A Dayton-created software is making national headway in the residential real estate market. The momentum likely will spark new hires.
Local startup UNLISTED is presenting a new opportunity to start conversations about property plans among neighbors, allowing homeowners, homebuyers and real estate agents to tap into the property market before a house is officially “for sale.”
UNLISTED Founder Katie Hill said the idea was born from her own interest in a neighboring property to her current home – a place that would allow for downsizing and a pool in a familiar neighborhood. Upon finally getting up the courage to approach the owner and his excitement as a soon-to-be-retiree, she ended up obtaining right of first refusal on the home.
“I built the platform based on that experience,” Hill said. “The idea was to spur conversations among neighbors as our lives evolve and our need for housing changes.”
Prior to founding UNLISTED, Hill gained experience in the entrepreneurial sector as a founder of Commuter Ads and served as a coach and advisor to many technology startups in the region in her previous role as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at The Entrepreneurs Center.
How does UNLISTED work?
Homebuyers and agents can search the address of a home or multiple homes they are interested in that are not on the market. UNLISTED will then do an outreach campaign to the homeowners, sending a proposal in the form of an eye-catching golden package.
The $25 package includes a letter from the interested party to the homeowner about why they like the house and a secure and anonymous invitation code. The code enables the homeowner to engage in conversation with the seller and the seller’s agent to see if there’s a deal to be had.
As a finishing touch, the package includes cookies baked by Adaline’s Bakery in Tipp City. Hill said it represents the feeling of a neighbor coming over with a plate of cookies to help facilitate the conversation. While UNLISTED makes a profit from packages and real estate agent subscriptions, the startup ultimately stays out of the transactions.
Hill said UNLISTED’s objective is not to disrupt the real estate market but act as a partner to it like an additional tool in the toolbox.
“We're just sort of one additional way to get more information about what buyers and sellers are thinking, what they've got their eye on and what their plans are,” Hill said. “That's good for everybody involved in the industry on the consumer side and on the professional side.”
Although the process is almost entirely online aside from the point of contact through the golden package, Hill said their goal is to bring people together through traditional means and share information.
“One of our brand values is neighborliness and it's meant to have neighbors connect in a way that they might be shy to do otherwise," Hill said. "But that actually creates value for both parties. ... The idea is over time, homeowners will be able to get a sense for sort of how popular, how adored their property is, which should help inform decisions about what to do when they decide to list it. They're not flying quite as blind.”
How has the platform progressed and climbed since launch?
With an initial launch in March 2022 which catered heavily to consumers, the platform began to shift its focus to real estate agents in the fall as the platform became national in November 2022.
“That’s 121 million properties valued at $28 trillion, so now anybody, anywhere can use the platform,” Hill said.
Hill took pride in the 17% organic response rate from the 200-plus contacted homeowners both from the consumer and agent sides of the platform. And the future of the startup is promising with continued funding which allowed the platform to get off the ground and sustaining since.
UNLISTED has received advice and funding from a number of investors through the Entrepreneurs’ Center Angel Investors group and others including TriKohr Capital and Kayak.com. In her last round of funding this past December, she had six angel investors come forward to provide funding.
“It's nice to have investors who are looking at women and other undercapitalized founders and looking in the Midwest,” Hill said.
In 2023, the company will work on include refining product-market fit, expanding nationally, growing revenue and advancing the product. This includes adding more agents to the platform and signing at least one brokerage to each of its 50 identified 50 key markets.
Hill said their biggest current partner and customer is Dayton real estate firm Coldwell Banker Heritage.
“I've been around startups for a long time, but to be able to go full time into this and spend all day, every day working on building this business is really exciting,” Hill said.
Company: UNLISTED
Owner: Katie Hill
Founded: December 2021
Employment: 2
Services: Real estate software “proptech”
Website: unlistedhomes.com
