REX Real Estate Reviews – Is REX better than the MLS

Table of content

• Facts About REX’s Pricing Model
• Terms Of Service Of REX Real Estate
• REX Doesn’t Utilize The MLS
• Dealing With Different Customer Service Representatives
• REX Real Estate Reviews
• Alternative to REX Homes
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Is Rex a legit company?
• How does Rex real estate work?
• How much does REX cost?
• Is Rex owned by Zillow?
• Is Rex Real Estate profitable?
• Is Rex better than Redfin?
• How much do Rex agents make?
• Who is Peter Rex?
• How was REX started?
• Who are REX’s top competitors?
• What are the pros and cons of REX Real Estate?
• Pros
• Cons
• The Bottom Line

REX Real Estate, also known as REX Homes or REX real estate exchange, is an open door price brokerage company that lets clients work with licensed realtors for a low price. Their agents assist the clients in buying properties in selected markets in the US.

REX prides itself on a much more affordable fee of only 2.5% in exchange for customer support and services. That’s because most clients pay realtors a commission fee of 5-6% of the total home price.

At first, this looks like a fantastic deal, but once you check closer, you can discover some considerable problems, making it vital to weigh if REX is worth the risk.

Facts About REX’s Pricing Model

As mentioned, the REX agency only charges you a 2.5% commission. This fee will then cover all the transactions, making it affordable. But some REX reviews contest that.

You can actually negotiate with your broker rather than providing a commission for the buyer’s agent. Thus, this commission may be unnecessary. So if you’re paying the said percentage at REX, you’re more likely to be wasting money for a lower-priced service elsewhere.

And to combat such, REX argues that the commission fee is fair for their out-of-the-ordinary marketing efforts. However, that’s not 100% assurance that you’ll close a deal that you want.

Terms Of Service Of REX Real Estate

One critical factor you need to remember on REX’s terms of service is that they also charge like a traditional realtor. This means they only charge you when your home gets sold—no upfront fees.

However, REX realty requires an exclusive listing period. Exclusive listing refers to authorizing only one agent to represent you, and this means you assign REX as your sole agent upon signing a contract with them. Some REXhomes reviews say that the exclusivity could last for three to six months.

What’s worse about this is paying for fees when canceling your agreement earlier than what was agreed. With such, understanding the terms of service of REX Homes is essential.

REX Real Estate Doesn’t Utilize The MLS

REX Real Estate Exchange uses AI and data for its marketing strategies. They also use such automation to make the process of REX home sales streamlined.

REX exchange boasts its capacity of acquiring 50,000 potential buyers in a specific region. This means they’re beyond traditional real estate agents who only have hundreds of target buyers.

The catch is, listing with REX company decreases your chances of exposure to more markets as REX doesn’t use Multiple Listing Service or MLS. This listing service is where you can find other real estate brokers.

With their method, they target potential property buyers who don’t have agents. They use their websites, social media, and other forms of digital marketing, excluding MLS.

As a result, you may miss out on your chances of selling to homebuyers represented by their agents, who useMLS as their primary search and notification tool. What’s even worse is that potential clients may not even be aware that your property exists.

Dealing With Different Customer Service Representatives

As the subheading sounds, listing in REX means you get to communicate with different customer reps throughout the process. For instance, staff A assists you with the property inspection while staff B processes your documents.

While this customer service model could make their system efficient, it also brings many issues such as miscommunication. Real estate is already a complicated process, and juggling misinformation is the last thing you need.

On top of that, customers may have to retell information to the other employee if the first employee didn’t relay the information. Remember the game of telephone as a kid? This could only add to customer frustrations.

REX Real Estate Reviews

While you may find good testimonials on REX’s website, it’s also essential to look at third-party review sites. For instance, Yelp has a 2.33 rating for REX. Out of the three reviews from the customers, two of them left lengthy reviews with a 1-star rating each.

One says that a REX agent has little knowledge of real estate contract law and other listing essentials. Moreover, the previous client says that REX isn’t transparent on all the offers being made; they only present one or two offers.

Another REX real estate review states that they have mispriced REX properties compared to other houses in the same area.

There are more bad reviews about REX that you need to check. That way, you can weigh if signing up with them is worth it.

Alternative to REX Homes

In case you want to reconsider REX’s home selling service, you can try Richr. This agency supports both the purchase and sale of properties; they have full support to help you throughout the process until you close the deal.

What’s more, is that you can enjoy a 2% cashback when you purchase a home from them while offering a commission-free online brokerage. On top of that, they use MLS to attract more home buyers to your property.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Rex a legit company?

Yes. REX is a legitimate company accredited back in 2018 that is authorized to employ licensed realtors, though their advertising is overpromising and misleading.

How does Rex real estate work?

REX realty has a non-traditional process for selling real estate properties.

REX customers provide their residential address, home specifications, and specific listing dates. Almost all of the interaction between the customers and the realtors is done online. This includes their logistics like open houses, documents, tools, offers, and others.

Once the offer has been made, the realtors with REX schedule a face-to-face appointment with the client. That way, they can inspect the client’s home and come up with a final sale price.

Once agreed, the clients then need to enter a listing contract. As a result, REX will put pictures of the property on their platform and other third-party websites such as Zillow and Trulia.

But, they won’t add rex homes for sale to the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) since REX heavily depends on digital marketing to promote properties and attract buyers.

Once REX discovers an interested customer, they will take care of the showing logistics and open houses. Then, the realtors from REX will assess whether a buyer’s offer is a fair price. If not, they will provide counteroffers until both clients and buyers arrive at a reasonable value.

How much does REX Real Estate cost?

According to REX’s advertisements, they have a flat rate of 2.5%, which is supposed to shoulder all the transactions from both parties. Thus, you should only pay the said amount. But that’s far from the truth.

The 2.5% rate is only applicable when REX connects the seller with homebuyers who don’t have agents yet. According to reviews, REX charges a total of 5-5.5% rate where 2.5% goes to the commission of the buyer’s agent and listing fee. This means that if you close a sale with a price below $360,000, you need to pay an additional 2.5% listing fee and at least a $9,000 fee.

Is Rex owned by Zillow?

The short answer is no.

Zillow has two listings on their website: “Agent Listing” and “Other Listing.” For properties to appear on the first listing, the agency should belong to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and REX isn’t a member. Thus, REX falls under the category of “Other Listing,” which means the company sits next to For Sale By Owner properties, non-NAR realtors, and foreclosure houses.

Is Rex Real Estate profitable?

Even without a pooled investment, they had a $45 million Series C round when they started REX real estate company. As of this writing, the company has total funding amounting to $80 million from big names and private investors. These include Richard Schulze, Amil Singhal, Scott McNealy, Gordon Segal, and many others.

As for their revenue, they almost hit $60 million for the second quarter in 2021. This is much higher than REX’s revenue in the second quarter of 2020—less than $20 million.

Is Rex better than Redfin?

While both are in the real estate industry, the two are pretty different from each other. Redfin has a referral fee network, while REX provides savings both for homebuyers and sellers. Although REX claims to offer more, it’s still an agency that centers on the consumer’s demand. Their services include the usual real estate agency duties like online home listing, third-party real estate listings, and online marketing.

However, REX home selling doesn’t use MLS in advertising, making it the agency’s biggest downside. Thus, homebuyers represented by their agents need to spend on the buyer’s fee using their own money. This means that REX has more control in terms of listing data distribution. This also gives REX the ability to save from the 6% commission it charges.

Alternatively, Redfin refunds all the buyer’s portion of the commission that it gets, giving sellers some savings from the listing. And as mentioned, Redfin serves as an online referral fee network, making it unable to provide real estate services.

How much do Rex agents make?

On average, realtors from REX Real Estate make about $40 per hour, which is higher than the national average by 81% in the US. This information comes from various sources, including company employees and previous and current job openings from the past 36 months on employment websites. Take note that the figure given is merely an estimate based on external information. Such information is provided for mere generalization and comparison; wages may differ depending on the State’s law.

Who is Peter Rex?

Peter Rex is no other than the CEO and the founder of REX Real Estate. His expertise comprises business investments, technological advancement, and real estate sectors. He also co-founded InvestRes in 2010, which was formerly known as Avesta.

InvesRes started in Tampa, Florida with several business ventures, property management companies, and residential properties. Currently, InvestRes possess $1.5 billion assets under its name with 17K residential units. It now employs 400 working individuals from the states like Colorado, Florida, Texas, and Arizona.

How was REX started?

The genesis of REX started in 2015. Its goal was to bring residential real estate closer to its aspirations by leveraging AI and big data. These technologies aim to outdo legacy real estate practices to impart better processes for buyers and sellers with only a third of the cost.

The whole system includes machine learning technologies that pair up buyers and sellers who fit each. This system is faster than its competitors.

Who are REX’s top competitors?

Like any other company, REX has top-ranking competitors such as the following:

• Opendoor: Opendoor may be the biggest competitor of REX. It’s a publicly traded company that started in 2013 and oversees a property management sector. Unlike REX, Opendoor is more prominent in terms of employees as they have 900 more.
• Knock: This company was founded in 2015. Like REX, Knock competes in the real estate industry and currently produces $50 million more than REX.
• Homie: A private company that first started in Utah around 2015, Homie operates in the real estate service sector. Despite being a private agency, Homie remains very competitive in the market. Moreover, it has 340 more employees than REX.

What are the pros and cons of REX Real Estate?

Just like any other company, REX comes with several advantages and disadvantages. Here’s a deep dive list of their pros and cons:

Pros

• Offers full-service agents and team
• Provides in-house financing and takes care of different procedures for closing a deal such as a title and escrow, inspections, staging, etc.
• Gives full-service for property listings on their website and a commission of only 1%, which is provided as a refund on properties that are not listed on the agency’s website
• Lets customers have access to online dashboards for listing, touring, and price offering purposes

Cons

• Have a reputation problem among previous customers
• Doesn’t offer MLS listing, which might decrease the property’s visibility
• The agency’s method is deemed to have a high rate of failure

The Bottom Line

REX Real Estate seems pretty promising, but their advertisements are often misleading, as noted by REX real estate complaints from previous clients. Most promotions don’t reveal all the charges for their services and all other cons mentioned above. With such, it may be best to check your alternative listings.