Knock Real Estate helps you to unlock a portion of your home's equity to purchase a new home. They serve in 75 markets in 25 states in the US.
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Pros
- You eliminate the hassle of moving twice.
- Knock provides $35,000 to cover repair and stage costs, repayable at closing.
- If you don't find a buyer within 6 months, Knock purchases your home.
Cons
- You may end up paying more than you save with this service.
- Knock is overpriced compared to their competitors.
- You can't work with Knock if your house needs major repairs.
- Their backup offer doesn't provide FMV of your home.
Knock Real Estate is an online mortgage lender. They offer a unique swap program. This program allows you to purchase a new home using the equity of your current home. Once you move, you can sell your old home and pay back to Knock.
This approach works best for people with a low debt-to-income ratio due to the mortgage on their current home. You can unlock up to $650,000 of your home’s equity. Knock also lends you up to $35,000 to help you sell your house.
Knock even purchases the house themselves if you don’t find a buyer within 6 months. But their cash offers are only 80% of your home’s fair market value. Moreover, Knock’s 2% convenience fee is an addition to the overall seller-related costs.
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✍️ Editor’s Take: We recommend you to weigh Knock’s approach with the alternative ways. Knock charges a 2% convenience fee which is thousands of your home’s equity. Check the alternatives of Knock.
Is Knock Real Estate Legit?
Yes. Knock Real Estate is a legitimate lender with their headquarters in New York. The company was founded by Sean Black and Jamie Glenn in 2015. To date, Knock has helped 3,800+ homeowners eliminate the need to move twice with their Home Swap Equity Advance program.
Knock connects you with a real estate agent to help you buy and sell. They have collaborated with real estate agents to do so. Knock also partners with mortgage lenders to help you compare the rates of different mortgage lending companies.
How Does Knock Home Swap Work?
Knock is a tech-centric platform that allows you to complete most of the tasks online. This makes the overall process easy and efficient. Here’s how the process with Knock.com works:
- Qualify For Pre-approval: Submit your information to get pre-approval. Knock gives you an estimate of the equity you can use within 48 hours.
- Close on the Home You Want to Buy: Make an offer with the equity you unlock. Once you close on your new home, Knock takes over the mortgage payments of your old home.
- Sell Your Old Home: You can now sell your home the traditional way. Knock lends you up to $35,000 to help you with repair and staging.
- Pay the Equity: Settle down all the expenses that Knock has incurred once you close your old home. You also need to pay a 2% convenience fee to Knock.
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👉 Important: Knock gives you a 6-month period to sell your house. If you can’t find a buyer, Knock will purchase it for cash.
Eligibility Criteria with Knock
Knock has stringent eligibility criteria for their Home Swap program. So, if your house is in a 55+ community, or has severe water or foundation damage, you can’t sell with Knock. Moreover, they also don’t deal with houses that are distressed, bank-owned or don’t have similar sale data.
It is probably because they extend a purchase offer. According to this, Knock purchases your house if you don’t find a buyer in 6 months. To make most of the profit, Knock only deals with homes that are in good condition.
Knock Real Estate Locations
Knock operates in 75 markets across 25 states in the country. According to their website, they are set to expand to 6 additional markets.
What are Knock Home Swap Fees?
Knock charges you 2% of the list price of your old home. This fee is similar to the origination fees you pay to other lenders. You’ll also have to pay regular closing costs, including agent’s commissions, HOA fees, attorney fees, transfer fees, escrow charges, and other expenses.
So, you’ll have to spend around 9.5% to 17% of your home’s value. If your home’s estimated sale price is $400,000 you’ll have to pay $38,000 to $68,000. With that, if you opt for Knock’s repair fund, you’ll have to return that as well.
Knock Real Estate Customer Reviews
Based on 57 reviews, Knock.com has a 4.3 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot. The positive reviews of Knock Home Swap praise their excellent services and prompt responses. Conversely, their negative reviews complain about undisclosed charges and spam calls.
Knock Positive Reviews
✅ Victoria was happy with Knock’s services. She found their representative to be knowledgeable and prompt. Moreover, she also praised Knock’s tech which made the overall process seamless.
Unlike the local lender we were originally working with, Tammie Brethower with Knock was easily available with a knowledgeable answer and a friendly voice. A winning combo. The online application was as easy as a complicated process can be and the app made for transparent status tracking. Everyone needs to make their own assessment whether the fees are worth it. For us it was. Thanks, Knock!
Source: Trustpilot
✅ Virginia found Knock’s representative prompt with their responses. She was satisfied with Knock’s services and would recommend them to her friends and family.
Dom Roher and his team were the ultimate in professionalism. Every call was answered or promptly returned. Every question was promptly answered. We had an excellent experience at closing. All numbers matched up perfectly. I would not hesitate to recommend Dom Roher and Knock Lending to any friend or relative.
Source: Trustpilot
Knock Negative Reviews
❌ Emily had a horrible experience with Knock. She felt she was kept unaware of some additional charges.
Knock calls and says – sorry, the loan isn’t going to go through unless you can get an additional $25k that we forgot to tell you about until now. You don’t have an additional $25k lying around. So the loan falls through, you lose the house, $12k earnest money, and there’s no recourse.
Source: Trustpilot
❌ Kelley highlighted how she received spam calls after completing the online form. She also accused Knock of selling his information.
We considered using knock given the current market conditions. WE both opted out of emails. Both of us are enrolled in the national do not call registry. Since submitting our application we have each received 30 plus sales calls from different companies daily. This has affected my work productivity. This is unacceptable and a bold face lie. Do not complete the app electronically. Knock sells your information many times.
Source: Trustpilot
Knock Real Estate: Pros and Cons
Let’s evaluate the pros and cons of Knock Real Estate to see if they’re the ideal choice for you.
👍 Pros
- Hassle-free Process: Knock Home Swap Advance Equity program eliminates the need to move twice.
- Single Mortgage Payment: You can either roll your current mortgage into your new one or you can pay it in cash at closing.
- Guaranteed Purchase Offer By Knock: If you can’t find a buyer within 6 months, Knock purchases your home with a cash offer.
- Mobile App: Knock has built a mobile app to offer flexibility and ease through transactions.
👎 Cons
- Overpriced: You have to pay an additional 2% to sell your home with Knock.
- Stringent Criteria: Knock has stringent criteria for the homes they deal with.
- Limited Coverage: Knock currently serves in 75 markets of the country.
Knock Home Swap Competitors
» Jump to: Knock vs. Orchard | Knock vs. Homeward | Knock vs. HomeLight
1. Knock vs. Orchard
Orchard’s ‘Move First’ program offers the same services as Knock’s Home Swap program. They help you buy your new home before you sell. Orchard charges a flat fee of $2,900 which gives you a better opportunity to save.
To trade homes worth $400,000 you’ll have to pay $38,000 to $68,000 with Knock. On the other hand, you pay $36,000 to $56,000 with Orchard as the total cost goes around 9% to 14% of the home’s worth.
2. Knock vs. Homeward
Homeward charges 2.4% convenience fees for their Buy Before You Sell program. In this program, Homeward purchases a new property for full cash before you sell your existing one. You move into the newly purchased home, list and sell the old one.
The charges of Knock and Homeward are not significantly different. However, Homeward offers additional savings if you bundle their mortgage and title services with this program.
3. Knock vs. HomeLight
HomeLight offers similar services to Knock Real Estate. They charge 2.4% of your home’s worth as their service fees. So, you spend a little extra. We would not mind a few hundred dollars if they offered better services. But, HomeLight’s services are similar to those of Knock’s.
Moreover, you have to accept their cash offer if your house sits for 90 days in the market. Their cash offer is almost 80% of the FMV of your house. So, you have less time to get 100% of your home’s equity.
Other Options You Should Consider
- Sell For Sale By Owner: For Sale By Owner websites help you list and sell a house yourself, saving thousands in agent commissions. Around one-third of home buyers pay in cash. Hence, selling FSBO gives you an opportunity to get most of your home’s equity.
- Sell to an iBuyer: iBuyers purchase homes needing minimal repairs in as-is condition. They can be a great option if you want to sell your house fast. However, iBuyers have stricter criteria as compared to cash buyers.
- Sell through a Realtor: Traditional realtors list your property on the MLS and help you at every step of home selling. However, you have to pay 3% of the home’s sale price to avail of their services.
- Sell through Discount Realtors: Discount real estate brokers offer services at affordable rates. Their commission varies between 0.5% and 2%. However, they offset discounts by offering limited services.
Is Knock Real Estate A Good Option?
Knock eliminates the need to move twice. But you have to pay a 2% convenience fee. Moreover, if you don’t get a buyer in 6 months, you have to sell it to Knock. So, you pay for repairs, and agent commissions and may still lose your home’s equity.
We recommend you compare all your options before you decide. You can get saving opportunities with other alternatives.
For instance, you can sell your house FSBO. You just have to pay a few hundred dollars to a flat fee listing company like Houzeo. And if you want an agent’s support, you can get it by paying a portion of what you’d pay while using Knock.
» Houzeo Reviews: Check out why 6,000+ home sellers have rated Houzeo 4.9 stars out of 5.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Knock?
Knock is an online mortgage lender that caters to homeowners who want to buy and sell a home. Knock allows you to use your current home's equity to buy a new home. Once you move in, you can sell the old one and pay the equity back. For this, Knock charges a convenience fees.
What is Knock's bridge loan?
Knock partners with real estate agents and allows their clients to use Knock's bridge loan. This program works the same way as Knock Home Swap. However, you can only unlock up to $500,000 of your current home's equity. If you directly work with Knock, you can unlock more equity.
Is Knock an iBuyer?
No. Knock is not an iBuyer. They are mortgage lender. Knock allows you to unlock your old home's equity to purchase a new home. They only purchase your old home if it sits on the market for more than 6 months. On the other hand, iBuyers' primary work is to purchase your house as is.
Is Knock reputable?
Yes, Knock is a reputable real estate firm with a 4+ rating on Trustpilot. Most of their customers praise their services and professionalism.
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