Is Keller Offers legit? | Who should use Keller Offers? | How it works | Fees | Reviews | Locations | Alternatives | Ready to Sell | FAQs
Keller Offers is the official iBuying program of Keller Williams Realty. The program provides instant cash offers to buy houses and financing options for home improvements, but it's only available to Keller Williams agents and their clients.
If you're reluctant to take on the hassle of a traditional home sale, and are curious what you could get from selling to an iBuyer, Keller Offers' Cash Offer program gives you a side-by-side comparison of what you could net with each scenario.
If you want to fix your home before you list it — or make improvements to a home you just bought — Keller Offers can help with that as well. But be prepared for some surprise costs.
A major drawback of using Keller Offers over similar iBuying alternatives is its lack of transparency around service fees.
Another potential downside is the fact that, to take advantage of Keller Offers, you'll need to work with a Keller Williams agent, who will earn a commission for services that don't actually require an agent at all. (Most people who request an offer from an iBuyer do it without the help of an agent.)
To get the most bang for your buck, use Clever. We'll match you with a top agent in your area AND help you compare an offer from Keller Offers with other options — like selling on the open market. Plus, a Clever partner agent will give you an accurate home valuation, so you'll know exactly how much your home is worth. Get started below! 👇
Connect with a local agent and compare offers from top cash buyers to the sale price you'd get on the open market.
Who should use Keller Offers?
Keller Offers works best if you've already signed with a Keller Williams agent and need additional leverage to sell a home quickly, fix it up prior to listing, or make improvements after you've already bought.
If you're on the fence about how to sell your home, Keller Offers gives you the chance to compare what you could get for listing your home on the market vs. accepting their cash offer. To actually see the cash offer, though, you'll need to sit through a sales pitch, during which a Keller Offers agent will inevitably try to gain your business.
As a supplement to its iBuyer offering, Keller Offers' Ready to Sell and Ready to Stay programs offer homeowners 12-month, no-interest loans and other financing options to make home improvements before selling or after moving in.
Keller Offers programs give Keller Williams agents more service options to meet the needs of their clients. However, going through Keller Offers to request a cash offer or apply for a home improvement loan leaves you on the hook for extra service fees and commissions that could otherwise stay in your pocket.
Keller Offers fees
With Keller Offers, you won't find out about fees until you meet with an agent.
After contacting Keller Offers directly and reaching out to at least half-a-dozen Keller Williams agents for information, we were STILL unable to get a straight answer as to exactly how much a seller should expect to pay in fees and commissions.
When pressed, two Keller Offers agents did confirm that there is a "Cash Buyer’s Service/Convenience Fee" that will be shown to a seller in the initial offer, but declined to specify how much it was.
Most iBuyers charge a service fee of about 5% to make up for the costs of purchasing, carrying, and reselling your home.
Some iBuyers charge a variable fee depending on the condition of the home and how confident they are that they can resell it quickly for a profit. This might also be the case with Keller Offers.
You may or may not pay an agent commission
More than one KW agent referenced charging a low, 1% commission to home sellers who accept Keller's cash offer. Another agent claimed a 0% commission, since they are paid directly by the iBuyer for bringing in the sales lead.
Our research found that it's ultimately at the discretion of the agent how much they charge in commission when assisting a seller with an iBuyer sale.
Your commission payout could be as much as 3% (the typical amount that seller's agents charge) vs. the 0% commission you'd pay when selling to a traditional iBuyer.
You'll also pay for repairs and closing costs
Like most iBuyers, Keller Offers’ cash offer is contingent on a property inspection.
As the seller, you may be on the hook for repair credits. These will be deducted from your proceeds at closing to cover improvements Keller Offers will make before relisting. Typical repair costs among iBuyers run 1–2% of the sale price.
You'll also be responsible for 1–3% in closing costs to cover prorated property taxes, title, and other expenses.
Estimated Keller Offers selling costs on a $500,000 house
With the additional 1% agent compensation paid by the iBuyer, your realtor stands to make as much as $20,000 off your $500,000 iBuyer sale — that's even more than they might earn for the much harder work of listing, marketing, and negotiating your home sale on the open market.
A better alternative: Shop iBuyers before you sign with agent
While it may sound comforting to have an agent represent you on an iBuyer sale, the benefits may not be worth the costs. You could end up paying as much as 3% in additional agent commissions that you wouldn't pay if you sold directly to an iBuyer like Opendoor or Offerpad.
Since iBuyers rarely negotiate on the sale price, the "agent representation" you're paying for is unlikely to result in a better offer than you might get selling to an iBuyer on your own.
If you’re seriously considering selling your home to iBuyer, we recommend soliciting offers from several different companies BEFORE signing a listing agreement with an agent.
» READ: The Top 3 iBuyer Companies Ranked & Reviewed
Keller Offers vs. the competition
What separates Keller Offers from most other iBuying platforms is the fact that you need to work with a Keller Offers agent to access the cash offer.
When you request an offer, it'll assign you an agent to verify the property details. Your agent will present the offer along with a net sheet showing what you could earn if you let them put your home on the market instead. The ultimate goal is to earn your business, whether you sell to Keller Offers or not.
In addition to using its Cash Offer program as an accelerator to earn more listing appointments for its agents, Keller Offers also stands out for its lack of transparency when it comes to service fees.
When we submitted an online information request about fees through kelleroffers.com (the only mode of contact made available on its website), we received a callback from a program representative who told us, "I can’t really go into too much detail about the program." Instead, he asked to put us in touch with a partner agent, who followed up via email but ignored our questions about fees.
Other Keller Williams agents were similarly evasive when it came to sharing specifics about their service fees, which are only revealed when an agent presents the offer.
| Verified customer reviews | Fee transparency | Sell without an agent | Estimated total costs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keller Offers | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | 8–13% |
| Offerpad | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | 7–10% |
| Opendoor | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | 7–10% |
| RealSure | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | 8–17% |
Opendoor eliminates the need to work with an agent
If you're determined to sell to an iBuyer, Opendoor is a legit alternative operating in 45 markets nationwide.
Customer ratings, which are higher than those of most national iBuyers, reveal that Opendoor's offers are generally competitive, though they can vary by market. Its service fees are set at 5% of the purchase price, and you have the flexibility to close anywhere from 14–60 days.
Opendoor also offers a trade-in service, Opendoor Complete, for those who need to buy and sell a home at the same time.
Through Opendoor Complete, you can purchase a new home with Opendoor's cash and list your current home after you've moved. This option is especially helpful for those who don't want to go through the process of cleaning, staging, and vacating their home for showings.
While some Keller Offers Certified Agents have partnerships with similar trade-in services, they are separate from the Keller Offers program — meaning that your access to them will depend entirely on the Keller Williams agent you work with.
Offerpad offers additional incentives for buyers and sellers
Other iBuyers like Offerpad offer additional incentives such as free local moves and a closing window of up to 90 days.
Its newest program, Offerpad Flex, gives sellers the option to list with one of its agents while keeping its cash offer on the table for 60 days. By comparison, Keller Offers gives sellers a seven-day window to either accept or decline its cash offer.
Offerpad Flex also provides complimentary services such as deep cleaning and decluttering, plus interest-free cash advances to help with more significant home improvements, similar to Keller Offers' Ready to Sell program.
Both Offerpad and Operdoor also offer buyer incentives like cash back at closing.
If you want to work with an agent, RealSure offers greater fee transparency
If you like the idea of having agent representation while selling to an iBuyer, RealSure is an alternative with far greater fee transparency.
RealSure charges a variable service fee of 2.5–6%, depending on the condition of the home and level of risk associated with purchasing and reselling it in the local market.
Just like Keller Offers, RealSure's cash offer is available exclusively through its network of partner agents, whose ultimate goal is to list your home and help you fetch a higher price on the open market.
You'll also pay a separate agent commission, averaging 3%, regardless of whether you sell your home to RealSure or a traditional buyer.
The best way to compare cash offers and other options is by working with Clever. We'll connect you with a top local agent who can provide an accurate home valuation (instead of an estimate on your home's value) AND help you sort through different routes to selling.
Connect with a local agent and compare offers from top cash buyers to the sale price you'd get on the open market.
Is Keller Offers legit?
Keller Offers is a legitimate iBuying platform operated through Keller Williams Realty International and its affiliate agents.
If you want to sell your home quickly to an iBuyer for cash, a Keller Williams agent can represent you — but that doesn’t mean you should let them.
Like other brokerage-backed iBuying platforms such as RealSure, Keller Offers’ main business objective isn’t actually to buy and sell homes. And the program wasn't necessarily designed with the customer in mind.
As an "accelerator" for Keller Williams, the program aims to bring Keller Williams agents more listing opportunities by offering more options to their prospective sellers.
Keller Williams President Josh Team has even gone on the record stating that Keller Offers was designed to "guarantee Keller Williams agents made the most amount of money possible on iBuyer transactions."
Keller Offers certified agents receive a "finder’s fee" of approximately 1% for arranging a transaction with a partnering iBuyer. However, depending on the listing agreement you have with your agent, you could end up supplementing that payday with an additional 3% in seller-paid commissions.
While not encouraged by Keller Williams’ corporate office, it’s ultimately left to the discretion of individual brokers and agents whether or not to charge their client a commission on top of what they get from an iBuyer.
How Keller Offers works
Keller Offers operates as a agent-facilitated concierge service comprising three different programs:
If you're looking to sell your home without going through the traditional listing process, Keller Offers' Cash Offer program pairs you with an agent who will submit a cash offer request on your behalf and walk you through the advantages and disadvantages of accepting the offer as opposed to going with a traditional home sale.
Through Keller Offers' Ready to Sell and Ready to Stay programs, homeowners can take out a home improvement loan — either prior to selling or after buying — and choose the repayment plan that best fits their needs, with annual interest rates ranging from 0.00–9.99%.
Keller Offers is available exclusively through Keller Williams agents, of which there are approximately 170,000 working in the U.S. and Canada.
Cash Offer
To take advantage of Keller Offers Cash Offer program, you'll need to work with a Keller Williams Certified iBuyer Agent. You can contact a certified agent directly or be connected with one by submitting an information request at kelleroffers.com.
Your agent will assess your property and generate an offer within 72 hours, which you'll have 7 days to accept or decline without penalty. As part of the service, your Keller agent will offer you a side-by-side comparison of your net proceeds from the cash offer vs. listing your home on the market.
You can opt to accept the cash offer, list your home with the Keller agent, or go another route.
While there are no upfront fees associated with requesting a cash offer, and no penalties for declining, you can expect to pay both a service fee and agent commission at closing once you follow through on the offer.
How it works
- Step 1: Enter your property address and contact information at kelleroffers.com.
- Step 2: A local Keller Offers Certified iBuyer Agent will contact you for a digital or in-person walkthrough and submit a cash offer request on your behalf.
- Step 3: Once your offer request is submitted, Keller Offers will respond within 72 hours. If an offer is made, your agent will provide you a net sheet estimating what you'll net from the cash offer vs. a traditional sale. You can decline or accept the offer without penalty.
- Step 4: If you accept the cash offer, your agent will walk you through the contract paperwork outlining agreements, fees, commissions, and contingencies.
- Step 5: Once the contract is signed, Keller Offers will order the property inspection and provide a repair request based on the findings.
- Step 6: If you don't agree to the repair request, you can back out of the contract without any penalty.
- Step 7: If you agree to the repair request, you'll move forward with choosing your close date, which can be up to 90 days from the date you accepted the offer.
- Step 8: If needed, you can stay in your property up to three days after closing, for a daily occupancy fee.
What types of homes does Keller Offers buy?
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Homes that Keller Offers won't buy
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Ready to Sell
With Keller Offers Ready to Sell, you can take out a 12-month, no-interest loan to make home improvements before you list your property on the market. Keller Offers will set you up with a vendor to complete the work, and you'll repay the loan out of your proceeds once the home sells.
How it works
- Step 1: Request a home improvement consultation at kelleroffers.com or directly through a Keller Williams agent.
- Step 2: Your agent will conduct a walkthrough of your home and recommend the improvements that will make the greatest impact on your home sale. The repairs you choose to move forward with are ultimately up to you.
- Step 3:Once you and your agent agree on your list of projects, your agent will submit your paperwork to the Ready to Sell program.
- Step 4: Keller Offers will process your submission and send you a link to apply for a home improvement loan with its preferred lending partner.
- Step 5: If pre-approved for the loan, Keller Offers will assign an approved vendor to complete the renovations.
- Step 6: Once the improvements are complete, you'll list and sell your home with your Keller Williams agent.
- Step 7: You'll pay back the home improvement costs at closing.
What home improvement projects qualify for Keller Offers Ready to Sell?
- Flooring repair/replacement
- Carpet cleaning/replacement
- Deep cleaning
- Cosmetic renovations
- Landscaping
- Interior/exterior painting
- Roof repairs
- Kitchen improvements
- Bathroom improvements
- Staging
A traditional trade-in service may be a better option
While Keller Offers Ready to Sell is a legitimate option for giving your home a facelift before you open it up to prospective buyers, a better home prep alternative may be available through a trade-in service like Knock.
» READ: Home trade-in programs: How to buy a house before you sell yours
In addition to allowing you to choose your own agent, Knock gives you the flexibility to buy and move into a new home before putting your current one on the market.
After you're approved by its mortgage lender, Knock will front you the cash for your new home purchase and carry your current mortgage while it renovates and sells your home.
Like Keller Offers, Knock recoups its expenses out of your proceeds from the home sale. However, Knock is far more transparent about its fees.
To take advantage of its Home Swap program, you'll pay a service fee of 1.25% of your home sale value, plus typical loan processing and closing costs.
When you opt for a trade-in service like Knock, you can save considerably by working with a discount agent who charges a much more reasonable commission for selling your home.
Why pay more in commission fees for less service? Clever offers you bigger savings without sacrificing the service you expect from a traditional realtor.
With Clever:
✅ You'll only pay 1.5% to list your home
✅ You'll work with a full-service realtor from a top broker
✅ It's free, with zero obligation — you can walk away at any time
Saving on realtor fees doesn't have to mean sacrificing service. Find a top local agent today!
Ready to Stay
Keller Offers Ready to Stay Program operates similarly to its Ready to Sell program. But instead of prepping your home for sale, you're putting loan money toward a home you intend to live in.
How it works
- Step 1: A Keller Williams agent will advise you on which home improvements will add the most value to your home and submit your property information and requested loan amount to Keller Offers.
- Step 2: You'll then apply for loan approval with Keller Offers' preferred lender to select the loan terms — anywhere from 12 months to 12 years — that best fit your needs.
- Step 3: Once your loan is approved, Keller Offers will send out bids and assign an approved vendor to complete the desired updates to your home.
- Step 4: You'll pay back your loan according to the loan terms you agree on with the lender.
If you choose a 12-month loan term, your loan interest will be waived and your first payment will be due 30 days after your funds are disbursed.
If you need more than 12 months to pay back the loan, you'll pay anywhere from 6.99–9.99% in annual interest, depending on the length of the loan. With 5–12 year loan terms, you'll have 365 days until your first loan payment is due.
While Keller Offers does not publicly disclose the fees tied to its programs, the fact that you need to work with a Keller Williams agent to apply for your home improvement loan means you'll likely pay a service fee on top of the typical loan origination and processing fees owed to the lender.
Other services
Because Keller Williams operates under a franchise model, with each brokerage being independently owned and operated, individual Keller Williams agents may offer additional services to buyers and sellers outside of the Keller Offers program.
One agent whose website we visited advertised a trade-in option allowing sellers to move to a new home while taking advantage of Keller Offers’ Ready to Sell program to fix and list their old one.
Another agent recommended using Keller Mortgage. The program claims to waive many of the typical lender fees when you work with a Keller Williams agent — but it also has an F rating on the Better Business Bureau website.
By offering so many add-on services, Keller Williams agents have a greater chance of earning some kind of commission from your next home sale or new home purchase — whatever path you choose. However, just like with the Cash Offer program, it pays to shop around when considering any service related to the sale or purchase of a home.
The combination of agent freedom and fee transparency available through competitors could save you tens of thousands of dollars on your home sale and purchase.
Keller Offers reviews from customers and Keller Williams agents
After an exhaustive search on third-party review sites like Yelp, Zillow, Trustpilot, and Reviews.io, we found virtually no verified customer reviews of Keller Offers.
In fact, Facebook was the only platform to turn up any Keller Offers reviews at all.
The issue is that the reviews weren’t from actual customers, but from Keller Williams agents themselves.
Agents love Keller Offers…but where are the reviews from customers?
Agents praise Keller Offers as "a great tool to use to attract more listing appointments!!" and a "Win-Win for both parties." Whether clients feel the same is yet to be determined.
Given the seller’s market in a lot of the markets where Keller Offers operates, most Keller Offers agents we talked to actually recommended AGAINST selling to Keller Offers (or any other iBuyer for that matter), since you’re likely to net so much more on the open market — at least 8% by one agent’s estimation. On a home valued at $500,000, that’s a cool $40,000 left on the table when you sell to an iBuyer vs. a traditional buyer.
The lack of actual customer reviews on Keller Offers may be due to the distributed nature of the program, which is administered exclusively through Keller Williams agents and not through a centralized platform like with Offerpad or Opendoor.
Any reviews of Keller Williams’ cash offer program are probably rolled up in reviews of individual Keller Williams agents.
Where is Keller Offers available?
The Keller Offers Cash Offers program is available in 22 major markets spanning Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas.
Its Ready to Sell and Ready to Stay programs are offered in more markets, including several on the West Coast, where its iBuyer program isn't available.
For comparison, Opendoor — the largest iBuyer in the United States — is available in 48 major metros across the United States. RealSure, another brokerage-backed competitor, is available in 24 U.S. markets.
| Keller Offers | AL, AZ, CO, FL, GA, IN, MO, NV, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX |
| Opendoor | AL, AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, ID, IN, MN, MO, NV, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, DC |
| Realsure | CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, NC, OH, SC, TX, UT, WI |
It's unclear whether Keller Offers intends to continue expanding its iBuyer program to new markets.
FAQs about Keller Offers
Yes. Keller Offers is a legitimate iBuying platform available exclusively to Keller Williams agents and their clients. However, there are few verified customer reviews for the platform and no publicly available information about the service fees associated with the program.Is Keller Offers legit?
Keller Offers does not make the service fees associated with its Cash Offer program available to the public. However, most iBuyers charge a service fee of approximately 5%, deducted out of your proceeds from the sale. With Keller Offers, you may also have to pay a 1–3% commission to the agent who will represent you during the transaction.What are Keller Offers fees?
Through Keller Offers' Ready to Sell program, homeowners can take out a 12-month, interest-free loan to make improvements to their home prior to listing with a Keller Williams agent.What is Keller Offers Ready to Sell?
Methodology
Before writing this review, our team spent weeks studying various iBuyers to compare each company across multiple axes. Our research process included:
- Mystery shopping each company
- Talking to multiple real estate experts familiar with the programs
- Scouring review sites, social media, and forums to gather customer perspectives
Contact Keller Offers
The only way to contact Keller Offers directly is through an information request form on its website.
You'll be asked to enter your email address and phone number along with your query, and someone from its team will respond with a phone call asking to put you in touch with a Keller Offers Certified iBuyer Agent who can address your questions about the program.
| Website | kelleroffers.com |
