospective buyer. Prospective buyers who use Knock home swap should expect to pay a service fee of 1.25%. This fee replaces the origination fee that so many different lenders would request. Other services offered by Knock are charged at different rates depending on the service that it is. This is why it is always best to come into contact with Knock and to see the exact costs for what you are seeking to do. 

Apart from the fees that are strictly associated with Knock one needs to remember that they will also be responsible for all of the closing costs and for repaying parts of your mortgage. The real estate commission fee that you will be called to pay is one of the biggest of these costs and it can fall somewhere between 5 and 6%. When choosing whether to go with Knock or with a different available service this information can help guide your decision. 

Summary

Knock is a tech online home service that provides prospective buyers with the option to start their process of finding a new home before they sell their original house. This is because knock works as a lender and can provide them with a home loan that will then be sold on the secondary mortgage market. For those looking to start their journey towards homeownership faster Knock can be the perfect solution as it can allow them to use the funds necessary while taking their time to sell their home to the highest bidder.