Curbio: Revolutionizing Home Renovation

Granados MacIver

Revolutionizing Home Renovation

CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE FIRM REELS IN A ‘REFINED’ RELATIONSHIP WITH CURBIO

By John Voket

The stars must align with a highly viable market and a very willing firm that’s poised to cobrand services to lure a potential vendor into opening up a brand-new office in one of California’s most competitive regions.

That’s exactly how things developed recently between Curbio and Willis Allen Real Estate, as the La Jolla, California-based firm’s extensive search for a perfect home improvement partner concluded with a highly successful collaboration.

Curbio is a leading home improvement company for REALTORS® and their clients. Offering a fast, effortless process to repair and update homes before they go on the market or under contract, Curbio also defers payment for any work until closing.

Under this recent partnership with Willis Allen Real Estate, programs with built-in financing are also being offered to buyers.

Hoping to provide their agents a competitive advantage and their clients a means to make improvements before (or after) their home is sold without necessarily having to reach into their pockets upfront to get that work accomplished, the team at Willis Allen Real Estate began sorting through vendors.

“We wanted a service where the agents didn’t have to act as a general contractor and be incredibly involved, because they should be out selling real estate rather than managing projects,” says Jane Granados, COO and managing broker. “When we reached out to Curbio, they seemed to understand what our needs were and really checked a lot of the boxes.”

“But Curbio wasn’t serving our market at the time, so we kept going back and asking, and about a year ago, they said they would come to San Diego for us and set up shop,” says Granados.

Curbio enhanced the partnership by permitting Willis Allen Real Estate to co-brand services under the firm’s “Refine” label so that all their clients could take advantage of staging, home improvement projects and/or renovations. Willis Allen Real Estate then worked closely with Curbio to fashion all related marketing for the newly branded line of services.

“As a luxury brokerage, we know that virtually every property can use some improvements,” says Kate MacIver, Willis Allen Real Estate’s director of Risk Management & Education. “One of the big advantages for us is that with Curbio, there’s no project minimum.”

One recent project that came under the Refine program ended up netting the seller an added profit of $290,000 on the home’s list price of $1,250,000—with total renovations costing a fractional $34,349.

“That included exterior painting, new flooring, some window additions, trim replacements, bathroom refreshes as well as some new appliances and kitchen work,” says Granados.

“For closed transactions involving Curbio, there’s been a measurable increase in net profit for the seller across the board,” notes MacIver. “Clients are ecstatic because the people and contractors they’re working with under Refine are all very responsive, materials are first class and the agents know they have an edge over the competition because they can offer these services.”

If there were any drawbacks, Granados says it’s convincing sellers in a white-hot market to take the additional time required to permit the Curbio contracting team to get the improvement work done.

“If a seller isn’t interested in the opportunity, Curbio has done a great job of creating opportunities for buyers to use their services as well—and they’re offering financing for them,” says Granados. “Now our agents can have Curbio come in during escrow and talk to buyers about getting a quote and making the property their very own after closing.” RE

“For closed transactions involving Curbio, there’s been a measurable increase in net profit for the seller across the board.”

-KATE MACIVER Director of Risk Management & Education, Willis Allen Real Estate