What Is the Landian Real Estate Platform?
Landian is a new flat-fee real estate company that lets buyers pay $49 per home tour and $199 per offer written instead of the traditional 2% to 3% agent commission.
The company claims to save homebuyers around $15,000 when buying a home.
Landian was co-founded by Josh Sitzer, one of the plaintiffs in the landmark suit against the National Association of Realtors (NAR). In the resulting settlement, NAR agreed to remove the long-standing rule that the seller should fund both their agent and the buyer’s agent.
Now, buyers must figure out a way to pay for their agent themselves, and Landian is seeking to be an option.
The service lets homebuyers enter a real estate listing link or property address on its website. Landian then connects them with an area agent for a home tour and, potentially, to write an offer, each for a small flat fee.
Homebuyers have no further obligation to the agent.
Buyers can also pay a flat commission of $1,799 for up to five tours and two offers. The buyer does not have to pay until closing and nothing is due if the purchase falls through. This model is more like the traditional commission model, except it’s not based on the home's price.
Under new laws, buyers must sign a written contract with a real estate agent before touring a house. This is still the case with Landian, but it has apparently worked out with its partner agents a no-strings-attached feature for tours and offers. Under these terms, says the company, buyers avoid obligating themselves to pay large commissions based on a percentage of the home price.
Though Landian seems to set ground rules for partner agents, it isn’t a brokerage. “Landian is a platform that schedules and coordinates service contracts between homebuyers and licensed real estate agents who work for their own brokerages,” says the company’s website.
In other words, the platform connects you with an agent who has already agreed to work with you under Landian’s terms.
How Does Landian Work?
Buyers don’t search for real estate on Landian’s site. Rather, they find a home they are interested in touring, enter the link or address on Landian’s home page, and are connected with an agent.
The agent then takes the buyer on a tour and can write an offer if the buyer wishes to do so. The buyer pays upfront for both services and can go on as many tours and write as many offers as they wish, provided they pay the fee each time.
Buyers also have the option of using AI to write their offer, for a reduced fee of $99 instead of the $199 for an agent-written offer.
With an agent-written offer, the agent will also handle counter-offers and provide support until the offer is either accepted or rejected. The buyer has the option of paying additional fees for support through the closing process.
If the offer is rejected, the buyer starts over with another home, paying the flat fees again, unless they signed up for the $1,799 package, in which case they can look at four more homes and submit one more offer.
Is the Flat Fee or “Exclusive Agent Package” Better?
Landian has a few ways you can use it:
Flat Fee: Pay upfront fees of $49 per home tour and $199 per offer. Pay again for each tour and offer.
Exclusive Agent Package: $1,799 for up to five tours and two offers. You don’t pay the fee until closing. However, you must pay the fee if you buy any house, even with another agent or service, within 90 days of signup, or within one year if you used a Landian tour for the home.
According to the company’s website, the agent package is better if you may not buy a home at all. That way, you get five tours and can submit two offers for free if you don’t buy within a year.
However, if you think you can find a home and get an accepted offer quickly, the per-service model could work better. Assuming you saw five homes and made two offers, your cost would be about $650 rather than $1,799.
But if you tour many homes and make many offers, but never find a house, the small flat fees can add up without accomplishing your goal.
Landian: Turning Industry Disruption Into a New Business Model
While buyers may incur larger costs for agents overall after the NAR settlement, alternatives to the large percentage-based commission structures are emerging.
The company says its mission is to “safeguard homebuyers from excessive fees typically charged by real estate agents.”
It remains to be seen whether flat-fee services will save buyers money, or create large upfront costs in a market where it’s common to make five or ten offers before getting one accepted by a seller.
Landian is one of the first major players in the flat-fee agent commission market, but it won’t be the last. The market will decide which is better: the traditional agent model or pay-as-you-go.
