Home listings startup to market 1,600 new homes – for free

Richr.com isn’t charging the developer or buyer agent fees

Glenn Orgin and rendering of Paradise Gardens
Glenn Orgin and rendering of Paradise Gardens

Richr, a home listings startup that takes the listing agent out of the real estate deal, is partnering with a Homestead firm to list 1,600 new homes in South Florida.

Richr, a free platform for home sellers that launched earlier this year, is working with Cosmopolis Real Estate to list newly built homes at Paradise Gardens, Paradise Gardens 1, Modern Towers, Grand Palms, GrandVille Place and Vittoria Gardens in south Miami-Dade, said Richr founder and CEO Glenn Orgin.

Richr.com lists homes in the tri-county area on the Multiple Listing Service for free. If a buyer is represented by an agent, the seller would still pay the agent’s commission. The website is free to use, but will eventually generate revenue by selling advertising and financial products to help buyers and sellers finance their properties, Orgin said. The goal is to eliminate 6 percent commission fees that brokers charge for their services.

Cosmopolis, led by its principal broker Alicia Ale, is the first company to work with Richr since the startup began operating in January. The homes are located at:

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  • Grand Palms: single-family homes in Florida City near the entrance to the Florida Keys
  • GrandVille Place: three-story townhouses in Homestead
  • Vittoria Gardens: a townhouse community in Homestead
  • Paradise Gardens: a new townhome community with 143 homes between Cutler Bay and Homestead

At Paradise Gardens, for example, townhouses start at nearly $246,000 for a four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom home.

Some brokerages have aimed to cut costs for sellers by charging a flat fee rather than a commission, including Miami-based Home61, San Diego-based Home Bay and Purplebricks.

Among Richr’s future plans is to launch an investment platform that will allow homeowners to cash out of the equity in their homes or have investors finance a portion of their down payments in exchange for equity.