Sell Sell Sell

Selling a house just got easier (and cheaper) thanks to this Dallas duo

iList helps homeowners to sell their home at a substantial cost savings.

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Home buying today is pretty different than it was 20 years ago. Sites like Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com offer detailed, virtual 3-D property tours, letting you check out any home on the market from the comfort of your couch.

However, if you’re looking to sell your home, it’s not as easy. That’s where Dale and Joe Peterson come in. The Dallas father-son team hopes to transform the way homeowners sell with an innovative new company called iList, which gives them control over the home-selling process, while still working with a knowledgeable agent.

The process is simple. Just create a free iList account online, and use the iValuate tool to compare and determine a list price for your home. As with a traditional real estate agency, your home is then listed on MLS and other sites. You'll also receive yard signs and electronic lock boxes in the mail. And, if you run into a snag at any point, there’s always an iList agent available to help.

You can instantly review, compare, counter, or accept offers through an online dashboard on your iList account. Buyers make offers through the online portal, and once an offer is accepted, a professional real estate team takes over and handles all of the contracts. And don’t worry — all contracts and other legal documents are secured and maintained digitally.

“Homebuyers have received the majority of the benefits from technology,” Joe says. “Zillow, Trulia, Realtybid, Auction.com — all empower the buyer by providing information, even platforms for buyers to make offers direct. The home seller has been overlooked in the technology space for way to long.”

iList also offers an open-ended listing agreement and has only a .5 percent commission rate, rather than the traditional 6 percent in fees between buyer and listing agent commissions. What this means for a home seller is a substantial cost savings. According to the company’s website, sellers who list their homes on iList save an average of $7,500.

“Home sellers are smart,” adds Joe, who also owns the corporate real estate brokerage firm Briko, which has offices in seven states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, and Georgia. “Think if a home seller had the transparent information and tools to complete the sale of their home for a fraction of the cost of the traditional real estate model. Who would not want to save on average $7,500 in this DIY environment we are living in?”

iList currently serves Denton, Collin, Parker, Tarrant, Dallas, Rockwall, Kaufman, Ellis, Johnson, Wise, Cooke, and Grayson counties. It plans to launch soon in Houston and San Antonio as well.

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Dallas was a top-10 destination for Gen Zers on the move for 2023

Photo by Lance Asper on Unsplash

Who wouldn't want to live in a Gen Z paradise like Dallas?

As Gen Z enters adulthood, many are flocking to the nation's biggest cultural hubs like New York City, Los Angeles — and now Dallas, which had the ninth-highest inflow of Gen Zers in 2023.

Dallas' new reputation as a Gen Z hotspot was unveiled in a recent report by American home improvement brand This Old House, which analyzed migration trends across multiple generations using 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Dallas saw an influx of 13,770 Gen Z residents last year to become the generation's No. 9 most popular city. That's 4,223 more Gen Zers than the net migration rate from 2022, the report found.

Real estate marketplace Zillow seems to agree on a statewide scale, declaring Texas as the No. 1 destination for Gen Zers on the move in 2024.

However, as Gen Z Dallasites may have learned, it's going to take a big bite out of their paychecks to live in such a highly sought after city. A March RentCafe housing cost analysis predicted Gen Z adults living in Dallas are likely to spend over $149,000 on rent by the time they are 30 years old.

While Dallas saw big gains in its Gen Z population last year, many other big cities saw a mass exodus. Plano, for example — which gained 1,295 Gen Z residents in 2022 — lost 4,028 Gen Zers in 2023, the report discovered.

The biggest Gen-Z exodus was in El Paso, with a drop of 5,607 — "a sharp turn from 2022 when the city saw an increase," the report said. "Other cities, including Plano, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; McKinney, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas, are seeing similar declines."

"Gen X, baby boomers, and the Silent Generation are also moving away from major cities, particularly New York City and Washington, D.C.," the report said. "They’re heading to some of the same cities as Gen Z, including Houston and Jacksonville, Florida."

The top 10 cities that gained the most Gen Z residents in 2023 are:

No. 1 – New York City, New York
No. 2 – Los Angeles, California
No. 3 – Houston, Texas
No. 4 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
No. 5 – Chicago, Illinois
No. 6 – San Diego, California
No. 7 – Seattle, Washington
No. 8 – Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 9 – Dallas, Texas
No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

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